Group Winners

a. Groups – Each “group” will ideally contain four teams which will compete against one another during the regular season. Over six weeks, each team will play each of the other three teams in the group two times – once at home and once away. The group winner will be the team with the most Group Points (win-loss points) at the end of the season. In the event of a tie, there is an established tie-breaking method described under “Tie Breaking Procedures”.

b. Groups with Three Teams – In the event that a group has only three teams, each team will play the other two teams in the group twice – once home and once away over the six week regular season.
Accordingly, teams from groups of three will play only four matches and team will have two weeks on the schedule where they will not have a match. The group winner will be the team with the most Group Points (win-loss points) at the end of the season. In the event of a tie, see Tie Breaking Procedures for Groups.

c. Region Full and Alternate Teams – Once an area has 16 teams (four groups with four teams each) the region will be full. Additional “regions” may be added to accommodate more teams, but this may not always be possible. Teams will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

 

 

Tie-Breaking Procedures for Groups and Wildcards

(To Determine Group Winners and Wildcard Teams)

• Group winners will be determined by the team with the highest Group points: (3 points for a win, 1.5 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss)
  • In the event of a tie between two or more teams with identical Group points, the group winner will be determined by:
    1. Direct wins between tied teams (In a tie of 3 or more teams, total wins vs. all tied teams)
    2. Direct Match Points (In a tie of 3 or more teams, total match points vs. all tied teams)
    3. Total Match points won in all matches against all teams
    4. Total match points earned in, their last three matches; then their last two matches; then last match ( Manual Adjustment )
    5. Coin flip

c. Wildcard Teams – (Three Group Regions Only) Since wild card teams do not compete directly against one another during the regular season, any ties by overall points will be determined by:

i. First - the total match points won in all matches by the tied teams.
ii. Second - total match points won in the last 3 matches.
iv. Then match points earned in, the last two matches; then last match; then by coin flip
v. Groups with only three teams – Points Adjustment – For determining home field advantage and tie breakers, teams from groups of three teams will have their overall and match points grossed up by 150% so that they will be on a comparable basis with groups of four teams.

Playoffs and Regional Champions

a. After the regular season, four Group Champion Teams will compete over two rounds of playoffs to determine the Regional Champion. (Teams will be paired by the FSGA Committee for the play-offs.)

• Three group regions will include a wild-card team.

• Two group regions will have each group winner advance to the playoffs. The winner will advance to the State Championship

b. Teams will be “seeded” based on each team’s overall record from regular season play.  The seeds will be used to determine who receives the home course advantage for the second match of the playoff. Group points will be used for this test, and if overall points are tied, then total match points will be compared.  If the teams are still tied, then the tie will be broken by comparing 18 Hole Total match points.  If the teams are still tied, then the tie will be broken by a coin flip.  (Teams from groups of only 3 teams will have their Season and match points grossed-up by 150% for purposes of determining home field analysis). Wildcard teams will be the fourth seed in their playoff region.  

c. The playoff matches will be conducted on the courses of the competing teams, according to all regular Interclub rules.

d. For each round of the playoffs, each team will play two matches against their opposing team on a home-and-away basis, conducted over two weeks. The winner will be determined by the Group Points earned in the two matches (Each Match - Winning Team = 3 points, Teams Tie = 1.5 Point Each; Loss = 0 Points)

e. Ties – The results from the fourball matches at each site combine to yield 24 total match points. If each team has the same amount of group points after two weeks, whatever team has more match points will win and move on to the next round. If a tie at 12-12, whatever team had more total group points during the regular season will move on. If that is a tie, see The Tie-Breaking Procedure for Playoffs section below.

f. Eligibility - Only players who have played in at least one team match during the regular season shall be eligible to participate in the playoffs. Any infraction of this rule shall result in forfeiture of all four-ball points won during the play-off match by the ineligible player(s).

Players who were scheduled to play in a match that was cancelled are not eligible to play in the playoffs unless they have played in another match during the season. 

g. Regions with Three Groups (Wild Card Team) – In some cases a region will only have three groups. After the regular season, each of the group winners will advance to the playoffs. Additionally, the highest ranking second place team, the “Wild Card Team”, based upon Group Points (awarded for wins and ties), will advance to the playoffs. If there is a tie based on Group Points, then the team with the highest number of total “Match Points” from all their matches will advance. See Tie-breaking Procedures for Groups in a section listed above.

h. Regions with Two Groups – In some cases a region will only have two groups. After the regular season, each of the group winners will advance to the playoffs. The playoff winner will advance to the State Championship.

 

Tie-Breaking Procedure for Playoffs

1. First - the total match points won in all regular season matches
2. Second - total match points won in the last 3 regular season matches
3. Then match points earned in, the last two regular season matches; then last regular season match; then by coin flip
4. Groups with only three teams – Points Adjustment – For determining home field advantage and tie breakers, teams from groups of three teams will have their overall and match points grossed up by 150% so that they will be on a comparable basis with groups of four teams.