Play Ready Golf!
Ready Golf will be played at all of our events, and at all times, tee to green! If you are waiting on the group in front of you, then you may observe turn etiquette, otherwise there should be NO ONE waiting to hit - not on the tee, fairway, rough, hazards or greens. If you are ready, and it's clear, then go ahead and hit! Keep the play moving forward. Play should never be at a standstill. Even if waiting for the group ahead, there are things you can be doing to ensure you will be ready to hit when it is clear such as getting yardage, making club selection, etc...

Honors is exactly that, an honor. If the player with honors in not ready, and you are, please announce to that player that you are ready and you are going to hit. If you have the honors and are not ready, you must not get upset if someone wants to hit first if they are ready. If you are not ready, announce that you are not ready and invite anyone that is ready to hit to go ahead and hit. Do NOT use this rule as an excuse to make yourself 'not ready' so that you don't have to go first!

DO NOT PLAY FROM THE CART

We strongly urge all players to split up when playing to keep up pace of play. This means that if one player is driving and one player is riding, both players should each go to their ball to prepare for their respective shot. Please do not wait in the cart for one player to hit then go to the other player's ball. You could park in between and walk to each ball or have one player drop off the other. Please get in the habit of grabbing 3-4 clubs, your rangefinder, a towel and prepare for your shot instead of waiting for each player to hit. This improves pace of play tremedously. In addition, don't grab your rangefinder, walk to your ball, get a yardage, walk back to the cart, pick a club etc. Attempt to reduce this time by having all your options by your ball and be ready to hit when it is your turn.

3 Minute Search for Lost Ball Rule
Players will only have 3 minutes to look for a lost ball. If you do not find your ball within 3 minutes, move on under lost ball, optional local tour rule of 'lateral hazard drop' or other proper rule. In this rule case, if you cannot find your ball and you do not have a hazard option, then you can go back to the original spot that you hit your previous shot from (the shot that resulted in the lost ball) and hit another shot under penalty of stroke and distance. This is the only instance in which a player in A, B, C or D Flights can go back and hit another shot.

The 3 minute time begins when anyone starts looking for the lost ball. This means that if anyone assists you with looking for your ball, your time begins when the looking started. If more than 1 player ball is lost, players MUST look for their own ball first! If more than 1 ball is being looked for, the 3 minutes is not for each ball, but 3 minutes total. Do not look for another players ball until you know where your ball is and will be ready to hit it when its clear, otherwise your time priority goes to preparing for your shot then any spare time can assist another player in searching for a ball.

If you take longer than 3 minutes to look for a ball, the other players in your group can assess you a 1 stroke penalty on that hole.

Triple Bogey Max Rule
The maximum score that a player in A, B, C and D flights can score on a hole is triple bogey. If you are sitting at double bogey, and are not in the hole, pick up your ball and score a triple bogey. Do not continue to play the hole as the whole reason for this rule is to speed up pace of play. If you continue to play past double bogey, you are defeating the purpose.

Pace of Play System in Live Score
In the Live Scoring System, there is a Pace of Play monitoring system. Your status is displayed on the top of the Main Scoring Page after you enter each score in. The time that you enter each score in is logged and compared to the group in front of you and is what is the determining factor on if you are on pace or behind pace. The system will understand how far behind the group in front of you that your group is and if you are an entire hole behind or more then you will be given warnings and possibly even penalty strokes if you do not catch up after a hole or 2. The system will display this very clearly.

Your job is to keep up with the group in front of you at all times. We understand that there are holes that you will fall behind but your job is to then catch up if you do fall behind.

This system is designed to be as fair as possible for everyone. There is no possibility of favoritism or excuses. Everyone will follow the exact same rules and time restrictions. We understand that there are always situations where your group can fall behind, but that is what the warning is for.

In total, a group can be assessed 3 Penalty Strokes for each round. This may seem like a lot, but that means that said group was behind for the entire round, which means that every group behind them ended up playing a longer round than they should have. Slow play affects EVERYONE!

If you are worried that you may be unfairly penalized due to a particularly slow player in your group then make sure that player knows they are slow (believe it or not, some players are just that oblivious and some also know very well they are slow.) Keep everyone moving, including yourself. We will be tracking every single player that receives penalty strokes. We will be able to track trends of individuals. If a particular individual is tagged as a problem then that person can be addressed and asked to leave the tour if it needs to come to that. This is an AMATEUR tour. There isn't thousands or millions of dollars on the line. If you can't keep up with a 5 hour round, then maybe the tour and tournament play isn't for you.

Please let us know if you have any questions on this system.

GPS and Range Finders Permitted
Only USGA approved GPS and Range Finder devices are permitted for play. Use of illegal devices, such that measure slope, etc..., will result in disqualification from the event. Greens reading devices or greens books are not allowed. If you use a greens reading device, you will be assessed a two stroke penatly for every hole it was used. This includes the option on a phone app with a heat map of the green. 

Smartphone GPS apps that are used only to measure distance will be allowed during play, provided user is not also using a compass, weather app, club suggestions, or any other app/info that can be used as a benefit/advantage to the game. Any person caught using any of the additional functions other than distance measurements will be disqualified from that event. The app may be used to keep score and stats as well.

Embedded Ball Rule
A ball embedded in its own pitch mark, anywhere 'Through the Green' (Is the whole area of the course except: the teeing ground and putting green of the hole being played, Out of bounds and all hazards on the course), may be lifted, cleaned and dropped within 1 club length. no nearer the hole, without penalty.

Play 2 balls in event of a rules dispute
If there is ever any dispute amongst the group about a ruling, player should play 2 balls from the point of the dispute. Take note of both scores for that hole and move on with the round. After the round is done, and before signed, seek out the Tour Directors for a final ruling. The proper score will be circled on the card and used for the official score

Score Card
There will only be 1 official score card per group. Please keep score on 1 scorecard (blank scorecard with players first and last names entered on it) and also keep score on the live scoring system throughout the round. Compare the live score system and the scorecard to ensure the two match, but only sign and turn in the card (group may keep score on more than 1 card, but only 1 needs to be signed and turned in).

There is no officially created score card. We use blank cards from the course to save time and to allow accommodations of last minute changes, etc...(we are all adults and know how to write names and scores down) but please make sure the official score card has First AND Last names on it and is legible. Tee boxes being played are always posted at the check-in table, so verify your tees there.

Guest Policies for Placing in Tournaments
To be sure that we keep the full integrity of our flights in all of our tournaments, we are implementing a set of policies revolving around guests playing in our tournaments.

Guest may play one event only.

Guests cannot win place money, unless they Join The Tour before the tournament is finalized.

Guests can play and win cash games.

Guest will be required to proivide a valid (GHIN)  handicap or will be placed in the flight determined by the tour director. The purpose of a guest playing the events with the NCF tours is to recruit new members!

Registration

All players are encouraged to pay in advance to be rostered for an event using the Pay By Credit Card menu. This guarantees your roster spot. If you have not paid you will be on the Waitlist until rostered.

Additional Slow Play Conditions for Our Tour:

1. Please do not “play from the cart”. This means that the driver must drop off the rider or park in between golf balls and each go to their respective ball with clubs, range finder, towel, etc. Play “ready golf” at all times. This means you should have your pre-shot routine done by the time it’s your turn to hit. This includes your green reading. You should read the putt on the green while others are too. Do not wait to read your putt until your turn. When it is your turn, you should be ready to approach and hit the ball.
2. Rangers on the course have the right to speed you up. We pay the course to help enforce play. You should respectfully oblige and find ways to speed up pace. Your goal is always to keep up with the group in front of you. If they are on the green and you are on the tee, you are ½ hole behind. If you do not see the group in front of you, you are out of position.
3. If the course ranger AND your fellow competitors formally identify you as a slow player or were deemed to need to speed up more than once during a round of competitive play, you will be relegated to the last group until your pace of play improves for future events. To finish the shotgun in a timely manner, we cannot have players holding up the entire group. This will be regardless of your flight. Furthermore, if you request to play with other players, your request will be honored but your group will be put toward the end of the shotgun to prevent holding up other groups.
4. We rely on your fellow players to help enforce your play. The Tour Manual does permit penalty strokes, but we do not want to do this unless a player has been warned 3 times.
5. If there is another shotgun behind our event, you may be forced off the course at the expiration time and will be required to triple out the holes you did not complete. This would be no different if you showed up late and started on your third hole in.
6. Players are encouraged to report slow groups and players to the Tour Directors’ attention. It helps coordinate pairings and starting holes to the fairness of the tour event.