SOS Golf Tour Rules

The SOS Golf Tour Rules:

These are the governing rules of the SOS Golf Tour:

1. You must at all costs adhere to the R&A Rules of golf unless the Sultans of Swing Golf Tour requires you to do otherwise. The SOS Tour rules supersede those of the R&A 
2. The Chairman’s decision is final regarding rules, regulation fines and SOS Tour dependent decisions.
3. 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.

i.      If you do not have a SOS golf short, you must wear one of the same colour until you have one. Your fine is doubled for the wrong colour shirt.

ii.      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.

iii.      If you have ordered a golf shirt from the Chairman, but have not paid for it, YOU will take the fine

iv.      If you have ordered the shirt from the Chairman, and paid for it, but the Chairman has not ordered it, the CHAIRMAN will have the fine.

v.      If you have ordered the SOS Golf shirt from the Chairman, and paid for it, and the chairman has ordered your shirt, then you will split the fine half and half between you and the Chairman

b. The Nickname on your golf shirt will be chosen by the Tour and not by yourself

4. You must give 2 weeks’ notice if you are not playing the next round of the SOS Golf Tour.

5. You must arrive at the time given by the Chairman and not just before your tee time.

a. 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.

b. Arriving last is a yellow fine

c. Arriving late, AND after Chip is a yellow fine, even if you are not last

d. Arriving after the first person has gone off, is a Red fine

e. Arriving late for your scheduled tee time and missing your tee off is a black fine, as long as you are still able to tee off with the group

f. Arriving so late that you miss all the fourballs teeing off is a Crumbler

g. Not showing up at all is a FUBAR fine of the Tour’s choice and may result in a points deduction or expulsion from the Tour.

6. 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.

7. If the leaders of a particular round tie at the top of the leader board, the to 3 will be divided and only the top 3.

a. Highest score on the BACK 9, holes (10 – 18)

b. If back 9 scores are the same – a par 5 Countout

c. If the par 5s are the same – a par 3 countout

d. If they still cannot be divided – it is a tie and the points are combined and divided – each player takes the fine.

8. Missing a Round:

a. Unlike in 2012, if a player misses a round they will not be scored zero points, instead, they will get the points for coming last, plus the total number of points they have scored in the Tour so far, divided by the number of events played. That score is then added to their previous round’s total for a new combined score.

b. Example: Player A has amassed 415 points in 5 rounds of the Tour and misses the sixth round. For round six, he will be awarded 51 points, to be added to his already amassed 415 points. The new total is 466 (415 {so far} + 51 {for missing a round})  That new number is divided by 6 to calculate their round 6 score (number of rounds in the SOS Tour completed up to and before date of absence for this example is 6). Their score for round six is: 466/6 = 77.7 (rounded up) 78 points. [below 0.5 will be rounded down] Therefore: 78 points for round 6 will be added to 415 points for rounds 1 – 5 for a new league score of 493 points.

9. Celphones are allowed on the course, but if using them infringes on your fellow player’s round, you will be fined accordingly

a. Celphones must remain on silent at all times, both during the round and during fines

b. Celphones may NOT be used during fines meeting

10. 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.

11. Taking a cart when it is not essential is worthy of a yellow fine.

12. Having a Pull Cart is allowed, but would require a Red Fine.

13. Taking a caddie is allowed, however said caddie may not assist you in putting

14. Other Fines:

a. Anti-fines:

i. If an individual disputes an anti-fine, the Tour votes on whether the fine must be taken.

ii. If the tour cannot be split, the Chairman’s vote breaks a tie

iii. If the tour decides in favour of the fine, it must be taken by the accused

iv. If the tour finds in favour of the accused, the accuser must have the fine

v. Once a decision is made, the person being fined will have 2 minutes to complete the fine or face another drink or payment penalty.

15. The entire tour must wait around the 18^th or last green until the last person has dropped his last putt.

16. Fines are divided into five categories:

a. Green Fines – These require the player to finish a quarter of a glass of beer for the offence

b. Yellow Fines – These require the player to finish half a beer for the offence

c. Red Fines – These require the player to finish a full beer for the offence

d. Black Fines – These require the player to finish a Tour favourite Chunky Charlie for the offence

e. FUBAR Fines – These extremely serious fines require the player to finish a Rumbler, Cumbler or Strumbler for the offence

17. Buying Fines:

a. A green fine will cost R10, or you must take the fine

b. A yellow fine will cost R15, or you must take the fine

c. A Red fine will cost R25, or you must take the fine

d. A Black Fine will cost R50, or you must take the fine

e. A FUBAR fine will cost:

i.      R100 for a rumbler

ii.      R125 for a crumbler

iii.      R200 for a Strumbler

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

19. What makes a fine:

1. The beers of choice for the Tour are Hansa Pilsner and Castle Lite

a. A Chunky Charlie is a full beer with a shot of Amarula

b. A Rumbler is a full beer with a shot of Rum

c. A Crumbler is a full beer with a shot of Amarula and rum

d. A Strumbler is a full beer with a shot of Amarula and Stroh rum

20. Interrupting the chairman during a fines meeting is a green fine.

a. Multiple offences means the fine will double

21. The Chairman relinquishes all authority during anti-fines and has to accept any fine unless 14 (a)(i) is enforced.

22. Ladies Tees:

a. Hitting a ball out of bounds off the tee will constitute a ladies tee fine

i. It will only apply to the original shot and not the dropped ball

ii. However, if the dropped ball also goes out of bounds, that is another fine for ladies tee

b. Hitting a ball into the hazard off the tee is ONLY a ladies fine if the drop zone is before the ladies tee

c. A freshie on the tee box is a ladies tee for every freshie

23. Golf is a gentlemen’s sport and as such any behavior 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.

a. Suspensions can range from 1 game – 3 games

b. Expulsion is permanent and will only be brought up for discussion at the AGM at the end of the year

c. 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.

24. Golf on a SOS Tour scheduled course is not permitted within a week, 7 days prior to, the SOS round scheduled to be played there. The fine is to be decided upon by the Tour members.

25. Submission of work for the SOS Golf Tour Website

a. A late submission is not punishable if the webmaster is notified that the submission will be late, provided there is good reason.

b. A late submission (under 1 week) without letting the webmaster know is punishable with a red fine. (Full Beer)

c. A submission that is more than 1 week is punishable with a black fine. (Chunky Charlie)

d. Any submission that is more than 2 weeks late is punishable by a FUBAR fine. (Strumbler)

e. It is an additional shot of Stoh for every week after 2 weeks we are made to wait.

f. 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.