Local Qualifying
All golf clubs in the United States with at least one PGA golf professional employed are eligible to host a local qualifying event for the Great American Scramble.
Once your local golf professional registers your club on-line, he will get a local championship tournament code. Each amateur must use this code to register on-line.
There are two types of local qualifying tournaments. It is up to the local PGA professional to choose one of the two types of qualifying events:
- “Invitational” local qualifying – Each foursome must have at least one member of the host club on each team that participates. The other three players may be invited from other clubs. All players are subject to the same handicap guidelines. Each participant not a member of the host club MUST provide the local PGA professional with a copy of his handicap record in effect 10 days prior to the local championship date.
- “Open” local qualifying – For scorekeeping purposes, groups will be comprised of eight-somes (two groups of four). Each foursome may have any player on their team subject to the handicap guidelines and team formation guidelines. Every person competing MUST provide the local PGA professional with copies of their handicap record in effect 10 days prior to the local championship date.
Tournament Format
The local club championship format is a 4 person team scramble. All shots played from the "selected" shot area must be played from within one club-length of the original selected shot, not closer to the hole. All shots for the team must keep the same condition of the selected shots' playing surface even if one club-length would get them out of that condition, i.e. if a shot from the rough is selected, all subsequent shots must be played from the rough even if the fairway is less than one club-length away.
Players are cautioned NOT to hole out pre-maturely. If a player "taps in" before all team members have used their putts, the score of the "tap-in" will count for the team score and the un-used putt(s) will not count.
Each team member must contribute a minimum of three (3) tee balls for the team in the course of the 18 hole round, and these must be clearly noted on the scorecard. A team may stay in the competition with less than 4 players provided that by the end of the 18 hole round all players have contributed the minimum of 3 tee balls. A team that fails to have all 4 players contribute 3 tee balls will be disqualified. Of the 3 selected tee shots for each player on the team, one of the 3 is a "solo" where no matter where this tee shot goes, the team must use the "solo". Team captains must communicate their "solo" choices to each other before play begins.
All amateur* golfers with a current USGA Handicap index 2 update periods prior to the local club championship date are eligible to compete in the Great American Scramble provided that by the update 10 DAYS PRIOR to the local club championship date they have a minimum of 10 posted scores within the last 12 months of the actual local club championship date.
*A formerly amateur golfer who has technically lost his amateur status due to contest winnings, due to team event winnings (such as the Great American Scramble), or due to a tournament based on net scores is still eligible to compete in the Great American Scramble provided he has a valid USGA handicap index, meets the score record requirements, and does not display the skills or the score record indicative of a professional caliber player. In other words, if a player has obvious amateur skills and a score record indicative of amateur ability, the Great American Scramble will consider the player eligible to compete. In this and similar cases we will classify a player as an “amateur” based on skill level, score record, and handicap index.
Each local team will be comprised of 4 amateurs* using the following guidelines:
- Each team may have only one player whose handicap index is 4.0 or less
- Each team must have four players with combined handicap indexes of at least 30.0 to be an eligible team for the Great American Scramble.
- 30.0-35.9 -- 0 team handicap
- 36.0-41.9 – 1 team handicap
- 42.0-47.9 – 2 team handicap
- 48.0-53.9 – 3 team handicap
- 54.0 and above - 4 team handicap
Each participant not a member of the host club must provide the host PGA professional with a copy of his USGA handicap index card and/or computer printout that lists handicap index, handicap number, and score record in effect 10 days prior to the local club tournament date before they can compete. Be prepared to additionally provide a picture id in case the local professional in charge of the event deems it necessary.