STANDING RULES

I. MEMBERSHIP

    A.Membership application.

1.  An applicant with an established GHIN index of 36.0 or lower may become a regular member after submitting an application and playing an introductory round of golf with a board member.  This round will be used to introduce the prospective member to our check in and scoring procedures and emphasize pace of play and the need to know the rules of golf.

2.  An applicant with no GHIN number or index higher than 36.0 must play a qualifying round of golf with a board member on a scheduled play day and must score 115 or less.  The applicant has four opportunities to qualify in a calendar year, after which she must wait until the next calendar year or join as an Associate member.

3.An applicant with GHIN index higher than 36.0 may join as an Associate member by submitting an application and following the guidelines for an Associate member. An Associate may become a regular member by lowering her GHIN index to 36.0 or lower or by playing a qualifying round with a score of 115 or less.

   B. The attendance year runs from January 1 through December 31. New members joining between January 1 and April 30 are required to play twelve (12) games by the end of the following December. Those joining between May 1 and July 31, ten (10) games, and between August 1 and October 31, five (5) games on a regular play day. There will be no game requirement for those joining between November 1 and December 31.

  C. An active member must play 12 games on a regular play day per year and must attend two general meetings. If these requirements are not met and there are no extenuating circumstances, active membership will end and change to that of an associate member.

  D. Maximum club membership is determined by Course Management and may change from time to time.

  E. Associate Membership
1. May attend the Christmas Party or any other social activity.
2. If previously a regular member, she may return to active membership the following year by having her name placed at the top of the waiting list.
3. Cannot hold office.
4. May only play up to 12 games a year on a play day and will not be eligible for any awards.
5. Associate members may only call for tee times 10 days prior to the Thursday play day.

  F. Teaching Professionals may join as a non-competing regular member.

II. DUES

A. Regular Members: Annual dues, prepaid sweeps and hole-in-one insurance will be determined by the Board. PWGA fees are determined by PWGA.
B. New Members shall pay prorated dues, plus initiation fees, hole-in-one insurance, and PWGA dues.
C. Associate Members: Dues and hole-in-one insurance will be determined by the Board. PWGA fees are determined by PWGA.

III. HANDICAPS

A. A member may not play to more than a 40 handicap in club events.
B. A new member who does not have an established handicap will be given a handicap number by the Handicap Chairman. Her Handicap is established once she has posted enough games to record a Handicap Index.

IV. TOURNAMENTS

A. All club subsidized tournaments, such as Captain's Trophy, Ham, Bottle and Turkey Shoots, require 20 or more players finishing 18 holes on the day scheduled or the tournament is canceled for that day. For Regular play days to be considered official, 20 players must start but not necessarily finish 18 holes of play. Only those who do finish are eligible for sweeps. If there are fewer than 20 who start, members will receive credit towards games played. Starters and Scorers, who fulfill their duties, will receive game credit even if they do not play. Any regular member with an established handicap will be eligible for all tournaments with the exception of the two major tournaments — Handicap and Club Championship.
Rules of eligibility for these two tournaments are as follows: A member must have a permanent handicap based on ten out of twenty scores and must have played at least four games between major tournaments on regular play days. Entry fees and awards in these two tournaments will be determined by the Major Tournament chairperson with Board approval.

B. Handicap Tournament — Match Play
1. The first round will be the qualifying round to decide positions in flights by net scores.
2. If a member does not qualify for a position in a flight, her entry fee will be refunded or she may play in a special flight if there is one.
3. The Championship Flight of the tournament shall consist of the eight lowest net qualifiers. All other flights shall have eight players except the last flight, which may have six; or they may be divided equally with byes.
4. All rounds of the Handicap Tournament will be scheduled on a regular Thursday play-day.
5. Awards will be determined by Tournament Chair.
6. Ties:
a. Qualifying Day: Low Net Medalist —Ties will be broken by retrogression in compliance with USGA rules by matching score cards for the last nine holes played using half handicap, last six, last three, etc.
b. Match Play: Sudden death play-off starting with a hole to be determined by the major tournament chairperson, using handicap strokes where they fall.
c. Consolation and Specialized Flights — all ties, dividing awards equally.

C. Championship Tournament — Medal Play
1. The Club Champion and runner-up will be the two players with the lowest gross scores over the field for 54 holes. Each flight will have one low gross and a low net winner, the number of net places to be determined by the number of players in the flight. The first flight will have two more players than the other flights. The second, third, etc., flights will have at least 8 players or more if necessary, by dividing equally. Indexes may be used to keep flight as even as possible. (Note: There is no Champion Flight since the Club Champion and runner-up come from the field.)
2. Awards: Determined by the Tournament Chair.
3. Ties: In case of ties for Club Champion, the players involved will have an 18 hole play-off on or before the following club day. All other ties will be broken by retrogression in compliance with USGA Rules by matching cards for the last nine holes played using half the handicap, last six, last three, etc.
4. All three rounds will be played on regularly scheduled Thursday play-days and players must compete on these days only.

D. Eclectic Tournaments
1. To be eligible for Eclectic Tournaments, a player must have a permanent handicap by the beginning of the tournament.
2. Entry fee will be determined by the Eclectic Chairperson with approval of the Board. Number of flights and awards will be based upon the number of entrants.
3. Eclectic rounds must be played on regularly scheduled play days. Eclectic scores cannot be used if competing in match-play or best-ball tournaments.

E. Partnership Tournaments (Best-Ball, Blind Partners, etc.)
1. In any partnership tournament when it is necessary to draw to complete a partnership from other participants in the tournament, the score may only be used as a fill-in. The person whose score is used may win only with her original partner(s).

F. Captain's Trophy — Usually the first Thursday of each month.
1. To be eligible, a member must have a permanent handicap.
2. An award will be presented to each month's winners. She will be eligible to also win in her flight. Points for the annual Captain's Trophy Awards will be distributed as follows:
1st Low Net 5 points
2nd Low Net 3 points
3rd Low Net 1 point
3. If ties occur, each will receive equal points. If a tie occurs for the first low net (Captain's Trophy winner) it will be broken by retrogression according to USGA Rules (i.e. last nine, last six, last three etc, allowing for strokes to determine who will receive the trophy.)
4. Low Gross will be awarded to the player having the lowest gross score. In case of ties, Low Gross winners will be awarded but will not be put into their respective flights.

G. Weekly Awards
1. In case of ties, the award shall be divided between the places. (Example: tie for 1st and 2nd place award shall be divided equally between the two; next to be awarded is 3rd place).
2. On Putting Day (Captain's Trophy Day) putts will be awarded over the field.
3. A Chip-In entry will be voluntary. Money collected will be divided equally among those having chip-ins that day. If a member has more than one chip-in, she will be paid for each chip- in she makes.

V. ANNUAL AWARDS

A. Captain's Trophy: An award will be presented to the member winning the most points for the 11 months beginning with the month of January and ending with the November Captain's Trophy Day. In the event of a tie, an 18-hole play off is necessary to determine the winner.
1. To be eligible, a player must have been a member with a permanent handicap and she must have played 15 times on club days for the period covered.
B. Most Improved Golfer: An Award will be presented to the member with the most improvement. Using the GHIN system, most improvement is based on a comparison between the previous handicap as assessed on Jan.1 to the most recent revision made on Dec. 1.
1. To be eligible, a player must have been a member with a permanent handicap and she must have played 15 times on club days for the period covered.
C. Putting Award: An award will be presented for 1st and 2nd place to the member based on the average of the lowest six (6) games with fewest putts played on Captain's Trophy Days.
1 To be eligible, a member must have played at least six (6) Captain's Trophy Days and a total of 15 times on a club day.

VI. HOLE-IN-ONE-INSURANCE

A. All members are automatically members of the Hole-In-One Insurance Fund. When a hole-in-one is made, the member may buy well drinks, house wine, beer and soft drinks at the course on the day the hole-in-one is made and present the bill to the STWGC treasurer.
1. The hole-in-one must be made at Santa Teresa Golf Course during a club event.
2. An award is given for a hole-in-one made at Santa Teresa on a Club play day.
3. A hole-in-one insurance fee will be collected each year, the amount to be determined by the Board. If the fund is depleted during the year, each member will be reassessed.

VII. PWGA AND COUNTY TEAM PLAY

A. PWGA: green fees are the responsibility of each team member.
B. COUNTY: green fees are the responsibility of each team member.

VIII. SIGNING UP FOR PLAY DAYS

A. Members may not sign until a sign-up sheet has been placed on the Starter's Table on a regular Play Day.
B. Members may sign up only for herself, except on Guest Days, when she may sign for her foursome. She may bring one guest.
C. Members not playing that day may get a starting time after all members playing that day have teed off by:
1. Telephoning the Pro Shop
2. Coming to the Pro Shop
3. Having a member sign for her after that member has finished her round of play.
D. Cancellations must be made before 7 a.m. on the morning of play.
E. Associate Members may call for tee times beginning 10 days prior to the Thursday's Play Day.
F. In case of rain or other conditions in which play may be questionable, the tournament chair may cancel the tournament for the day by notification to the pro-shop by 6:30AM on the playday. Members may determine the status of the tournament by calling the pro-shop. Starters and scorers will be given game credit for the day but will not need to be at the club. Members wishing to play will be given game credit provided they post their scores and notify the Membership chair.

IX. CHANGES IN STANDING RULES

A. These Standing Rules may be changed by a quorum (30 percent of the membership) of the membership at a General or Special Meeting.

Amended: March 13, 1997; March 1998; October, 1998; March 8, 2001; March 7, 2002; March 6, 2003; Dec. 2004; March, 2008.; September, 2008, March 2009