Rules

Team Golf Rules

MISSION
The mission of the Washington State Team Disc Golf League (TDG) is to provide a social environment to foster competitive and progressive handicapped disc golf play for all skill levels of the players that have contributed to the community to grow the sport of disc golf. The TDG league is a fundraiser event to benefit the growth of disc golf in the Puget Sound area.

OVERVIEW
The TDG league consists of 22 Events and 26 Teams. In order to keep the season short, each team will NOT play every team in the league during the regular season. The TDG league will be divided into THREE divisions (North, South, and South Sound). There will be a random draw to determine team schedules in each division for the regular season. PDGA Rules, PDGA Competition Manual, and the spirit of the game will be enforced. The TDG league will conclude at the Final Event with the teams being matched up by their regular season divisional standings.

COST & PAYOUT
Teams will provide a sponsorship “Donation” to the league prior to the start of the season. The North and South division Team “Donation” will be $270. The South Sound division “Donation” will be $120. The “Donation” will be used for Expenses, Prizes, and the Course Improvement Fund (donated to local course projects). Additional Event fees ($130 per Team) apply for Horseshoe Lake Golf Course for lunch and use of carts during the Event. Changes to a Team’s Roster after the start of the First TDG Event will incur a $25 “Donation” per roster change.

TEAMS & PLAYERS
Teams will have at least SIX, but no more than NINE players on the Roster. There are no player restrictions for a team, although a mixed team of Amateur, Women, and Professional players would be preferred. Team Rosters must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the start of the First TDG Event. Players shall play in at least TWO singles matches in order to compete at the Final Event. After the First Event, players are required to have played in a singles match at the next Event to compete in a doubles match. Players shall only play in ONE doubles match per Event.

EVENT FORMAT
Each Event will match up TWO teams against each other for TWO rounds. The format for each round will be FOUR matches of Handicapped Singles and ONE match of Handicapped Doubles. Before the First Round, a coin flip is used to determine which team will submit their roster for the First Round. Teams will alternate for the Second Round. If a team is not able to field all the required round matches, then the doubles match is fielded first and all other matches are played as singles, except if a team has less than FOUR players a round, then matches will be singles.

CAPTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Submitting and setting their team roster and collecting funds for the “Donation”.
2. Coordinating with the opposing team Captain to determine Event match-ups.
3. Recording their team’s player round scores and the “W L T” records on the “Scoring Sheet”.
4. At the end of each Event, submit the “Scoring Sheet” to the Tournament Director (TD).
5. Host (or co-host) ONE TDG Event at an approved course.
6. The “Host” team will prepare the course, layout, and any special course rules.
7. The “Host” team will take care of all course arrangements and course full notifications.

EVENT SCORING
Each player in a winning match will earn ONE point for their team. Teams will forfeit ONE point per player for each match that they don’t field. Any match ending in a tie will earn a ½ point to each player. The total team points for the TWO rounds will determine the “W L T” for the Event. Results from each Event shall determine the divisional standings based on the “W L T” record, TWO Event “Ties” are equal to ONE Event “Win”. The divisional team standings preceding the Final Event shall determine the match-ups at the Final Event. At the Final Event, the winner of the division championship matchup will be the division champions.

The Tiebreaker Rule that will be used in determining the divisional standings will be as follows:     1) The team with the higher season total team points. 2) The team that won the previous match-up during the current season. 3) The team single Event “W L T” record in a descending order from week 7 to week 1 until tie is broken. 4) Coin Flip. At the Final Event, if a team ties for a division championship, then the Champion will be the team based on the tiebreaker rule.

ACE POT
The Ace Pot is included with the team “Donation” and is for ALL the TDG events. At the end of the TDG season, all Aces will split the $500 Ace Pot (minimum $50 per Ace). If there are no Aces, then the Ace Pot will go to a CTP throw off at the TDG Final Event. The Final CTP will be available to everyone that participated in a match during the TDG season. The Final CTP will be awarded to the THREE closest throws by dividing the Ace Pot (50%-25%-25%).

HANDICAPPING
The PDGA rating system is used to determine the round ratings. The TDG handicapping system uses the course SSA, Official Player Ratings, and TDG Round Ratings to determine a Player’s Event Handicap.   All players must have a handicap prior to playing in a TDG match. Handicaps will be calculated before each Event. Any rated round that is SIXTY points below a Player’s Rating will not be used to calculate their handicap for the following Event. Doubles rounds will not be rated. Handicaps used for the Doubles matches will be determined by using the handicap of the player with the lower handicap (Higher Player Rating) from each doubles team.

A player without an official rating, calculated from events with ratings, will use an "initial rating" established by their Team Captain. If a player with an "initial rating" performs better than +2 (throws) than their Player Handicap, then the match will be forfeited. The "initial rating" will be removed from the TDG Ratings Calculator after playing TWO singles matches. Players with an “initial rating” shall play in TWO singles matches prior to playing a doubles match.

Player Handicaps will be different for each Event due to the course difficulty and Player Ratings being updated after each Event. The WA TDG Rating Calculator does the complex calculations and handicaps are shown on the Event Scoring Sheets. A Player’s Event Handicap will be determined by using a Player’s Rating (PR) from the WA TDG Rating Calculator and the Event Course estimated SSA to set the Rating Points per Throw (RP/T). The calculated handicap values will be rounded to the nearest ½ increment and used to determine a Player’s Event Handicaps. The ½ increment handicap could result in some matches that will not end in a tie.

The estimated Course SSA will be used to determine the “Event Handicaps” for each Event.
SSA = Rating Points per Throw; 45 = 11.5, 46-47 = 11, 48-49 = 10.5, 49-51 = 10, 51-54 = 9.5,
54-56 = 9, 56-58 = 8.5, 58-62 = 8, 62-66 = 7.5. The Host team is responsible to set the RP/T.

Player’s Event Handicap = (1000 – PR) ÷ (Event Course’s estimated RP/T)

PLAYER RATINGS
The starting Player Ratings are established for WA Team Disc Golf by using an objective order of preference from known calculated ratings. During the TDG season, Player Ratings will be updated after each Event based on the player’s performance in singles matches. Using the PDGA December update, the starting player ratings will be determined by the following criteria, in a descending order, until a Player’s Rating is established.

1. Current PDGA Rating with 8 or more rated rounds.
2. Current PDGA Rating with 7 or less rated rounds.
3. TDG Rating with 6 or more rated rounds (previous two years, priority to last year).
4. Non-Current PDGA Rating.
5. TDG Rating with 5 or less rated rounds (previous two years, priority to last year).
6. A Player’s rated rounds from a recent PDGA sanctioned event(s).
7. If NO history of rated rounds, then an “initial rating” will be established.

CAPTAIN NOTES
1. The TDG website is the official source for Handicaps, Standings, and Results.
2. Team winning the random flip will decide which round to submit match-ups.
3. Teams will submit scorecards to other team: (8:30am & before lunch break).
4.   Players can only play in ONE doubles match per Event.
5. Players shall play in TWO singles matches as soon possible.
6. Scorecards – Pick up in the morning from TD.
7. Scorecards – Must be submitted to the TD after the second round.
8. Scoring sheets – Pick up in the morning from TD.
9.   Scoring sheets – The official record and final results for the Event.
10. Scoring sheets – Competing teams will submit ONE scoring sheet.
11. Scoring sheets – Must be submitted to the TD after the second round.
12. Use “W L T” to indicate a player’s round result. If NA, leave Blank.
13. Each player Win is worth (1) point. Each player Tie is worth (½) point.
14. Record the actual player’s score (Not the Handicapped score).
15. Do not record doubles scores (Only 4 scores per round per team)
16. Players with an “Initial Rating” have special rules to follow.


DAY OF EVENT PLAN
Captains’ meeting: 8:30am
Players’ meeting: 9:00am
Round 1: 9:15am
Round 2: ONE hour after last group completes Round 1