Flighting Guidelines
The following set of guidelines, and the rationale behind them, have been developed by the Board for determining tee box and flight assignments for association tournaments. The guidelines include the policy for replacing players/teams at NCGA qualifiers who cannot attend the event.
CHMGA Events, except for Club Championship
Players will be allowed to select the tee box that best aligns to their playing capabilities and desires
Additional Information
Reasoning
- Forcing all players to play from the same tee box would result in significant dissatisfaction by many members with the association’s tournaments.
- Not all members are able to carry course hazards from the Cinnabar/Hawk tee boxes, nor can all members reach the par 3s from the Cinnabar/Hawk tee boxes; thus they would not want to play tournaments from those tee boxes.
- Other players prefer the challenge of playing the Cinnabar/Hawk tee boxes and would not want to play from the Cinnabar/Quicksilver tee boxes.
- Forcing members to play from a tee box based only on their handicap or age ignores why members may want to play from a particular tee box.
Flights will be determined based on the tee box a player/team selects
Additional Information
- In individual events female members will be grouped with the flight closest in difficulty to the tee box they select.
- In team events where team members elect to play from different tee boxes, the team will be grouped in a special “Mixed Flight”.
- Otherwise teams will be grouped in flights where all players are using the same tee box.
Reasoning
- Ensures all players/teams in a flight play the same course set-up, under the same conditions.
- Course handicaps do not adequately compensate for players/teams playing from different tee boxes (tee box set-ups do not match course rating set-up), resulting in inequity for flights with players/teams competing from different tee boxes.
- Handicaps within the flight ensure all players/teams in a flight have an equal chance of winning the flight.
- NOTE: Other clubs do not typically allow players/teams to select the tee box they want to play, so by default, all players are in the same flight, unless further sub-divided by handicap to create more/smaller flights
Flights may be further sub-divided by handicap to create smaller flights, minimizing the spread of handicaps in each flight
Additional Information
- At the discretion of Tournament Director
Reasoning
- Increases the likelihood of individual players/teams “winning” their flight (although reduces the tournament payout per player/team).
- Creates flights where the playing capabilities of the players/teams in the flight are relatively close.
For GROSS scoring events, attempts will be made to limit spread of handicaps in each flight to 4 strokes or less
Additional Information
Reasoning
- 4 strokes or less ensures all players/teams in the flight have a reasonable chance of winning the flight using GROSS scoring.
NCGA Qualifying Events
Participating players/teams must play from the Cinnabar/Quicksilver Combo tee box
Additional Information
- Female members must play from the Quicksilver/Oak Combo tees.
- Members not wanting or eligible to participate in the NCGA qualifier may select an alternative tee box (at the discretion of the Tournament Director).
Reasoning
- NCGA events do not allow qualifiers to choose the tee box they want to play, and the Cinnabar/Quicksilver Combo tees align the closest to the yardage/slope of the courses we would expect our qualifiers to compete in.
- Ensures all players/teams play the same course set-up, under the same conditions, similar to the NCGA events they will compete in.
- Recognizes female members may need flexibility in tee selection to provide fair competition.
- Recognizes all members may not want or be eligible to participate in the NCGA qualifier.
Flights may be further sub-divided by handicap to create smaller flights, minimizing the spread of handicaps in each flight
Additional Information
- At the discretion of Tournament Director
Reasoning
- Increases the likelihood of individual players/teams “winning” their flight (although reduces the tournament payout per player/team).
- Creates flights where the playing capabilities of the players/teams in the flight are relatively close.
Regardless of the number of flights used, the players/teams with the lowest NET scores will advance to the next round of the NCGA event.
Additional Information
- Across the entire field
- The number of players/teams advancing will be determined by the Board prior to the qualifying event
Reasoning
- Sub-flighting within a qualifier is for CHMGA tournament purposes only, and the goal of the qualifier is to select the best player/team across the entire tournament field.
- All players/teams, except for the female members, must play from the Cinnabar/Quicksilver Combo tees, so all male players/teams will be playing the same course set-up, under the same conditions.
If a player/team cannot play in the next round of the NCGA event, the next lowest NET scoring player/team will advance instead
Additional Information
- In the NCGA 4-ball tournament (2-man better ball), both players in the qualifying 2-man team(s) must be available to play in the next round or that 2-man team will be replaced by the next lowest NET score team from our qualifier.
- In the NCGA Zone Championships, where CHMGA selected the two best 2-man better ball teams to represent our 4-man team, both players in each 2-man team must be available to play in the next round or that 2-man team will be replaced by the next lowest NET score team from our qualifier.
Reasoning
- Teams qualify as teams, not individuals. Thus, the reason the next best team is selected if either of the individuals in the team cannot play in the next NCGA round.