Paradigm League Rules

Season Schedule

• Three weeks designated as Majors
• Masters
• Paradigm Open
• PGL Championship
• Two playoff weeks
• One Championship week
• Two week for the Ryder Cup Event
• No golf on Memorial Day and Labor Day Mondays
• No golf if July 3rd or 4th falls on a Monday

Weekly Scoring

• Top six finishers get points
• 1st place = 500 points (600 major)
• 2nd place = 300 points (330 major)
• 3rd place = 190 points (210 major)
• 4th place = 135 points (150 major)
• 5th place = 110 points (120 major)
• 6th place = 100 points (110 major)
• Ties will be divided for that place’s points. For example a tie for 1st will give 400 points to each player ((500 + 300) / 2).
• In the event of a tie for first place on a major week, a playoff hole will be played with no strokes given (see details below).
• Make up Rounds – Scoring make up rounds are not allowed.
• Maximum score of 10 on any hole

Playoffs/Championship

• The top eight players make the playoffs.
• The playoff format is match play (as of the 2024 season).
• The matchups will be 1 vs 8; 2 vs 7; 3 vs 6; 4 vs 5
• The playoffs will take place over three weeks
  • Playoff week 1 (8 players)
  • Playoff week 2 (4 players)
  • Playoff week 3 (championship match)
• In round one
  • The top seed gets two strokes + the tiebreaker.
  • The second seed gets one stroke + the tiebreaker.
  • The third and fourth seeds get the tiebreaker.
  • The winners advance to round two the following week.
• In round two
  • The highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed (1 is the highest seed; 8 is the lowest seed).
  • The higher seed gets the tiebreaker in each match.
  • There are no extra strokes in this round.
  • The two winners advance to the championship.
• The championship round
  • The format is nine holes of match play.
  • There is no advantage for the higher seed.
  • The tiebreaker is playoff holes if PV allows us to do so, otherwise a putt off on the practice green (playoff details are below).
  • For all playoff rounds, both players must be present for their match. We are not allowing a player to play a solo round and post a score as we have in the past.
• What happens if a person is gone/out of town during round one playoff week?
  • If ONE player cannot make league Monday for his playoff match
    • That player must find a time outside of league to play against his opponent.
    • If a time cannot be agreed upon, the player who is missing the normal league Monday will be bumped from the playoffs, and replaced with the next high point earner who can play league Monday.
  • If BOTH players cannot make league Monday
    • Those players must find a time outside of league to play against each other.
    • If a time cannot be agreed upon, then BOTH players are bumped and replaced with the next high point earners who can play on league Monday.
• What happens if a person is gone/out of town during the round two playoff week?
  • Similar rules for playoff week one.
  • If ONE player cannot make the Monday time for his playoff match, and cannot find a time outside league to play, the player forfeits the match.
  • If BOTH players cannot make the Monday time for their playoff match, and cannot find a time outside league to play, then both players forfeit.
    • In this case only two players remain for playoff round two. Those two players will play 18 holes for the league championship. Nine holes on the playoff round two week and continued with another nine holes on the championship week.
• What happens if a person is gone/out of town during the round championship week?
  • Wait until a time when we can schedule the match.
• Bumping or forfeiting may seem harsh, but we have a 13-day period in which to schedule the 9-hole match. If a time cannot be arranged within those 13 days, it is not fair to the league to make further changes to the playoff structure.

Tiebreakers for Majors and Championship

• No strokes are given during playoff holes.
• We need to check with PV before starting any playoff holes.
• Our first choice would be Lake #1 followed by Par 3 #3. Then continue the Par 3 course until a winner is decided.
• If Lake #1 is not available, then the next ask would be to just go off the par 3.
• If the course just is not available, then we will do a putt off on the practice green.
• Putt off rules:
  • Flip a tee and that person goes first
  • The player who goes first puts the ball anywhere on the green and attempts a putt. The ball must be placed a minimum 3 feet from the cup.
  • The other player(s) cannot watch so as not to gain an advantage on reading the putt.
  • If the player makes the putt, then the other player(s) must also make it. Anyone who misses is eliminated.
  • If the player misses the putt, then the other player(s) get a chance to make the putt to extend the match.
  • If all players miss (or make), then it is the other player(s) turn to put ball down.
  • Repeat the process until one person is left standing. That person is the tiebreaker winner.

General Playing Rules

• All putts must be holed out. No gimmies. If you pick up without holing out, you will score a 10 on the hole. If your putt hits the pin and bounces out, it does not count as holing out.
• If you are putting from the green and hit another player's ball, you are charged a 2-stroke penalty (this follows USGA rules). Make sure you ask players in your group to mark their ball if there is a chance they are in your line.
• Tall grass, forests, and out of bounds are treated as lateral hazards. Lateral hazards are normally marked with red stakes. You can see the official procedures for dropping on the USGA's site:
• Penalty areas
• Rules for taking relief
• One exception we have is the case where taking a drop following the official procedure would be nearly impossible, and the option of replaying the shot is both punishing and not ideal for pace of play. An example of this is a tee shot on Woods 7 that goes over the green and into the forest, or a shot on Woods 5 that goes over the green into the tall grass. In these cases, just take a drop near the point where it crossed into the hazard, giving yourself enough room to take a full swing with a proper stance.
• Balls that are lost without going into a hazard will be treated as an "unplayable". Determine the spot where you would expect the ball to be and follow the unplayable drop rules, which are pretty much the same as a lateral hazard (replay, drop within two clubs lengths, or back on the line). This also applies for balls that are lost amongst trees but not in a dense forest, such as right of the fairway bunker on Woods 4 or the trees in the left rough on Prairie 1.
• If you accidentally hit your ball on a practice swing
  • On the tee - replace the ball, no penalty
  • On the green - replace the ball, no penalty
  • Anywhere else - replace the ball and take a 1-stroke penalty
• If you swing and miss with the intent to hit the ball, take a 1-stroke penalty
• Bunker Rules if you find yourself with an unplayable lie in the bunker (plugged or up against the wall, etc)
  • Option 1 is to re-hit your shot from the original spot. One stroke.
  • Option 2 is two club lengths from the spot of the ball. Drop in the bunker. One stroke.
  • Option 3 is one club length anywhere on the line from the ball to the pin. Drop in the bunker. One stroke.
  • Option 4 is one club length anywhere on the line from the ball to the pin OUT of the bunker. Two strokes.

Handicaps

• Last six rounds are used. We are no longer dropping high and low scores from the index calculation.
• A multiplier of 0.9 is used on the calculated index.
• We are capping high rounds to prevent the index from going up too much if someone posts an abnormally high score. We will cap the score at the par + handicap + 9
  • For example, I am a 5 on Prairie. The highest score I could post for handicap purposes would be 36+5+9=50. Woods would be index=7, so 36+7+9=52. Lake is index=4, so 35+4+9=49. Using that example, let’s say I shoot a 54 on Prairie one week with a 5 handicap. My official league score is still 54, and my net score would still be 54-5=49. However, for the handicap index calculation, we would use my max of 50 to determine my new index.

Ryder Cup Captains

• At the conclusion of the regular season, list the golfers in order by low index to high index. Start at the top. The first two golfers who have not been a captain in the past three seasons are chosen as captains. This allows more players the opportunity (or penalty depending on how you look at it) of being a captain. The most often any one golfer can captain is once every four years.
• INELIGIBLE FOR 2025
  • Ben Krueger (eligible 2026)
  • Kevin Wilson (eligible 2027)
  • Marc Henrickson (eligible 2027)
  • Ben Koth (eligible 2028)
  • Patrick Gugliuzza (elibible 2028)

Sub Players

• Any sub player must have three rounds in the last calendar year to establish an index. This is to prevent someone from playing one round in league as a sub some time ago and using that old handicap to post a net score that is not realistic.
• Subs are not eligible for the gift card prize for a major win. The sub will earn points and can win the week, but will not receive the gift card as a prize. The gift card will go to the highest finishing regular league player. However, if the sub wishes to contribute $20 to the league prize fund before the round, that player is eligible to receive the gift card prize. Any contribution made by a sub will count for all majors for that season for that player.
• Subs are not eligible for the playoffs. The exception would be if a regular player drops out of the league, and nobody commits to taking that full time spot.

Rain Outs

• Any rain out on a regular week is removed from the schedule.
• In the event of a rainout for a major, we push the major to the next scheduled week. If the PGL (the last major) is rained out two weeks in a row, it is canceled.
• If a playoff round is rained out, we can either cancel a Ryder Cup week and push everything back. Or we can work to schedule the playoff golfers outside of Monday. This depends on if we can get all playoff golfers to play outside of the normal league time.

Fees

• League Fees are due on opening day. Payments are due to the league commissioner before payment due date (usually early April).
• $22 additional fee for league prizes for the major winners.

Last Updated: 04/03/2024

---