Swindle Rules

The ‘Bet’

The bet is as follows:-

£2 covers the three nearest to pins and the longest drive on the 15th
£2 covers the Front Nine
£2 covers the Back Nine
£4 covers the overall.

In the event of a tie pot to be shared (No Countbacks).

Drinks are bought in each Tee time. (No money from the pot goes towards drinks and the winner is not obliged to buy a round!)

To be eligible for a handicap change you have to enter the Front, Back and Overall.

Handicaps

Each score is added up at the end of the round and divided by the amount of eligible players to reach the Standard Scratch Score (SSS).

The lowest score is ineligible if there are less than 10 players.
The lowest two scores are ineligible if there are 10 or more players.** August 2013: Minimum of 8 players required in overall bet to be a valid Swindle**

New players to the swindle must play 3 times before entering the overall.
New players entering handicap shall be Club Handicap minus 2.

Adjustments Update [From Jan 2018]

It is very evident that some players, particularly the CAT 1 handicappers are playing way below their club HC. To be playing off of +3 when you club HC is 4 makes it impossible to actually win anything. Indeed unless you are a vastly improving player, a HC of 6 or 7 below your club gives you little chance for everyone, so to be fairer we propose to implement the following changes in red:

Swindle HC movement up or down will be rated by your CLUB not swindle handicap. CAT 1 will move 0.1 per shot up or down, CAT 2 will be 0.2 CAT 3 – 0.3 etc. Example – 29 points scored against a standard scratch of 32 – club handicap cat 2 you go up 0.6. A cat 1 would go up 0.3.
Max movement per round + or – 2 ie No change to current system
Standard scratch no change to the current system
You can play up to one over your actual HC (but the “buffer” stays at +2 above the actual HC).
New members cut 2 shots from their actual handicap.
Ladies to receive 2 extra shots per round, these are recorded on the stableford score. (This reflects their SS on the reds is 74, whilst gents white is 72)
To start the new system handicaps will reset to CLUB handicaps.

Other changes/ clarification

Scorecards to be swapped at the start of the round recoding only marker and player scores to speed up play. Only one nominated player to record Barracuda/match play scores. Each player is responsible to submit his own score at the end of the round before buying drinks etc.
No give-me’s. To speed up play if you are within 6” you must putt it in immediately regardless of matchplay side bets ie no realignment or touching the ball unless there is mud on it & playing partners agree.
2018 & 2019 R&A rule changes to apply.

Adjustments [Old rules Pre Jan 2018]

Handicaps are adjusted by 0.3 for each point above or below the SSS up to a maximum of 2.0.
Your Swindle handicap can be calculated to a maximum of two above your club handicap, however you must play off your club handicap if this is the case.

Draw

Players should arrive in good time and players shall be drawn into their respective tee times by a fair draw of the cards.

Captain

Each year a captain is proposed and elected by the swindle. The Captain shall organise the Ryder Cup team.
Team to be picked on the result of the last competition for eight players. Captain to have 4 wild card picks.