About STROH's — STROH's

Welcome. Whether you found us through No Laying Up, a friend, or a lucky Discord invite, this is the short version of who we are and how everything fits together.

What Is a Roost?

A Roost is a group of golfers — usually organized by geography — that grew out of the No Laying Up (NLU) message-board community. NLU’s board is known as “The Nest,” and as members started organizing golf events on their own, “Roost” became a natural, tongue-in-cheek riff on the Nest theme.

Who We Are

We’re the South Texas Roost of Hospitality — STROH’s — with members spread across Austin, Houston, and San Antonio.

The name is half a joke:

It’s a friendly jab at Dallas.
The old Stroh’s beer logo looks fantastic once you tweak the lion to hold a golf club.

Honestly? It’s very possible the whole “Roost” idea got reverse-engineered just so STROH’s would work as an acronym.

As for why we exist: the Roost fields a four-golfer team chasing a spot in the Roost Club Championship. The Path to Nationals walks through how that works.

Governing Principles

STROH’s offers a friendly and easily-accessible way for members of the No Laying Up Refuge, and their friends, from South Texas and beyond to #getinvolved. We are guided by the following core principles:

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing The hang, meeting new friends, and the charity matter every bit as much as the golf.
All Are Welcome Come out and play — and bring friends.
Don’t Be a Jerk Assume good intent.
Competition Matters (This Is 4th on Purpose) We know the rules, keep score, and win and lose with grace.

Our motto says it best: Count shots, hit cups.

The Executive Committee

Winning a qualifier earns you a seat on the Roost Regional team. Life, unfortunately, does not check the golf calendar first — so the Executive Committee exists to fill the seats that come open without turning it into a scramble.

Alternates for Regionals and Nationals

If the winner of a qualifying event can’t attend the Roost Regional or the Roost Club Championship, the runner-up from that event is the first alternate. Beyond that, the Executive Committee reserves the right to hand-pick alternates so we can always field a team without undue thrash.

The Committee makes every effort to involve high finishers across the four qualifying events in that decision. There is usually enough time to ask the runners-up from other events to fill in when both the winner and runner-up from a given event are out.

We used to run a fixed alternates list instead, and it didn’t work. Being bound by the list structure meant it took entirely too long to fill out a team — the next name down was often the one person who couldn’t go, and there was no way to skip past them. The current approach trades that rigidity for judgement.

The goal behind that judgement is simple: the players who have played the best over the course of the year should get their chance to represent STROH’s at the national events — balanced against the fact that everyone has a day job.

Naming the NIT qualifier

The NIT alternate situation is out of our hands, and the deadline is tight.

Once our Major finishes — currently the Texas Two-Step — we have seven days to name our NIT qualifier.
We do not have to name the winner. If the champion already knows they can’t make a November tournament, we can name someone else.
Once we name a qualifier, we cannot change it. The pick is irrevocable, so the Committee makes it deliberately.

To give everyone a fair shot at planning, the Committee works to communicate the NIT dates as early as possible in the competition year.

Charity

Each season the Roost runs a donation drive, and members get creative with how they give. Charity has the details, including who we’ve supported.

The Almanac

Everything on this website, compiled into a single document — what a Roost is, the governing principles, how the season works, and the full rules for every competition. Download the STROH’s Almanac if you’d rather read it in one go, or keep a copy to hand. It is rebuilt from these pages, so it never falls out of step with them.

If you’re after the competitive side of things — the qualifiers, Regionals, and the road to Sweetens Cove — start with The Path to Nationals.

Brand new? Getting Started is the two-minute version.