Monday Morning Golf Group History & Rules
1. Brief History, Aces, Convenor(s)
2. Monday Handicapping Methodology
3. Play from Different
4. Adjustments for Different
5. Shifting from Usual
6. Revised Quota Point Counts
7. Game Fee and Paypoints
8. Tip Fund
9. Monday Draws and Booking Duties
10. Non-Playing Dates
1. Brief History
The Monday morning group plays a quota points game. It was started by a
handful of individuals in 2001 who played from the blue tees and wanted to meet and play with more Sunningdale
members while also having some fun with a modest game fee. The latter was set
at $3 and each player’s ‘raw’ quota points (determined from the following
schedule) were added to his handicap to get his final points total. Players who
exceeded 36 points shared in the game fees for the day on a pro-rata basis.
The raw quota points were set
at
1 for bogey,
2 for par,
4 for birdie and
8 for eagle. (last revised in 2016 to 6 for eagle)
Handicaps were taken from the Sunningdale system.
As the popularity of the group mushroomed in subsequent years, however,
men who preferred to play from white tees asked to join and as our primary
purpose had always been to meet and play with other members of the Club, these
players were welcomed to the group. This expansion created 2 major challenges.
(i) First, it became administratively
cumbersome to track each player’s system handicap separately for
Thompson and Robinson courses each week.
(ii) Secondly, it was necessary to recognize that when individuals
compete from different tees, adjustments
to handicaps are required in order to equalize the playing field.
In response to the concern in (i), we adopted a methodology that some of
our members had seen used at other courses and that completely eliminated the
need to track system handicaps after the first game was played with the group.
It’s explained in more detail in Section 2 below.
The concern in (ii) was also subsequently resolved and Sections 3, 4 and
5 describe how tee adjustments are calculated to compensate for these
situations.
There was recently a hole-in-one during League play. It was initially thought, that this
hole-in-one, may have been the first in 17 years of League play. In fact, there appears to have been four Aces.
Those Aces are recorded here for
reference;
Mr. Derrick Coyle, West Course #14, August 31, 2020
Mr. Bill Rivard, TC Hole #5, May 14, 2018
Mr. Ron Haves, RC Hole #16, August
15, 2016
Mr. Paul Jackson, RC Hole #6, July 11, 2011
It should be
mentioned that the Monday Golf League had been set up and administered for the
past 17 years by Mr. Dick Huffman. He
set up the web site and developed excel spread sheets to record the weekly and
yearly results of League play. That is
why the Sunningdale Monday Morning Golf League is affectionately referred to as
“The Huffman League”. In 2018, the
administration of the League was assumed by Mr. Mark Thompson.
2. Monday Handicapping
Methodology
The formula to determine a player’s handicap for a
specific course is based on a number called his ‘Index’. The latter is
developed from a history of his scores on courses that have ‘ratings’ and
‘slopes’ determined by the relevant golf associations. His handicap for a given
course can then be calculated by the formula
Handicap = (Index) x (Course Slope) / 113
Analyses of our Monday morning group show that the
average index was generally in the 18 range in 2015. As we play both courses,
it’s logical to average the slopes for Robinson & Thompson and they are:
Blue tees = (123 + 121) / 2 = 122
White tees = (118 + 119) / 2 = 118.5
Yellow tees = (113 + 116) / 2 = 114.5
Orange tees = (111 + 113) / 2 = 112
Red tees = (106 + 108) / 2 = 107
Therefore, the corresponding formula handicaps would
be
19 for Blue tees,
19 for White tees,
18 for Yellow tees,
18 for Orange tees and
17 for Red tees
for a player with an index of 18.
This is an important observation for the remainder of
this document. Granted, the 1 stroke differential in handicap from one tee
block to the next will not hold for all
index values but it is felt to be a reasonable assumption for purposes of
Monday play rules.
Rather than looking up each player’s Sunningdale
handicap each week (or even month) which is administratively onerous, we
adopted a system whereby changes in handicap depend only upon the player’s
Monday quota point output.
Specifically, the handicap will be
reduced by 1 stroke if his total is 39-41 and by
2 strokes if his
total is 42 or more.
Similarly, the handicap will be
increased by 1 stroke if
his total is 31-33 and by
2 strokes if his total is 30 or less.
A maximum adjustment of 2
strokes was set as it was felt that variations of more than 8 quota points will
generally not be statistically significant.
3. Play from Different
USGA/RCGA rules state that when competitors play each other from
different tees, the correct adjustment is to add the difference in course
ratings to the handicap of those playing from the tees with the highest
rating. For these purposes, the ratings
of the 2 courses have also been averaged producing
(70.2 + 70.2) / 2 = 70.45 for blue tees and (69.4 + 68.6) / 2 = 69.0 for
white tees.
To illustrate how the rule works, suppose player A has an index of
18 and plays from the blue tees
where his handicap is 19 and the applicable (average) course rating is 70.45.
Thus, if he plays to his handicap his score will be 70.45 plus his handicap of 19
or 89.45. In that event, his net
score will be 89.45 – 19 = 70.45.
If player B also has an index of 18 and plays to his handicap of 19 from
the white tees where the
rating is 69.0, his score will be 19 + 69.0 = 88.0 and his net score will be 88.0 – 19 = 69.
If A & B are in a competition then, B’s net 69 will beat A’s net of
70 even though they have both played
to their handicaps.
In order to equalize the situation, it is necessary to take the difference in ratings from the
white vs. blue tees into account. In the example above, that rating difference
is 70.45 – 69.0 = 1.45. The theoretically correct adjustment in this situation
is then to add 1 stroke to A’s handicap (playing from the more highly rated
tees) moving it to 20 in which case his adjusted net score
becomes 89 – 20 = 69. Then A and B will tie – the proper result when
each has played to his course handicap.
4. Adjustments for
Different
The previous section describes the theoretically correct adjustments
when 2 competitors play from different tees. On Mondays, however, we have
players using 4 different tees and only one overall game so it becomes
essentially impractical to follow the foregoing procedure.
Therefore, it was decided to adjust the handicaps of all players to
what, for lack of a better term, is called a ‘Blue Base’. In a nutshell, the methodology adjusts the
handicap of each non-blue player to what it would be if he did play from the blues. For the following
purposes, the ratings for the 2 courses have been averaged and look as follows:
Blues = (70.7 + 70.2) / 2 = 70.45
Whites = (69.4 + 68.6) / 2 = 69.0
Yellows = (66.1 + 66.0) / 2 = 66.05
Oranges = (65.1 + 64.3) / 2 = 64.7
Reds = (63.0 + 62.6) / 2 = 62.8
Obviously, then, no adjustment is required when a blue tee player first
joins the group – i.e. his starting handicap is the one on the Sunningdale
system for Robinson blue tees. When a non-blue
tee player first joins the group, however, his starting handicap is
(i) the formula handicap from his usual tees minus
(ii) the difference in ratings for his usual tee blocks and the blue
rating (70.45).
Thus, the deduction described in (ii) is
(a) (70.45 – 69.0) = 1.45 or 1 stroke if he plays from whites
(b) (70.45 – 66.05) = 4.4 or 4 strokes if he plays from yellows,
(c) (70.45 – 64.7) = 5.75 or 6 strokes if he plays from the oranges
&
(c) (70.45 – 62.8) = 7.65 or 8 strokes if he plays from reds.
Thereafter, changes in his handicap depend solely on his quota point
totals from Monday to Monday as explained in Section 2 above.
5. Shifting from Usual
Sometimes, a player may wish to play from a different set of tees than
his usual. This may happen for various reasons but more often than not it’s
because otherwise he would be the only one playing from his usual tees in his
group that day. It is preferred that this kind of shift involves moving up or
down only one set of blocks –
e.g. blue/white to white/blue, white/yellow to yellow/white or yellow/red to
red/yellow although orange/red to red/orange may be acceptable.
When a player uses a different set of blocks than usual, adjustments to
his normal Monday handicap must be made. Once again, the following adjustments
have been developed assuming each player has an average index value of 18 as described in Section 2, Monday
Handicapping Methodology.
(a) Blue/White Shifts
Suppose a player usually uses white tees. Based on the numbers for an
average index of 18, his formula white tee handicap would be 19 and his starting Monday handicap (if he
were new to the group) would then be 19 – 1 = 18 as per Section 4.
That same player’s formula and
Monday handicap would be 19 from the blue
tees. Therefore, if he decides to play from blue tees on a given day
then the equitable adjustment for him is to add 1 stroke to his normal Monday card handicap (i.e. to
adjust the formula 18 white handicap to the corresponding 19 handicap from
blues).
Similarly, the adjustment for a blue tee player who switches to whites
on a given day is to reduce
the Monday card handicap by 1 stroke (i.e. from 19 to 18).
(b) White/Yellow Shifts
A player who usually uses the white tees has, as described in (a) above,
a starting Monday handicap of 19 – 1 = 18. His formula handicap from yellow tees would be 18 as per
Section 2 and his starting Monday
handicap if he played yellows would then be 18 – 4 = 14 as per the rule in
Section 4.
The foregoing, therefore, indicates that the equitable adjustment for a
white tee player who decides to use yellows on a given day is to reduce his Monday card (white)
handicap by 4 strokes (to
adjust his theoretical starting Monday white handicap of 18 to the
corresponding theoretical yellow handicap of 14). Similarly, the adjustment for
a yellow tee player using whites on a given day is to add 4 strokes to his Monday card handicap.
(c) Yellow/Red Shifts
A player who usually uses the yellow tees has, as described in (b)
above, a starting Monday handicap of 18 – 4 = 14. That player’s formula handicap
from red tees would be 17 as per Section 2 and his starting Monday handicap if
he played reds would then be 17 – 8 = 9 as per the rule in Section 4.
The foregoing, therefore, indicates that the equitable adjustment for a
yellow tee player who decides to use reds on a given day is to reduce the Monday card (yellow)
handicap by 5 strokes (to
adjust his theoretical starting Monday yellow 14 handicap to the corresponding
theoretical red handicap of 9). Similarly, the adjustment for a red tee player
using yellows on a given day is to add
5 strokes to his Monday card handicap.
(d) Yellow/Orange Shifts
A player who usually uses the yellow tees has, as described in (b)
above, a starting Monday handicap of 18 – 4 = 14. That player’s formula
handicap from orange tees would be 18 as per Section 2 and his starting Monday
handicap if he played oranges would then be 18 – 6 = 12 as per the rule in
Section 4.
The foregoing, therefore, indicates that the equitable adjustment for a
yellow tee player who decides to use oranges on a given day is to reduce the Monday card (yellow)
handicap by 2 strokes (to
adjust his theoretical starting Monday yellow 14 handicap to the corresponding
theoretical red handicap of 12). Similarly, the adjustment for an orange tee
player using yellows on a given day is to add
2 strokes to his Monday card handicap.
(e) Orange/Red Shifts
A player who usually uses the orange tees has, as described in (d)
above, a starting Monday handicap of 18 – 6 = 12. That player’s formula
handicap from red tees would be 17 as per Section 2 and his starting Monday
handicap if he played reds would then be 17 – 8 = 9 as per the rule in Section
4.
The foregoing, therefore, indicates that the equitable adjustment for an
orange tee player who decides to use reds on a given day is to reduce the Monday card (orange)
handicap by 3 strokes (to
adjust his theoretical starting Monday orange 12 handicap to the corresponding
theoretical red handicap of 9). Similarly, the adjustment for a red tee player
using yellows on a given day is to add
3 strokes to his Monday card handicap.
6. Revised Quota Point
Counts
Following a number of years using the quota point counts
of 4 for birdies and 8 for eagles set out in Section 1, some concerns were
raised that it favoured the lower handicap players. As a result, the following
system was used on a trial basis for 2007 which was subsequently extended to
2008.
1 for bogey
2 for par
3 for birdie and
6 for eagle (we actually used 5 for 2007).
Studies of the results for 2006, 2007 and 2008 under
the original 1-2-4-8 method and above test basis were conducted. In essence, it
was found that the latter tended to do a better job of evening out the
financial fortunes of players across all handicap groupings and thus seemed to
be a fairer system.
The major conclusion of the studies, however, was that
there is no one perfect solution and when the matter was posed to those present
at the 2008 closing lunch, they unanimously agreed that the current (1-2-3-6)
method should be adopted permanently. Replies from a number of others who
couldn’t attend the lunch basically also confirmed that decision. Therefore,
that method continued until the 2014 season.
However, a number of members still felt that the more
typical 1-2-4-8 points formula in this area was preferable. After another
analysis of recent results for the group, it was concluded that, in fact, there
was little bias created for any particular handicap grouping under either
method. Consequently, the quota point
formula is returning to that original basis effective with the 2015 season.
Effective with the 2016 season, however, the points
for eagle are being reduced to 6 from 8.
7. Game Fee and Paypoints
After remaining at $3 for many years, the game fee was raised to $4 effective with the
2013 season. At the conclusion of the 2019 season, it was
passed at the closing luncheon, that the game fee would be increased to
$5, effective with the 2020 season. This was due to the fact that the Tip Fund (see Section 8) had dipped
considerably due to a decrease in the number of games played and due to discrepancies
between the game fee collected each week with the actual amount in the “blue
bag”. It was agreed that $5 was more easily reconcilable. The Tip Fund was increased from $0.25 per
person to $0.50 per person.
After all scores are turned in for a given day, those
with more than 36 quota points are winners and they share in the distributable game fees on a pro
rata basis. Specifically, each quota point in excess of 36 is called a ‘paypoint’ and each winner is
paid a portion of said distributable game fees equal to the ratio of his
paypoints to the total paypoints for the day. When the game fee was increased
to $5, a deduction of $0.50 per player was introduced to augment Tip Fund and
this is deducted from the game fees to determine the distributable total for the
day.
Dividing the total paypoints into the resulting
distributable fee total for the day determines how much each paypoint is worth
and this is called the ‘paypoint
value’. However, in order to avoid payouts involving pennies, nickels
or dimes the paypoint value is rounded to the next lower $0.50. This usually
will mean that not all of the distributable amount is paid out in winnings that
day so the excess becomes an addition to the ‘Tip Fund’. More about this in Section 8 below.
To illustrate, suppose there are 60 players on a given
day so the game fees total $300. Therefore, the distributable fees after the
$0.50 per player Tip Fund deduction amount to $300 - $30 = $270. Suppose also
that there are 15 winners that day and that they accumulate a grand total of 71
paypoints.
The paypoint value is thus $270/71 = $3.80 but
rounding to the next lower $0.50 makes it $3.50.
A player who had 39 quota points – i.e. 3 paypoints –
would then receive 3 x $3.50 = $10.50 in winnings.
The total payout for the day would then be 71 x $3.50
= $248.50 which leaves an excess over the game fees of $300 - $248.50 = $51.50
to go into the Tip Fund ($30 of this being the direct deduction at $0.50 per
player).
8. Tip Fund
Our group is not an official ‘league’ sanctioned by
Sunningdale. We were told that we could
become such a league but that his would mean that
(a) we would have to play for pro shop credits and
that
(b) it would have to run all day and be open to anyone
who wanted to play.
However, our membership unanimously rejected this
format.
Because of varying tee times, several of our groups
finish before our executive can get into the clubhouse. Therefore, we need some
means for those early finishers to leave their scorecards and game fees for
later pickup. (The pro shop is not able to perform this duty for
non-Sunningdale leagues.) Fortunately, we were able to appeal to and receive
agreement from the Captain’s Room
staff to leave the cards and money with them until executive reps come
in. In addition, the starters
are of great help as they look after our prepared scorecards until picked up by
members of the various groups and can also inform us whether certain players
have or have not arrived at the Club yet.
In order to recognize this very valuable assistance,
we provide a gratuity to the Captain’s Room and Starter staff each year. To
this end, the $0.25 contribution per player on a given game day is expensed
directly to the Tip Fund along with any excess game fees over distributable
amounts as illustrated in Section 7. The respective staffs are always most
appreciative of this recognition.
9.
Monday Draws and Booking Duties
The draw for a given Monday
morning’s play is generally made on Wednesday of the preceding week. While a
spreadsheet is maintained to track each member’s playing partners through the
season in order to try to maximize exposure to as many other members as
possible, that objective can’t always be attained.
(a) Late cancellations will
usually necessitate modifications to scheduled groupings in order to optimize
the number of foursomes as best as possible.
(b) In addition, we have
some members who, for various reasons, require relatively early or late tee
times and consequently, the men in such groups will tend not to be able to play
with each other very often.
One member of each grouping
is selected to be the Booker
and this is signified by a ‘B’ following that player’s name on the draw list.
Should the Booker not be able to perform the job, he is required to contact
another member of his group to take over the duty. In any event, whoever does
the booking needs to get into the SunRez
system as soon after 9PM Thursday night as possible because Monday
morning tee times disappear quickly.
As of 2018, the SunRez
system takes tee reservations seven (7) days ahead, starting at 8:15 PM of the
preceding Monday.
10.
Non-Playing Dates
No Monday play occurs on
statutory holidays. In addition, there will be occasional dates when large
tournaments may take place on one of the courses on a Monday and we usually
don’t play on those days either. The reason for the latter is that with
everyone else going for the available course, we end up with tee times that
tend to run extremely late – e.g. up to or past 11AM – and many of our members will opt out of
these or ask if they can be switched, especially in the hot summer season.
The group will be notified
of the foregoing dates in advance. There will also be advance reminders of the
annoying but necessary course aeration dates and we normally try to book times
for the course on which work is not being done. Sometimes this work may be
restricted to the less disruptive solid tine fairway aeration on one course in
which case that course may be booked. On such occasions as well as in certain
others (e.g. unusually wet conditions), special rules such as lift, clean and
place will be permitted and these will be announced to members as well.