Rules

About the North Shore Hackers Golf Club

The North Shore Hackers Golf Club was created in 2002 by Jay Kane and Eric Leja with the company of Chuck Leblanc.  We created this club for the golfer that enjoys playing at different courses rather than joining one golf course.  We play mostly on Saturdays and travel throughout New England to play even though our club name in north shore hackers.  It probably should of been the New England Hackers Golf Club but since the three original members live on the north shore of Boston it became the North Shore Hackers Golf Club.

There is no fee for joining our club as the clubs expenses are paid via donations from club members.  All the clubs finances are kept track of on the Treasure's page.  Link to this page is above.  We just ask that members play with the club as often as possible and to maintain good status you must play a minimum of 7 rounds with the club each season.  As you need at least 7 to be included in all statistical fields.

We have four championships or majors in our club.  The most important of course is our club championship, the Hackers Masters is probably the next most converted, then we have the Match Play championship and the NSHGC OPEN.  We also have what we call the HackerXCup.  During the season there are many ways to accumulate hackerXpts.  These points are important for a couple different reasons.  First of which is to win the HackerXCup with the most points.  Second is it comes into play for the Match Play championship.  Since we need to start this championship with the right number of players this point system helps eliminate players to end up with the right number for the championship.  There is also a two week playoff system to see who finishes with the most HackerXpoints.....

The club does have a few rules and regulations, especially in our championships.  These rules are covered below.

Club Rules

The rules for club members are simple.  To maintain a good status in the North Shore Hackers Golf Club you must play at least 10 rounds with the club each season.  To qualify for the club championship you need to have 10 rounds recorded from April 1st to Sept 1st. in that calendar year.   For the Hackers Master you must have the 10 rounds the previous year to be eligible for the Hackers Masters which is held the last weekend in April.  The OPEN is open to anyone with a legitimate handicap with Ghin, myself, or any other recognized USGA handicapping system.  The number of 10 rounds comes from the fact that there are 7 months of golf season and it would be nice to see everyone at least once a month plus 3 more.  Don't think that is asking a lot.....

Eventually there will be a membership fee for the hackers club, but currently is free to join.  However, only members that play the 10 rounds and contribute to the club financially are considered members in good standing.  It costs approximately $350 a year to run this golf club with the website and our championship awards and trophies.  The Treasures Report is below.

Tournament Rules

In tournaments for the North Shore Hackers Golf Club all USGA rules will be followed to the letter.  However, there is a couple alterations that will be discussed below. 

Match Play will be 8 or 16 players, so we will use the Hacker X points to determine who is eligible for the championship.  The top 8 will have first chance to play, and so on.  The rankings on the rankings page will determine the rank of the player in the championship, which will determine where you are placed in the championship bracket.  Any ties in the rankings at the time of the championship will be determined by scoring average, then the number of rounds recorded for that season, then career.  If still tie we will flip a coin.

*** PACE OF PLAY *** If a ranger has to tell a group they are slow 3 times that whole group will receive a one stroke penalty.  This is a new club tournament rule that will need to be enforced by the players in that group, as no one else will really know if this happened.  Please just watch your pace of play and this will not be an issue.

*** VERBAL ABUSE *** If any player is caught trying to intimidate or get a rise out of another player in order to gain an advantage during a major will be penalized.  They will be penalized two strokes per violation of this rule.  Trash talking and having fun is fine but using a dirty tactic like this will not taken lightly.  Continual abuse of this rule will result in your elimination from the NSHGC.

1.  The first and most important rule alteration is for lost balls.  It is very important for all hackers to hit a provisional ball if you think you first could be lost.  Under the rule for lost ball you must return to the previous spot, plus penalty.  Stroke and distance is the penalty for lost ball.  But due to pass of play rules for all courses we play you will not be allowed to return to make a shot.  You must take a drop to the closest point you lost the ball and take two penalty strokes.

2.  Also just about all courses want us to roll the ball out of divots on the fairway, so this is also allowed in tournament play.  Fairway ONLY!

3.  All tournament handicaps will be taken from the software index.  However, starting in 2007 your software index and ghin index will be averaged, then calculated with the slope for get your tournament handicap.  This will be done because some of you don't record scores in both places.

4.  All other rules of the USGA should be followed to the letter.

5.  Rules most commonly broke: 

          A.  Rule 13-1 (The Kevin Maher Rule) Improving lie in the fairway.  In the hackers club the rule is play the ball as it lies.  The only exception to this rule is you may take a drop if you ball is in a divot.  Most course we play want us to do this so it will be a tournament rule.

          B.  Rule 13-2  Bending branches from trees or bushes that are in the way of a swing.

          C.  Rule 8-1  Giving or receiving advice on club selection, swing advice, etc.

          D.  Rule 28c  Ball deemed unplayable.  Under this rule you must take a penalty stroke and drop 2 club lengths from the ball, not nearest point of relief as in a free drop.  However, free drops are only 1 club length.

6.  Most common rules:

          A.  Hazards:  Hazards consist of bunkers and yellow and red staked areas.  Which means if you choose to play a ball from a hazard you can not ground your club or move any objects that may be in the way of your swing.

                    a.  If your ball is in a water hazard (yellow):  1) play the shot as it lies.   2) replay the shot (probably not an option)   3) drop any distance behind the water hazard keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped.  Rule 26-1a,b

                    b.  If your ball is in a lateral water hazard (red):   1) you may proceed as above, or you may take a drop within two clubs lengths of or not nearer to the hole.  2) the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard.  3) a point on the opposite side of the hazard equal distance from the hole.   Rule 26-1c

Handicapping

To determine your own unofficial handicap, you first determine your handicap index, by making the following calculations:

1.  Subtract the course rating from your score.

2.  Multiply that difference by 113

3.  Divide the answer in step 2 by the course slope rating.  This answer is called the 'differential' for that round.

4.  Calculate the differentials for your last 20 rounds by repeating steps 1 to 3 for each of these 20 rounds.

5.  Add the lowest 10 differentials, of your last 20 rounds.

6.  Divide the total of step 5 by 10 to get the average.

7.  Multiply the average by 0.96 and round to the nearest 10th.

8.  This is your handicap index, but not your handicap to use everywhere.  Your handicap for the course you are playing depends on the degree of difficulty.... the slope of the course.  Your handicap can be more or less than your index.