Val Halla Men's League 2024
Entry Fee - $40/player ($80/team)
Time - 5:00pm shotgun start, Tuesday evenings
Schedule - May 7th to August 13th (or later if rainouts occur) NO LEAGUE JULY 2ND
NEW FOR 2024 -- We have fine tuned the format of last years Men's League to address some of the comments we heard following the 2023 season. First, I have set the registration limit to 128 golfers, with a waitlist of 16 players. If we get to 16 on the waitlist, those golfers will be added to the league and we will play with 144 players, like last year, but with a twist.
BYE WEEK - The biggest complaint I heard last week was the pace of play. To address that, if we get to 144 players, we will be building in a bye week for each team at some point during the regular season. This will ensure that during the regular season, we only have 128 golfers on the golf course at a time to help speed up play. This won't completely fix pace, that will be up to the golfers playing each night to play ready golf, pick up when you are out of a hole, and remind your foursome that you need to keep up with the group in front of you.
Increased Entry Fee - A recurring comment from last year was that there were only payouts for the teams that did well in the Playoffs, and that there was no incentive to play well in the regular season (other than not coming in last in your flight). To fix this, we have increased the entry fee per player to $40. In doing this, the winners of each flight in the regular season will win $80/team and the runner-ups in each flight will win $40/team. I have also significantly increased the number of playoff places paid out and the amounts that are paid out. The total payouts for the entire year are listed below.
Action Pre-Payment - I have included an add-on fee of $80/team at the registration link for the teams that would like to pre-pay for their teams action for the regular season. If you think your team is going to get into the action each weekly, please pre-pay for the action. It makes setting up flights and scoring the results much quicker for us in the Pro Shop. Teams that pre-pay for the action will receive the payouts even when subs play in their place.
League Overview
Over the course of the Men's League regular season, each team will participate in 9 matches; 8 against teams within their flight and one match outside of their flight. The format of each match will be 2v2 best ball and it will be scored using Match Play rules. This is an all net league and the number of strokes you receive in each match will be based on the lowest handicap in each foursome. Each hole won will give a team 1 point, each hole that is halved will give a team 0.5 points, and each hole lost will give a team 0 points. Each match is worth up to 9 points.
Teams will be flighted based on the overall combined handicap for the team. The max Playing Handicap will be set at 32 for all golfers.
Subs
If you or your partner are unable to make a week, it is your responsibility to find a sub. If you are having difficulties finding a sub, then the Pro Shop may be able to assist you in your search, but we should not be the first place that you look. I will be posting a sub list on this event page prior to the start of league. It is our hope that you can find a sub that is a member of Val Halla. However, given the limited number of member subs in the previous years, we will also allow non-member subs as a last resort. If you are having a non-member sub for either yourself or your partner, they will still be expected to pay a greens fee before playing in their match and they must have an active GHIN # through a MSGA Member Club.
Playoffs
At the conclusion of the regular season we will begin a 6-week, single elimination, playoff. The top 8 teams from each flight after the regular season will make it into the playoffs. The team that comes in last place in each flight will be placed into a 6-week round robin called the Cess Pool. Any ties within flights will be broken based on the head-to-head match that the teams played during the regular season. If the point totals from that match are equal, then the second tiebreaker will be going from hole 9 back to 1 using the hole-by-hole scores from the match.
Weekly Action
Each week, teams will have the option to get into the weekly action. The action fee will be $10 per team and all team winnings will be split evenly between the two partners. The action format will be 2-Ball Best Ball Gross and Net, Gross and Net Skins, and Closest to the Pins.
If you would like to pre-pay for the entire season, I will be sending out an email with instructions on how to do that. The total cost of this is $150.
Online Scoring
All groups will be expected to use Golf Genius during the round to input their groups scores. There will be scorecards handed out in the Pro Shop prior to the round, however, the online scores will be considered the official scores. My recommendation is that one team keeps the online score and the other keeps a physical scorecard. Then at the end of the round, compare the two to make sure that the scores are the same. All online scores will be considered agreed upon and will not be changed after the round has completed. So please make sure to double-check them!
The Pro Shop will be posting all scores to GHIN each week. Please do not post your scores as well.
Cess Pool
The 8 teams that miss the playoffs will compete in a 6 week best ball tournament. The team with the lowest combined scores over the 6 weeks will win the Cess Pool.
Consolation Brackets
There will be 3 consolation brackets for the playoffs this year. The teams eliminated in the round of 64 will partake in Consolation Bracket 1, the teams eliminated in the round of 32 will compete in Consolation Bracket 2, and the teams eliminated in the sweet 16 will be placed into Consolation Bracket 3. Each consolation bracket will compete in a best ball tournament within their consolation bracket for end of season payouts.
Elite Eight Playoffs
The 8 teams that make it into the elite eight are guaranteed prize money at the conclusion of league, however, we will play matches to exactly determine which teams finish 1-8. The losers of the elite eight will play a play-in match to have a chance to compete in the 5th/6th match. The losers of the play-in will play in the 7th/8th match. The losers of the final four will compete in the 3rd/4th match and the top 2 teams will compete for the championship.
LEAGUE WILL LAST 15 WEEKS FOR EVERY TEAM. PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY.