The Drain the Swamp Invitational
Punju Golfers Association
The Drain the Swamp Invitational
Kiawah Island March 20- March 24, 2019.
How do you tell the difference between and alligator and a crocodile? One will see later and one you will see in a while. (rim shot) This year, as we head to the south for the first time, we will face off in a battle to rule (drain) the swamp- Gators vs. Crocs. Another way you will be able to tell the difference between the two reptiles on our trip – the Gators will wear red and the Crocs will wear blue (the course is giving us colored team shirts.) Apparently, gators are faster and crocs are meaner and more aggressive if that is worth anything.
The Drain the Swamp Invitational is a 3-day modified stableford style tournament. We will have 2 teams of 7 competing in a format very similar to last year. We will also have an individual tournament with flight and day money. With the permission of the course, we will also have a playoff/horserace for the top two scorers on each team.
Modified Stableford Scoring:
Stableford scoring is done hole by hole based on your net score on the hole. You will receive points for your score on the particular hole. A link for more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/rules_and_equipment/4749261.stm.
Note we will score based on your net score for any given hole and the points are as follows:
Net Bogey: 1 point
Net Par: 2 points
Net Birdie : 3 points
Net Eagle: 4 points
Net Albatross: 5 points.
We will play at 80% of your course handicap and we will peg to the lowest in the group using February 15 indexes. (I believe that is Lov this year.)
TEAM GAME:
Buy in: $5 (or $100) per man plus the Champions Dinner on Saturday night (see the note re: the limit on dinner below and the condition of the $5 vs. the $100).
We will select two teams of 7 that will participate in a 3-day cumulative event.
Day 1- Better Ball Twosomes (and a lone wolf)
Ocean Course- Kiawah Tees, 132 slope, 6202 yards 12:30 pm tee times
Day 2- Better Ball Twosomes (and a lone wolf)
Turtle Point- Turtle Tees, 132 slope, 6510 yards 11:30 am tee times
Day 3- 6 balls.
Ocean Course, Dye Tees 134 slope, 6475 yards 9:10 am tee times
To explain- on days one and two each team will send out three teams of two and they will play better ball stableford and arrive at one score for the twosome. The team will also send out a lone wolf . The lone wolf ‘s score will count in its entirety. On day 3, we will take the 6 best scores on each hole (out of the 7 on the team) to arrive at the team score for each hole and for the round. The team with the highest points at the end of the third day wins. The winning team will collect $5 form their counterpart in seeding (1 and 2 are counterparts, 3 and 4 and so on) and can order a big fat steak and not have to pay for it at dinner on Saturday night. Note on the Dinner: We are capping the dinner bill at $3,500. In the event the bill exceeds $3,500, the overage will be divided by 14 and the hat will be passed.
The ceremonial $5.
At dinner, you will be required, when called upon go to the front of the room and hand the $5 to your counterpart- if the Gators win you must say the words- “See you later” and hand them the $5. If the Crocs win, the losers must say the words “See you in a while”. This will be videotaped and will be ceremonial. This has taken the place of the $100 on previous trips. So consider that you are essentially saving $95 by saying the words and participating. If you choose not to participate in the ceremony, you will be obligated your counterpart $100 instead of the $5.
Note- I reserve the right to adjust the number of balls that count on any given day if we have less than full squads teeing off on that day. Also, if we change tee boxes we will adjust the strokes.
Should we have someone sit out for injury as already suggested – we will equalize by taking the team that has an extra player and drawing two names out of a hat at the end of the round- the first name drawn will not count for the front nine and the second name drawn will not count for the back nine on that day. Remember this is for injury or precaution related to past injuries and even real sickness- not for hangovers and the like.
INDIVIDUAL GAME:
Buy in is $200. Total Pot $2800.
This format lends itself to an individual game as well. As such, we will have day money (for the most individual stableford points on any given day). We also have a payout to the top four cumulative scores. We will have a four player horserace (top two point getters on each team.) Finally, there is an I love that guy pot explained below.
Day Money Pots are $150 per day ($450 total).
Payouts are as follows for the most points (regardless of flight) on each day:
1st place $75
2nd place $50
3rd place $25
Individual Cumulative Tournament: ($900 total pot)
This is for the top 4 cumulative scores regardless of team. Ties will split the money as appropriate.
1st place $400
2nd place $250
3rd place $150
4th place $100
Horserace: Total payouts: $1450
The top two point getters on each team qualify for a horse race. Note this may not be the same people who won above – as we need two people from each team. If there is a tie, we will go round by round starting with day 3 scores to break the tie. We will eliminate one person on each hole. Handicaps pegged to the lowest guy in the horse race. This will be stroke play- not stableford. If there is a tie we will have a chip/putt off to eliminate players. The reason we will have 2 people on each team is that there is an I love that guy pot (the ILTGP). This pot is for the team of the winner of the horserace- which is $100 per man- or $700 total. This is to provide incentive to root for the guys on your team that are in the horserace. This is in addition to the payouts for the individual participants which is as follows:
Horserace: 1st place: $400
2nd placee: $250
3rd place: $100
The horserace is not guaranteed by the course at this point but I am pretty sure they will accommodate us. In the event that they don’t we will reduce the buy in to $100 and add $50 to the payout to 1st place in the individual cumulative points.
Closest to the pins. We have, as part of the package, 6 - $100 gift cards at the proshop for closest to the pins. As such, we will have two closest to the pins each day.
Total Betting Exposure: For all days, games and closest to the pins- $205 (or $300) plus dinner. Note to lose this much you have to not win any of the 6 on-course contests, not come in the top three on any given day, not come in the top four overall, not come in the top two on your team, be on the losing team and your teammate must not win the individual playoff. That’s a long list to walk out with a big 0!
I will collect the $200 apple pay or venmo preferred. This will save us from the hassles of collecting each day etc. I will not collect the team money or be involved in the dinner bill.
HOLE IN ONE POT:
I was going to do a hole in one pot- but screw that- you get a hole in one- you buy drinks like you are supposed to.
FORMING THE TEAMS
The details- we will form two teams of seven players (the Gators and the Crocs) The teams will be determined based on index and random draw as has been done in the past. The one and two will be on separate teams and the three and four will be drawn to separate teams etc. We will select teams March 1 at a post round happy hour at Cordevalle. Contact Ajay, if you haven’t already, to attend.
THE GROUPINGS
We will go out as two threesomes and two foursomes each day. Since we are playing stableford we will simply ask each team to produce the list of players and how they will go out. The threesomes will go out first. Each team submits and the groupings will be formed. On day three we will go out by index.
RULES:
It is expected that everyone knows the rules of the game, but you have representatives from each team present. However, given the individual pots we must play by the same rules –if a question arises we must have a way to resolve- get the actual ruling or play it both ways and then get the ruling. GIMME PUTS MUST BE IN THE LEATHER OF YOUR OWN PUTTER- (35-inch maximum length putter) – this is important given that we are accumulating points overall. Protect the field!!!
RANGE FINDERS AND GPS:
These are legal but the slope adjustments must not be used. You are on your honor to turn this feature off.
PACE OF PLAY:
We have a lot of golf to play that weekend so it will be helpful to work on pace of play. If you can’t score a net bogey please pick up your ball and move on- you can’t help your team or yourself in this format so hit the next tee shot. We will have caddies also- use them and keep moving.
SIDE BETS:
These are encouraged. The format lends itself to lots of betting- you can bet anyone based on stableford score for each day or the total or all of the above. You can bet within your foursome as well. Many bets and all trash talk will be tracked on the newly developed betting and banter app Punga which you will all receive a link to download prior to the trip.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments let me know.
Sanjay Ahuja