The SOS Tour Rules:

Official SOS Golf Shirt for 2014 Season according to Tour Rules — Tour Rules dictate that an Official SOS Golf Shirt must be worn

These are the governing rules of the SOS Golf Tour:

General Tour Rules

You must at all costs adhere to the R&A Rules of golf unless the Sultans of Swing Golf Tour Rules requires you to do otherwise. The SOS Tour rules supersede those of the R&A.
The Chairman’s decision is final regarding rules, regulation fines and SOS Tour dependent decisions.
SOS Golf Shirts – You must wear an SOS official Golf shirt at all times, both during the round of play and at the fines meeting.
1. Should you not have a SOS golf shirt, you must wear one of the same colour until you have one. Your fine is doubled for the wrong colour shirt.
2. If you do not have an SOS Golf shirt, it is YOUR responsibility to order one from the chairman and pay for it up front.
3. if you have ordered a golf shirt from the Chairman, but have not paid for it, YOU will take the fine
4. when you have ordered a shirt from the Chairman, and paid for it, but the Chairman has not ordered it from the supplier, the the CHAIRMAN will have the fine for no shirt – this applies to EVERY PLAYER – a black fine (see fines)
5. If the shirts are not available for the first round – F*&k the chairman up
6. If the Chairman is Dwain – double any fine given to him
7. The Nickname on your golf shirt will be chosen by the Tour and not by yourself
Supporting any other national team, other than South Africa in any sporting event is a black fine offence minimum. It is considered a special fine carrying a minimum fine of black.

Time Keeping Tour Rules

You must give 2 weeks’ notice if you are not playing the next round of the SOS Golf Tour – cancelling during the week of tour will result in minus points – not zero points
You must arrive at the time given by the Chairman and not just before your tee time.
1. The Chairman is responsible for being there 5 minutes before the given arrival time and does not have to be there first, he just has to be there early.
2. Arriving last is a yellow fine
3. If you are late, AND after Chip, it is a red fine, even if you are not last
4. Arriving after the first person has gone off, is a black fine
5. Arriving late for your scheduled tee time and missing your tee off is a Crumbler
6. Not showing up at all is a FUBAR fine of the Tour’s choice and may result in a points deduction

Scoring Rules

We follow the official scoring system of the tour as laid out here: https://sosgolf.co.za/about-sos/the-sos-scoring-system/
In the result of a tie of points on the leader board, the scores achieved will be added together and split evenly amongst all the people sharing that position.
1. There is no sharing the winner’s points – see rule 7 for division
If the leaders of a particular round tie at the top of the leader board, there will be a count out.
1. Highest score on the BACK 9, holes (10 – 18)
2. If back 9 scores are the same – a par 5 Count out
3. Should the par 5s also be the same – a par 3 count out
4. If they still cannot be divided – it is a tie and the points are combined and divided – each player takes the fine.
Missing a Round:
1. Your top 11 out of 12 scores will be given to accumulate your year’s total
2. You are allowed to miss one round a year without it affecting your position on the leaderboard
  1. You cannot miss a round on YET. All YET rounds count
3. If a player wins a round, major or normal, and doesn’t attend the fines meeting, there will be no count out – the player attending the fines meeting will win the round.
4. If you miss a round you get zero points
Missing Fines – Should a player miss more than one fines session in a row, his points will be halved from the second fines session onwards
Not completing a round due to bad weather or bad light will mean your score will be calculated according to average number of points you have gotten per hole you have completed. This will then be added to your total.
Should any dispute arise with scoring, the final decision rests with the Chairman as votes never go the way of the accused
Half attendance = half points
The scoring of points is only valid if you tee during the official tee times of that round
1. no “earlier” times or later times or times on another day
Scoring on YET carries it’s own rules. Points for YET carry more weight than a regular round.
1. Average scoring does not work for YET rounds – so rain outs mean 0 points for everyone
2. YET round points are not halved
3. All 3 YET rounds count towards your annual score – so missing a YET round does affect your top 12 scores

Fines Meetings and general Fines rules:

1. Celphones are allowed on the course, but if using them infringes on your fellow player’s round, you will be fined accordingly
  1. Phones must remain on silent at all times, both during the round and during fines
  2. Phones may NOT be used during fines meeting
2. Taking a cart when it is not essential is worthy of a yellow fine.
3. Having a Pull Cart is allowed, but would require a Red Fine.
4. Taking a caddie is allowed, however said caddie may not assist you in putting
  1. If your caddie gets an SOS fine, you must take it. (including all BOX fines)

Other Fines:

Anti-fines:
1. If an individual disputes an anti-fine, the Tour votes on whether the fine must be taken.
2. When the tour cannot be split, the Chairman’s vote breaks a tie
3. If the tour decides in favour of the fine, it must be taken by the accused
4. Should the tour finds in favour of the accused, the accuser must have the fine
  1. Once a decision is made, the person being fined will have 2 minutes to complete the fine or face another drink or payment penalty.

The entire tour must wait around the 18th or last green until the last person has dropped his last putt.
Fines are divided into five categories:
1. Green Fines – These require the player to finish a quarter of a glass of beer for the offence
2. Yellow Fines – These require the player to finish half a beer for the offence
3. Red Fines – These require the player to finish a full beer for the offence
4. Black Fines – These require the player to finish a Tour favourite Chunky Charlie for the offence
5. Special Fines – these are fine dependant and require the player to take the nominated drink (OB, OJ)
6. FUBAR Fines – These extremely serious fines require the player to finish a Rumbler, Cumbler or Strumbler for the offence
Buying Fines:
1. Green fines will cost R10, or you must take the fine
2. Yellow fines will cost R15, or you must take the fine
3. Red fines will cost R25, or you must take the fine
4. Black Fines will cost R50, or you must take the fine
5. A special fine will cost R75, or you must take the fine
6. A FUBAR fine will cost:
  1. R100 for a rumbler
  2. R125 for a crumbler
  3. R200 for a Strumbler

If you cannot afford the buy-out, you MUST take the fine!

What makes a fine:

The beers of choice for the Tour are Hansa Pilsner and Castle Lite
1. Castle Free or Becks Free for drivers
The Chunky Charlie is a full beer with a shot of Amarula
A Rumbler is a full beer with a shot of Rum
Crumblers are a full beer with a shot of Amarula and rum
A Strumbler is a full beer with a shot of Amarula and Stroh rum
Smirnoff Spins for OJs
Old Brown Sherry for OBs
A Gin-Chunky is a Chunky Charlie with a gin shot dropped in
A dog bowl is a licked shooter of choice, off a saucer – no-hands
A widow-maker: make a Chunky Charlie – let it sit for 60s. Drop in a DBL tequila and slug

Interrupting the chairman/fines master during a fines meeting is a green fine.
1. Multiple offences means the fine will double

The Chairman/fines master relinquishes all authority during anti-fines and has to accept any fine

Clarity around the Ladies Tees:

Hitting a ball out of bounds off the tee will not constitute a ladies tee fine
Hitting a ball into the hazard off the tee is ONLY a ladies fine if the drop zone is before the ladies tee
A freshie on the tee box is a seniors tee for every freshie

Golf is a gentlemen’s sport and as such any behaviour which badly reflects on the Tour’s name and/or good standing will result in an automatic suspension or expulsion depending on the severity of the offence.

Suspensions can range from 1 game – 3 games
Expulsion is permanent and will only be brought up for discussion at the AGM at the end of the year
Offences like destruction of Golf Course Property, swearing at non-tour golfers, excessive “Gunters” that are witnessed by fellow course patrons (outside the Tour) or any offence which is relayed to us by the Pro Shop or Golf Course after a round may be punished by a points deduction

Golf on a SOS Tour scheduled course is not permitted within the week of play the SOS round scheduled to be played there. The weekend prior is permitted, just not the week of or including the scheduled round. The fine is a Chunky Charlie.

Submission of work for the SOS Golf Tour Website

It is requested that SOS Tour members submit a golf related article in their birthday month. Players who are born in December must submit articles by the end of January.

A late submission is not punishable if the webmaster is notified that the submission will be late, provided there is good reason.
Late submissions (under 1 week) without letting the webmaster know is punishable with a red fine. (Full Beer)
A submission that is more than 1 week is punishable with a black fine. (Chunky Charlie)
Any submission that is more than 2 weeks late is punishable by a FUBAR fine. (Strumbler)
It is an additional shot of Stoh for every week after 2 weeks we are made to wait.
If you let the webmaster know you will be late, but have missed any one of the above deadlines without notice, you are still liable for the fines earned, but you are capped at the level you reached by the time of notice.

Guests and non-SOS members who do not have an official handicap will play off an elected handicap within reason, or a tour allocated one of no greater than 24 – depending on skill level

Guests are not eligible to put their name down for longest drive or closest to the pin

Handicaps

The maximum non-official handicap allowed is 24
The maximum official handicap is 27
Player who cancels their golf membership during the year, will play off their best previous handicap
It is at the discretion of the Chairman and committee to cut or adjust handicaps if they feel there is manipulation
Handicap cuts – these cuts are off your handicap from the round you played, or the new lower handicap following a SAGA cut. (never a higher handicap)
1. new from the 2018 season, whatever you shot over 36 points, constitutes the number of shots removed off your handicap for the next round.
  1. 37 points – 1 shot cut
  2. 38 points – 2 shot cut
  3. 39 points – 3 shot cut
  4. 40 points – 4 shot cut
2. You may never play off a higher handicap than a round you took a cut.
  1. if you played off an 18, shot 38 points, but your handicap went up to a 20, you will still play off a 16 for the next round (18-2=16). It is always the lower score following points scored over 36
  2. The cut you take is off the round you played, not the round you are playing*
3. *If you play off a lower handicap in the next round, you take the cut on your lower handicap. i.e. if HNA cuts you to a 16 for the next round, you play off a 14
All SOS members must play off the same tee in a round

The SOS Fines Master

Since the 2014 Season, a Fine’s Master will be appointed for every round
The Fine’s Master will take the Chairman’s responsibility from each fines meeting
The player that finishes 13th in a round will be Fine’s Master for the following round
Should more than one player be tied for 13th, then a count out similar to that for winner will be done to determine the Fine’s Master
The Chairman will be Fine’s Master for the SOS Major Championship as well as the final round on Year End Tour
If a tournament is hosted by someone in specific (Richard Gaugeler – Gaugeler Cup) (Chris Williams – Beagle Cup), then the host is Fine’s Master by default
Fine’s Master is responsible for taking any and all fines in accordance with the rules of the SOS Golf Tour