Rules – The Cleveland Cup

General

The Cleveland Cup is a recreational, traveling men’s league that brings together golfing friends to compete at courses throughout Greater Cleveland with Central, South, East and West courses each month. The league of mostly mid- to high-handicappers offers flexible play, giving an even playing field to friends whether they have a life that somehow allows them to play every day or they struggle to sneak out to nearby courses a few times a month.

Season Format

2024 Regular Season

The 2024 regular season will consist of four courses per month for April through August with a roughly even number of courses in each region – central, east, south and west. Courses can be played any time during the month as long as the round is witnessed by at least one other league member. Each player’s two best finishes for the month will count for Cleveland Cup points, which will be the basis for seeding in the playoffs.

For ties in seeding, cup-point ties will be settled by winner of the most (in the following order) major wins, tour event wins, additional event wins, most events played for this season, most events played career, coin toss.

2024 Playoffs

In the 2024 season, the playoffs will be settled over four weeks of play. The flexibility of the regular season will carry over into the first two weeks of the playoffs: Players can play those two playoff courses any time during the designated week. However, the final two weeks of the playoffs will require players to show up for play at specific times.

Playoffs Week 1
- Front 9 – Round of 32
- Back 9: Sweet 16
Playoffs Week 2 – Elite 8
Playoffs Week 3: Final Four played in head to head
Playoffs Week 4 will coincide with the season-finale team event, the 36-hole Viray Cup. During the morning round of the Viray Cup, the two individual finalists will play for the individual championship while their rounds count for team scores, too.

Ties during the playoffs will be settled by player seeding, which as described above is based on regular-season cup points. Does that give an advantage to players who play in and win in the regular season? Absolutely. Challengers are gonna have to bring it.

2024 Viray Cup

A 36-hole team event with the 2023 Red Team and 2023 Blue Team plus free agents and rookies who complete at least four events.

Members / New Players

New players are most welcome during the off season but will also be considered during the course of the season, although the later they join the fewer opportunities to accumulate cup points (see below).

For a new guy to join the league, he just needs two members to say they’ve played with him and he’s not a complete asshole.

The league has been asked whether a rookie may invite other rookies to join the league. On the one hand, a rookie or any member need only play with at least one other league member. That leaves two places for a second twosome, which could include any league member(s) or non-league member(s) you choose. However, to officially join the league, a player needs to have two league members vouch for the guy. That’s easy enough, just invite the prospective rookies to play with yourself, the league member who brought you into the league and one other league member.

Tee Times

You can play any time during the designated month of play; however, you need at least one other league member to play with you to verify the score/round. If you foresee that being a problem, there’s an easy solution, get your buddy who you would play with to join the league. Problem solved.

Add or join a tee time on the Tee Times page.

Scoring – On The Course

Players are expected to keep their score and number of putts on each hole. Also, on par 3s, if you hit the green on your tee shot, measure your distance to the hole.

If you are more than 20 feet, then you need at least a bogey for it to count.
If you are under 20 feet, then you need a par for it to count.

There will be some complaints about this, and we hear ya. But that’s what the founder said, and that’s the way it is.

Submitting Scores

At the end of the round:

Players will enter their scores into a Google sheet or get a friend who will enter them. Here’s a link to the submit scores.
Players will submit a picture of their scorecard from the course or from the app they use. If you’re in a group, it would make sense for one person to keep the official scorecard and submit for the group. You have one of two ways to submit the scorecard
1. Upload a picture to the Google Drive folder called “Scorecards”
1. Text a copy to the Commissioner and/or Chief Data Officer and they will put it into the folder.
If both scorecard and manual submission are not in, then the round doesn’t count.
Commissioner and Chief Data Officer are not responsible for entering scores.

Look, people make mistakes so if #1 and #2 do not match, your group may be asked to clarify a score.

For points purposes, player finishes will be determined by the end of the first full week of the month after the month of play. Once that is decided then any inaccuracies are history. We won’t go back and fix prior events.

Course Rules

Tees

We will typically play tees that are between 6200-6400 yards. The season schedule will be updated with the tees to play before May 1.

Generally, a league of mid- to high-handicappers, we shouldn’t be playing from the tips. For example, at Ironwood we played the blacks at 6,364. We should have played the blues at 6,067. The tips bring more hazards into play and make for a slew of monster par 3s.

When there are three tee boxes, we’ll play the middle unless the middle is less than 6,000 yards.

Manakiki has 4 tee boxes, the third (blues) exceeds 6,000 yards so we’ll play the blues.
Springvale has 4 tee boxes, but only one of them is more than 6,000 yards. We’ll play the blues.:

If the yards are ever different than the schedule read:

If we say 6,400 for the blues but you get to the course and they are actually 6,200 and the next tees up are 6,600, pick the tees that are the shorter of the two distances.

Breakfast Ball

You are allowed one breakfast ball off the first box only – absolutely no mulligans after that. If you exercise your option to hit a breakfast ball off the first tee, then you can’t claim it later. Again, no mulligans after the breakfast ball. Tough shit.

If you hit a breakfast ball, you can stick with your original shot or keep the breakfast ball. That is to say that if you hit a breakfast ball, you don’t have to use it.

If you have a dick starter and he says no breakfast balls, then hit two. Fuck that guy. But, for league purposes, only the first one can be played.

Lies

Lift. Clean. And replace. But don’t improve your lie. This means if your ball just rolled into the rough, you can’t place it back on the fairway, or if you’re in the tall shit, you must hit out of tall shit, etc.

Also, while you can use the lift-clean-replace rule to move off, for example, a tree root in order to avoid the risk of injury, you cannot move the ball in such a way that you have a better angle at the green. (Commissioner’s ruling from Week 1)

This does not apply for a ball inside a red hazard – you cannot move to a preferred lie if it’s within the red stakes. Play the ball as it lies or take a one stroke drop.

From any man-made object (fence, shed, cartpath) the normal rules of golf apply and you can move a club length as long as it does not improve the position.

Use your judgment, don’t cheat and don’t be a dick

Out of Bounds / Re-Teeing

If a ball is hit out of bounds, we will not re-tee. Estimate where your ball went OB and take a parallel drop for .one stroke. You can’t drop your ball closer to the cup than it already is, but you can move your ball anywhere in the designated drop area – all the way to the fairway parallel to where your ball landed out of bounds, or where you think it might have landed.

Plugged Balls / Leaf Rule

There were some instances last year, and I’m sure many of you can relate, when a ball that should seemingly be in a specific landing area has disappeared. If you have majority agreement from your playing group that the ball was likely plugged/lost in the leaves/picked up by another group, then you can simply take a free drop in that area. If the rest of your playing group don’t agree, then you can simply go fuck yourself and take a stroke.

Putting

No putts for birdie or better may be conceded. If you’re two inches away, tap it in and don’t complain.

Par and higher putts may be conceded at the discretion of the other players. Generally, for pace of play, if it’s in the leather of the putter grip … depending where you’re playing (Sleepy ain’t Ridgewood), it seems like it’d make sense to count it as a gimme, but it’s situational and up to your playing partners.

Maximum Scores

The max score for any hole is 5 over par. If it gets any worse than that, it’s no fun for the player or anyone watching … for pace of play, please consider this depending what shot you’re on. If you are on a par 3 and hitting 6 at the green, drink a beer and relish your generous 8.

Handicaps

2024 Handicap Explanation

Veteran handicaps are based on 2023 league rounds but using the 2024 method (USGA) rather than the old method.

Rookies who enter the league with a GHIN start league play using their GHIN handicap, then going forward league play dictates handicap using the USGA method.

Rookies without a GHIN are welcome. In these cases, the player may submit some scores and/or an estimated handicap. These inputs will be taken into consideration when arriving at a starting handicap.

More information: 2024 Handicaps post in Tour News.

Any questions? Contact CDAO Gabriel Baird.

2023 Handicap Explanation

Thanks to all the new people who have already given me your handicap. Handicaps will be adjusted throughout the season based on play in the league. We’ll aim for monthly updates. If we can do it more frequently we will, depending on the league’s budget which is $0. You get what you pay for. The following is the method that will be used. It is subject to change at the league’s discretion.

When players enter the league, they provide a handicap. For ease of reference, this will be referred to as the Player-Provided Handicap.

Player-Provided Handicaps were derived in a wide range of ways. Some players have GHINs. Some use an app. Guys have been known to use a spreadsheet. Other players said, “I think I’m an __” or “Last year I was __ so I’ll stick with that.” The fact that there’s so much variance in how players arrive at their Player-Provided Handicap just the way it is in a league open to all skill levels.

The duty of the league, as the season progresses, is to level the playing field such that all players are handicapped in the same fashion for league play. The league is going to use a little creativity to get started and, once players have posted enough scores, use a simplified version of the World Handicap System, which was released in or around 2020.

FIRST WEEK PLAYED: When a player enters the league, the player provides a handicap. This Player-Provided Handicap is the handicap the league uses for the player’s first week of play. Players joining after the start of the season will be invited to provide a GHIN, some scores or to submit a round played at a league event before earning cup points or getting into the money games.
IMAGINARY ROUNDS: The league will take the Player-Provided Handicap and calculate what score the player would have had to shoot in three rounds at a stock course (par 72, slope 113) in order to have resulted in the Player-Provided Handicap. The number of Imaginary Rounds is set at three because under the World Handicap System (WHS), which has been used globally since 2020, only 54 holes (four) grounds are needed to establish a handicap. The three imaginary rounds plus Week 1 in the league adds up to 54 holes.
These three imaginary rounds are entered into the log of player scores. A validation is performed to confirm that the imaginary rounds do in fact result in the Player-Provided Handicap.
SCORES FROM LEAGUE PLAY: Player scores reported for the league will be added to the log of player scores.
1. If a player plays a league course multiple times, only one (1) round that the player submits as his league score will be added to the log, not the discarded scores. In this way, playing a course multiple times has pros and cons. PRO: Playing is fun. Playing frequently improves play. A player keeps his best score, increasing his chances of winning cup points, skins, pins and putts. CON: The player’s handicap will go down to a greater degree than if he submitted a higher score. The lower handicap will make subsequent weeks a little more challenging. I don’t think these CONS should result in anyone playing less frequently. But I wanted to be transparent and to nip in the bud before having to hear some guy whine that his 85 was preceded by a 93, a 98 and a 104 and therefore his handicap should not go down.
SCORES AFTER WEEK 1: A combination of the three imaginary rounds and league rounds will be used to update player handicaps as frequently as the CDAO can find the time to perform updates.
Scores will be updated as often as time allows.
When handicaps are updated, here is the method used:
1. Player Week 1: Player-Provided Handicap is used.
1. Player Week 2-3: The three Imaginary Rounds, which were derived from the Player-Provided Handicap, and league rounds from the preceding week(s) are used to recalculate handicaps. Obviously, the score from a given week will not count toward the play in that given week.
1. Player Week 4-9: Starting Week 4, the player will have enough league rounds to calculate a WHS handicap index based solely on league play.
1. Player Week 10-21: The WHS method keeps the best 8 of the most recent 20 scores.
1. Player Week 22+: Only the player’s most recent 20 rounds will be considered when selecting the best eight scores for handicapping.
1. Once the league has five or more league scores for a player, the player’s handicap will be calculated based solely upon league rounds. The imaginary rounds no longer factor into handicap calculations. Because it sounds cool, this will be referred to as the player having his Tour Card.
1. Player Week 9-24: The player’s best 8 league scores will be used to calculate the player’s handicap. By keeping only the player’s best scores, we eliminate the possibility that a sandbagger would intentionally report (or an innocent guy be accused of reporting) higher scores in certain weeks to have an advantage at higher-point events.
1. Assuming the league persists for subsequent seasons, returning players’s league handicaps may carry over from one season to the next.

Money Games

See the Money Games page.

Cup Championship

At the end of the season, a champion will be declared based upon cup points accumulated throughout the regular season and playoffs.

We’ll use the FedEx Cup scoring system, which is available via the PGA Tour media guide. Basically, the handicapped scores of all league players who participate in an event will be ranked in ascending order with the best score at the top and the worst score at the bottom. From there, each player’s finishing position for the event is determined and based on that finishing position, a number of points are determined.

Since we have a less complex league than the PGA tour, we’ll only use three event classes: additional events (max points 300), tour events (max points 500), majors (max points 600) and playoffs (max points 2000).

Your two highest point totals for each month will be your points. For those who will play in more than two events per month, more power to ya. If we need a tie breaker, it will be total points without dropping weeks.

Viray Cup (Team Event)

We’ll cap the season off with a Ryder Cup-style event that the Cleveland Cup calls the Viray Cup in honor of the league founder.

The current Commissioner and Chief Data Officer will pick captains or serve as captains themselves. The captains will then pick the qualifying players, dividing them into two teams.

From there, we’ll have an outing where the two teams play each other.

WHO QUALIFIES
1. Augy, the founder of the league
1. Previous season’s champion
1. League officers (commissioner, CDAO, treasurer)
1. League players who competed in at least 4 events during the current season.
1. Special invites may be agreed upon by unanimous decree by the commissioner, CDAO and Treasurer.
CAPTAINS
1. For the 2024 season, the Commissioner and CDAO will return as captains of the red and blue teams, respectively.
1. If one of them cannot serve then the declining captain will name another player as captain.
TEAMS
Players from the 2023 Viray Cup will keep their team affiliation as the two teams run it back. Other players will be added by picking teams.
PICKING TEAMS:
1. First, the number of players will be determined. Second, the number of players on each team will be made even by mutual agreement of the team captains, then each team captain will get a number of picks such that each team will have the same number of players. The captain for the previous season’s losing team will pick first. The captains will pick teams in alternating numbers (1, 2-3, 4, 5, 6, …)In the event that after the teams have been selected, one or more additional qualifying cup player(s) decide(s) to participate,
  1. The late entrant(s) will be on one team in the morning and the other team in the afternoon.If there is an even number of late entrants, the captains may elect to flip a coin for first pick and draft the late entrants
1. If on the day of the event, the teams are lopsided by 2 or more, the captains may initiate one or more trades to even the numbers. In such an event, the captain with more players will select which player(s) to give the other team.
HANDICAPS
1. Handicaps will be calculated in the same manner as for the entire season, with only league scores counting, except in the event that a qualifying player does not have four league scores (possible for the founder, the previous season’s champ or special invites) in which case non-league scores will be used.
1. To simplify the allocation of strokes on the course during the event,
  1. The player with the lowest handicap will be switched to a 0 handicap. All other player handicaps will be reduced by the lowest handicap.
    1. Example: If Player A has the lowest handicap in our league and that’s a 10 then he becomes a 0 and every other player’s handicap will be reduced by 10.
  1. A chart showing which holes players stroke on will be provided.
LAST YEAR’S SCHEDULE
1. 7:30 AM – Arrival / Pay Club House / Check In – All players are asked to arrive at 7:30 am, giving us time to ensure we have our teams filled out and assure the course we’re a legit league.
1. 7:50 AM – Captains announce final pairings and order for morning
1. 8:00 AM – Morning Rounds Start with tee times every 10 minutes
  1. GAME: 4 ball, handicapped best ball, cart v cart in stroke play
  1. SCORING: 1 point for each winning cart.
1. Short Break: Grab lunch, switch from morning pairings to afternoon pairings
1. 1:10 PM – Captains announce final pairings and order for afternoon
1. 1:20 PM Afternoon Round Start with tee times every 10 minutes
  1. Plan A – Numbers permitting
    1. GAME: Two-man scratch scramble, cart v cart
    1. SCORING: 1 point for each winning cart
  1. Plan B – Numbers do not permit 2-man format
    1. GAME: Four-man scramble
    1. SCORING: 2 points for each winning cart.
1. Afterwards: Beers and trash talk
ALTERNATE FORMATS IN CASE NUMBER OF PLAYERS CAUSES ISSUES
1. Morning Best Ball – in the event of an odd-number of players:
  1. One odd player (Total player: 13, 17, 21, 25)
    1. If the course will let us send out a fivesome
      1. One team has 3 – the threesome picks two players to have their scores count on the front and two players to have their scores count on the back.
      1. Fivesomes are always on probation. Keep it moving!
    1. If the course will not let us send out a fivesome,
      1. We send out a twosome and a threesome. The threesome will play under the rules spelled out above for one odd player. These two groups will play each other but not be able to witness the opposing team; therefore, no gimmes.
    20
  1. Two o0
2
1. 1. dd players (Total player: 14, 18, 22, 26)
    1. Send out one twosome to play 1 on 1 for one point
    1. Playing two fivesomes just sounds like a bachelor party rather than a league.
  1. Three Odd Players (Total player: 15, 19, 23, 29)
    1. 1 v 1 for 1 point. The third player in this group may play his own ball, but it will not count toward team standings. The team with two players may choose to have one count on the front and one on the back, but this must be announced on the front before the first hole and on the back before the 10th hole.
1. Afternoon scratch scramble
  1. One Odd Players (Total player: 13, 17, 21, 25)
    1. Threesome v Twosome:
      1. The threesome rotates which two players take each shot; the other player sits out on those shots.
      1. If the course does not allow a fivesome, then since the twosome and threesome will play without the other team on hand as a witness, no gimmes.
    1. Two Odd Players (Total player: 14, 18, 22, 26)
      1. Switch from 2 man scramble to 4 man scramble with two threesomes.
        The two threesomes play each other; neither team gets to hit twice to simulate a foursome because three on three is already fair.
        Since all play will occur without the other team on hand as a witness, no gimmes.
        Each grouping, whether foursome or threesome, will play against another grouping, specified by captains.
        Since the number of players went from two to four, each victory will be worth 2 points.
    1. Three Odd Players (Total player: 15, 19, 23, 29)
      1. Switch from 2 man scramble to 4 man scramble with one group of three.
      1. Each grouping, whether foursome or threesome, will play against another grouping, specified by captains.
      1. Since the number of players went from two to four, each victory will be worth 2 points.
      1. Since the threesomes will play a foursome, the threesome may alternate allowing one player to hit twice on each shot
      1. Since all play will occur without the other team on hand as a witness, no gimmes.
SCORECARDS
1. During the round each cart should maintain a scorecard
  1. Scorecard example for handicapped morning round:
1. After the round, the two teams should select one of the scorecards to submit.
1. Please take a photo of the scorecard and give it to a team captain.
SETTLING A TIE
1. The goal is to settle this cup at the course on the day of the event, not at another time or place.
1. If the course will allow us to settle it on the course:
  1. Sudden death two-man scramble: Each captain shall select two players to scramble. The resulting foursome plays hole by hole, wherever the starter will let us begin, until one team wins a hole.
1. If we cannot get course permission to send out golfers or if it is past dark,
  1. Scorecard:
    1. Lowest best-ball team score from the morning round,
    1. Lowest team handicap score

In the 2024 season, the playoffs will be played over four weeks. The flexibility of the regular season will carry over into the first two weeks of the playoffs: Players will play those two playoff courses any time during the designated week. However, the final two weeks of the playoffs will require players to show up for play at specific times.

Playoffs Week 1
- Front 9: Round of 32
- Back 9: Round of 16
Playoffs Week 2: Elite 8
Playoffs Week 3: Final Four
Playoffs Week 4 will coincide with the season-finale team event, the 36-hole Viray Cup. During the morning round of the Viray Cup, the two individual finalists will play for the individual championship while their rounds count for team scores, too.