Format

The Championship tournament format is two-man team best-ball match play within flights. Teams are made up of one (1) MSGA member and one (1) Guest or a second MSGA member.  Flight assignments are determined by total team handicaps. Each flight includes six (6) teams, requiring five (5) nine-hole head-to-head matches over the two-day Championship. A Shootout of flight winners determines the overall MSGA Team Champions.

Initial entries are limited to the first thirty (30) teams entered to create five (5) flights. Should less than 30 teams enter, some flights will be made up of five (5) teams rather than six (6) teams. Should more than thirty teams enter, an additional flight will be added if all flights have at least five (5) teams. The maximum is 36 teams (72 players).

Players play the tees they normally play in Regular MSGA events, i.e. Front tees (Green), Middle tees (Blue) or Back tees (Gold).  Only limitation is that players choosing the Front tees must have a Handicap Index + Age of 85+.  Since players play their own ball, a team may be composed of players playing different tees.  Player course handicaps are determined by the Course Rating/Slope of tees played.

Handicaps for a match foursome are based off the lowest handicap player in the foursome who is assigned zero (0) handicap strokes for the match. Players receive one-half their regular 18-hole handicap for both the matches and the shootout. Other players in the foursome are assigned strokes based on the difference between their course handicap and that of the lowest handicap player (strokes are assigned to holes based on the course scorecard).  Official MSGA score cards are prepared with the handicap holes indicated. 

For match play scoring, ten points are awarded for each match.  Each hole winner is awarded one point (half-point each for holes tied), and one point is awarded for winning the match (half-point each for matches tied).  For flights with less than six teams, each team in the flight plays one match against par.

For each flight, the team with the most total points after completion of match play advances to the shootout to determine the overall Championship winners.  Should two teams tie, the head-to-head match shall determine the winner; if the head-to-head match was tied, the winner will be determined by going backward on the scorecard beginning on the last hole played until one team wins a hole; that team will advance to the shootout.  If the teams remain tied, the winner will be determined by a coin flip. Should three or more teams tie, the total points won by each team in the head-to-head matches shall determine the team that advances to the shootout.  Should a tie remain between two teams, the winner shall be determined by the same method as two teams tying, a coin flip.  Second place winners in each flight will be determined in the same manner.

If there are fewer than six (6) match play flights, Wild card team(s) shall be added to the shoot-out field until six (6) teams are included in the shoot-out field.  The Wild card team(s) shall be the second-place team(s) with the most points in match play.  Should two (2) teams tie, a coin flip shall decide the winner except if the two (2) teams are from the same flight, the tiebreaker shall be the same as two (2) teams tying for first place.

In the shootout, handicaps are again based off the lowest handicap player in the shootout field.  Both players on each team play their own ball for the team’s net best-ball score.  The highest net best-ball score for the hole is eliminated.  One team is eliminated after each hole.  For ties on a hole, a chip-off (with all four (4) players participating) is used to eliminate one team.  On the first playoff hole, only four (4) teams will advance to the second playoff hole; others will be eliminated.  If the final two teams tie the final hole, the final playoff hole will be replayed one time to determine the winner.  Should the teams remain tied, a chip-off will be used to determine the overall champions.  

The shootout is managed by the Director of Golf and/or the Course Professional whose rulings will be final.