DGA Revised Rules and Regulations

DGA Home Page

Tournament Schedule

Current Standings

Newsletters

Rules and Regulations

Nest Egg

The following are The D.G.A. Revised Rules & Regulations for the 2022 tournament campaign. Each duck is expected to know, understand and abide by all of them.

ETTIQUETTE

The number one goal of the Duck Golf Association is to have fun out on the golf course. Sometimes the heat of competition causes us to lose sight of that. A few gentle reminders about how to keep things fun for everyone:

1.      Most of us occasionally blow an easy putt, chunk a chip or hook one into the next county. And we often, understandably, express our dissatisfaction with such performance verbally. However, such expression should not be audible from four holes away, i.e. not loud enough to disrupt other Ducks on other holes.

2.      Similarly, when we are frustrated with the performance of other players, it is not appropriate to yell or scream at them. If we cannot politely inform the other players of our concerns, we should find a course marshal or DGA officer and discuss our concerns with them, in hopes that they can counsel the other players.

3.      We all love to play well-conditioned courses. Therefore, we should always leave the course in as good or better condition than we found it – repair ballmarks, replace divots, etc. Obviously, this means Ducks do NOT etch obscenities into the greens, or leave sunflower seeds on the greens, or cut cookies in the fairways with golf cars.

TOURNAMENTS

Entry Deadlines

  1. The entry deadline will be 3 weeks prior to each tournament, except for the Migratory and The Duck-off.
  2. Notice of request for refund must be received, in writing, no less than two weeks prior to a tournament.
  3. The total payment for all entrants in a group must accompany the application for each tournament.
  4. Applications not received by the entry deadline will not be accepted.

Tee-Times

  1. Ducks who have pre-paid the full annual dues will have first preference for tee-times after tournament coordinators. Pre-payment to gain preferential tee-times will be allowed only if done prior to the third tournament.
  2. Tee-Times will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, with consideration for extenuating circumstances.
  3. If absolutely necessary to fill the field, "Volunteers" from each threesome will offer or be selected to move to other groups. The first threesomes to enter will be the first filled by such "Volunteers."

Prizes and Prize Money ("Duck-Bucks")

  1. In tournaments where there are both individual stroke (Medal) and team competition, the "prize pond" will be split as equally as possible. The tournament champions from each division will receive championship hardware.
  2. Ties in all tournaments except the Duck-Off will be broken by comparing scorecards, starting with the #1 handicap hole and working down until there is a difference in the net score, with the lower score winning. (R’18)
  1. In team competitions, the prize pond will be further split in two equal halves by team handicaps, flights "A" & "B", to equalize the effects of high and low handicaps.
  2. A partial prepayment of Duck-Bucks is paid for each tournament with the membership application at the beginning of the year. The remaining Duck-Bucks will be paid with each tournament application. (R’98)
  3. All Duck-Bucks collected for each tournament will be re-distributed from the prize ponds.

Rules

The 2022 U.S.G.A. Rules of Golf will govern play in all D.G.A tournaments, except as modified below.

1.      The Committee employs the "Modified Lost Ball" rule at all tournaments. All unmaintained parts of the course (e.g. the woods) that are not staked as O.B. are declared to be red penalty areas. If a ball is hit into one of these areas, all the USGA rules for red penalty areas apply. So the player may elect to drop a ball in the maintained part of the course, within two club lengths of the point of entry into the unmaintained area (no closer to the hole), under penalty of one stroke. (R’19)

2.      Best-Ball or Partners will be allowed to engage in advice and counsel. If this results in slow play, the appropriate penalty will be assessed. Obviously, advice and counsel rule will not be allowed in The Duck-Off.

3.      When a team competition is being played simultaneously with individual stroke play competition, the rules of the team competition take precedence over those for individual stroke play. (R’99)

4.      Just like the pros, Ducks will be allowed to remove and clean a plugged ball anywhere (through the green) except in a hazard. A plugged ball in a hazard must be played as it lies, unless an unplayable lie rule is invoked (one-stroke penalty).

5.      The U.S.G.A. rules related to "honors" are hereby waived to eliminate slow play. Play when ready, if such play does not disrupt a fellow competitor.

6.      The committee reserves the right to invoke Winter Rules/Preferred Lie at any tournament, on the recommendation of the Head Pro at the course. We will follow the "through the green" recommendation of the PNGA for Preferred Lies:

With the “through the green” rule, a ball lying on a closely mown area (aka fairway) through the green may be lifted without penalty and cleaned. Having lifted the ball, the player must place it on a spot within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than where it originally lay.

A ball lying outside the closely mown area (aka rough) may be lifted without penalty and cleaned. Once lifted, the player must place it on a spot within six inches of and not nearer the hole, than where it originally lay, that is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In both areas, before lifting the ball, the player must mark its position. If the player fails to mark the position of the ball before lifting it or moves the ball in any other manner, such as rolling it with a club, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke.

IMPORTANT NOTE 2:  A player may not take relief if it is clearly unreasonable to a make a stroke at the ball in its original position. Basically, if the player has no shot, there is no improving the lie.

The penalty for violating this rule is 2 strokes. (R’00, R’05, R’07, R'11)

7.      The "Ugly Duck" rule is adopted for all point tournaments, except The Duck-off, to prevent slow play.

a.       On any hole, the player may pick up the ball after reaching 4 strokes over par for the hole, including penalties. In other words, the player can pick up:

·         After 7 strokes on a par 3

·         After 8 strokes on a par 4

·         After 9 strokes on a par 5

Note this is gross strokes (not net).

b.      If a player chooses to continue playing the hole after reaching the Ugly Duck limit, i.e. does not pick up, the player must count all actual strokes taken. (R’23)

8.      Because the DGA may conduct tournaments under wet conditions that would halt a USGA tournament, upon a foursome’s reasonable determination that a ball has come to rest in the fairway being played and the ball is subsequently determined to be lost, the player may substitute another ball without penalty. The substitute ball will be dropped at the point closest to where the original ball is estimated to have come to rest. If it cannot be reasonably determined that the ball has come to rest in the fairway being played, the player will incur the appropriate penalty under the USGA rule, 27-1, for a lost ball, as modified by Duck Golf Association rules. (R’06)

9.      The use of distance measuring devices, such as GPS-based systems and laser rangefinders, is permitted in DGA tournament play. (R’06)

10.  Stroke and Distance rule: If a ball is hit out of bounds (OB), the player can take the normal stroke-and-distance penalty OR take a 2-stroke penalty and drop a ball in the fairway at the spot nearest to where the ball crossed the OB boundary (but no closer to the hole). (R’19)

11.  Play It Forward rule: players who meet the “Rule of 85” can elect to play from the forward tees. This election must be made at the beginning of the season and applies to all stroke-play tournaments. Players will be allowed one “mulligan” – after playing one or more tournaments, if a player decides they made the wrong choice, they can change it. The Rule of 85 is calculated by adding the player’s handicap index as of April 1 to their age as of their birthday in the given year; if the result is 85 or higher, the player can choose to play it forward. (R’20)

Slow Play

  1. A tournament round of golf over 5 hours is absurd. Each duck has the responsibility to help the foursome keep pace with the previous group.
  2. Until this rule is changed or replaced with another Rule on this issue, the DGA has established a penalty of one stroke for slow play as follows:
    1. The definition of “Out of Position” means a group has fallen behind the group in front of it by one or more hole(s), and does not get back into an “In Position” condition, within the play of the next two holes.
    2. The definition of “In Position” means that the player with honors is ready to hit the next shot, when the group in front of them has hit their shots and is proceeding toward their balls.
    3. Each time a group of players becomes Out of Position, each of the players in the group must self-assess upon themselves a penalty of one stroke.
    4. Since this may occur more than once in a tournament, each time the Out of Position condition occurs during a tournament, as defined above, each player must again self-assess upon themselves a penalty of one stroke.
    5. The application of this rule is no different from any USGA rule or DGA local rule.  Failure to play by the terms of this rule is violation of USGA Rule 1-3, Agreement to Waive the Rules.  The penalty for breach of this rule is disqualification.
  3. Winners (?) of "The Slug-Eater Award" for slow play will be assigned the last tee-time for the next-attended tournament. Nominees will be confirmed by the course marshal and/or The Committee. Chronic slow-ducks will be relegated to a "Duce-non-Grata" ("Duck without Honor") status the following year.

Self-Scoring Ducks

  1. Each foursome will enter its own score into the D.G.A. computer at the tournament. The completed scorecards will be placed into the official Score Card Box. Once the score card is in the Box, it is official.
  2. Volunteers to help pick up after a tournament are welcomed.

DIVISIONS

Equal Divisions

The D.G.A. will be split into three divisions, split as equally as possible: (1) Huey, (2) Dewey and (3) Louie, based on the handicap index. (R’19)

Molting (Changing Divisions)

  1. As a result of handicap index changes, ducks will "Molt" (change divisions) when there is movement of the break points between the divisions.
  2. Such "Molting" will continue until the freezing of the Flock's divisions after the FIFTH regular point tournament. (R'03)
  3. After the fifth point tournament, molting will continue, for the purposes of setting the Bluebill and Mallard divisions for the Duck-Off, until the handicap revision following the seventh point tournament has been applied. (R'10)

COMPETITION

Flock Champions

  1. The D.G.A. names two Flock Champions. The Duck Golf Association Championship Tournament, "The Duck-Off", is split into two divisions—Division I includes the lower handicap half of the Duck-Off participants; Division II includes the higher handicap half. The Flock Champions are the winners of the two divisions in The Duck-Off. (R’97, R’19)
  2. To qualify for The Duck-Off, a Duck must be an active member of the Flock and have played in at least 5 out of the 7 point tournaments during the season; participating in The Migratory can be counted as one of the 5 required tournaments. (R’19) All members who meet this requirement and fall into one or more of the following categories qualify for The Duck-Off:
    1. Flock Champions from the previous ten years. (R'01)
    2. The top ten (10) point leaders from each division after the last point tournament. (R’19)
    3. The tournament winners from the current season.
  3. Awards
    1. The Championship Drake-Blue Jacket for the Division I winner and the Championship Drake-Green Jacket for the Division II winner! (R 97)
    2. The Flock Champions are immortalized with their names on the perpetual Flock Championship Trophy.
    3. Prize Duck-Bucks will be awarded to the top 2 places in each Division of the Duck-Off. (R’97)

Division Champions

  1. The Champions from each division are based on cumulative points won in the best 5 out of 7 regular "point" tournaments, excluding The Migratory, the opening Scramble, and the Duck-Off. The spread between scores will determine the number of points. (R’97)
  2. Points will be awarded as follows: a score of net par yields 30 points. The number of strokes above (or below) par will be subtracted (or added) to the base of 30. For example, on a par 72 course:

Net Score

64

72

73

80

 

Points Earned

38

30

29

22

and so on down to 1 point for finishing
  1. When a Duck "molts", there is no need for the Duck's point total to be recalculated, because the score relative to par remains unchanged. (R'00)
  2. Division Awards
    1. The Division Championship Black Jacket.
    2. Trophies for the first three places per division.

Scoring Titles

  1. The Varduck Trophy will be won by the duck with the best average NET score for all the point tournaments that Duck plays in. In order to qualify for this honor, the winner must play in at least five regular point tournaments. (R'03, R'05)

SCORECARDS

Accuracy

  1. Accuracy and completeness are the sole responsibility of each duck and/or team.
  2. Rather than assess the U.S.G.A.'s more stringent rule of disqualification for an incorrect scorecard, the "Five-Buck-Duck-Pluck" is assessed against all money-winning ducks on a scorecard when a lower-than-actual score is recorded. Proceeds go to Junior Golf.
  3. The "Roberto DuckVicenzo" applies when a higher-than-actual score is recorded. Such a higher score applies to all tournament and year-long competitions.

HANDICAPS

Adjustments (equitable Stroke Control)

After playing a non-tournament round, Ducks must post their scores in accordance with GHIN guidelines. With the world standardization of handicap rules in 2020, the maximum score players can post for any hole is net double-bogey. For example, on a par-5 hole where you get 2 strokes the highest score you can post is a 9 (net 7). (R’20)

Recording Rounds

All scorecards from rounds played outside The D.G.A. during the normal posting period for that location must be posted. Posting can be done in a number of ways: recorded on guest sheets at the course played, posted via GHIN or submitted to The D.G.A. Handicap Chairman. The normal posting period for the Seattle area is March 1 to November 15. If you go someplace warm and sunny, you typically post the round whatever the time of year. Any player who has not recorded 20 verified scores will have as many adjusting scores added, as needed to complete the 20 score requirement. The adjusting scores will duplicate recorded scores to make proper use of the scores used by GHIN. The purpose for this adjustment is to prevent a duck who has not recorded 20 scores from capitalizing on an artificially high handicap in tournament play. (R.'09)

Sand-Bagging

  1. Intentionally elevating or lowering one's handicap by not recording scores is not appreciated nor politically correct behavior. See number 2, below.
  2. Violators will be plucked, skinned, parboiled & then exiled.