General Competition Notes

Why We Run Events This Way

Any of us can pull up a city golf tournament schedule and find a one-day or two-day stroke-play event. STROH’s is more about #getinvolved and enjoying the game, and less about grinding on two-footers for double bogey. So we prioritize fun courses, fun formats, and fun side games over pure stroke-play competition.

Teeboxes

• Men play from teeboxes measuring 6100–6700 yards.
• Women and players aged 60+ play from tees targeting 5500–6200 yards.

Net Scoring & Handicaps

Most — if not all — STROH’s events are net events.

• Match play: handicaps are calculated the day of the match unless otherwise communicated, based on the tees the players select. Split tees are fine.

• Match-play allowances depend on the format, and are not always 100%:

  • Fourballs / Best Ball — 90% of course handicap, with shots off the lowest handicap player in the group: he plays off scratch and everyone else receives the difference.
  • Foursomes / alternate shot — 40% of the higher partner’s handicap plus 60% of the lower, added together, as per USGA guidelines. That gives the pair one handicap, and shots then come off the lower pair: they play off scratch and the other pair receives the difference.
  • Singles — standard 1:1 match play at 100% handicaps, the lower player off scratch and the higher receiving the difference.

  In every format the figure is rounded to the nearest whole shot — a half rounds up — and those shots are allocated by the stroke index of the tee that player is actually playing, which is why split tees are fine. Worked through:

  Format	Handicaps	Play off	Shots received
  Best Ball	4, 15 vs 2, 15	4, 14, 2, 14	2, 12, 0, 12
  Foursomes	6 & 12 vs 4 & 6	8 vs 5	3 vs 0
  Singles	7 vs 19	7 vs 19	0 vs 12

  These apply wherever we play those formats, including the Texas Cup. Where a competition publishes its own figure, that figure wins — Opn Szn plays Alt-Shot at 50%. A committee may also vary an allowance for a particular session, but it is announced before play rather than assumed.

• Scheduled stroke play: handicaps are calculated 24 hours before the event by the competition committee, based on the assigned tees.

• The Muni Tour is the exception. There is no scheduled round for a committee to work back from and no assigned tees — you play when you like, with whoever you like. You declare your own course handicap in the Discord thread before your first tee shot, off the tees you are playing, and that is the figure you submit with your score.

Playing the Round

Hit cups and count all shots. No mulligans, and no gimmes except in match play.

The 9-Shot Maximum

All stroke-play events carry a 9-shot maximum score on a hole, modeled after the Texas UIL golf rules.

Which Rules Govern

Three tiers, each overruling the one before it:

1. USGA Rules of Golf govern play.
2. Local course rules overrule the USGA rules.
3. Tournament-specific STROH’s rules overrule local course rules.

In match play, one more rule sits on top of all three: decisions made by agreement of all players in the match override any rule. Even if you get a rule wrong, if all competitors agree, the score is valid.

Past champions

Every STROH’s champion since 2021, including the events we no longer run, is on the Roll of Honour.