Tire Town Golf Club 2026 Rules of Play
Following are recommendations to the Tiretown Golf Club for 2026 Rules of Play for our weekly play days and Club Championship.
We will abide by the USGA rules of golf with the following modifications.
PLAYING TEES
- Men under the age of 65 will play the white tees (normally over 5800 to 6200 yards)
- Men age 65 and over may play the senior tees (normally 5400 to 5799 yards)
- Men 80 and over may play the red tees (normally under 5400 yards)
- All women may play the red tees
- At the Tournament Director’s discretion, the tee color may be changed for any round to fit into the above listed yardages
- If any tees are missing on a course, each age and gender group will be allowed to play 20 yards in front of the next longer tee box
- If there are any concerns about which tees should be played, the Tournament Director of the club will make the final determination before the golf round
WINTER RULES
- All rounds will be played by winter rules which allows you to move the ball up to 6 inches within the same cut of rough or fairway
OUT OF BOUNDS / HAZARDS
- For all balls hit out of bounds or into any hazard, you may drop your ball within 2 club lengths of the point where the ball entered the hazard with a 1 stroke penalty OR you may drop your ball in the nearest fairway (no closer to the hole) with a 2 stroke penalty
SAND TRAPS
- Unless otherwise indicated by the Tournament Director before a Tiretown golf event, you must play the ball out of all sand traps, but may rake under your ball and place it in the same spot.
- If there is no rake for the trap or the trap has excess water (as agreed by your playing partners), you may take your ball out of the trap and drop it behind the trap no closer to the hole with no penalty
FREE DROP RELIEF
- You will be allowed a free drop with no penalty if your ball is in a flower bed, in ground under repair, near a tree root, blocked by man-made objects on the course, or in a puddle of water anywhere on the course
- The free drop must be within one club length from the area of trouble
PUTTING ON THE GREEN
- You may pick up your putt if the distance to the hole is within the rubber/grip of your putter (normally 8 to 12 inches), while putts outside of the rubber/grip of the putter must be putt into the hole
- For the Club Championship all putts must be putt inTO the hole
- Failure to putt out according to these guidelines will result in a two-stroke penalty
PACE OF PLAY / READY GOLF
- It is important that you keep up with the group ahead of you
- If you fall more than 1 hole behind, you will be asked to skip a hole in order to catch up in which case each player will receive a double bogey score for the hole
- In order to complete rounds in a timely manner you are asked to pick your ball up when your score reaches triple bogey (max score on a hole)
- Please be ready to hit your ball when it is your turn to hit… don’t be a casual observer while others are hitting
- You have only 3 minutes to look for a lost ball… after 3 minutes, take a drop and penalty stroke as described in the “Out of Bounds/Hazards” section above
OFFICIAL CLUB SCORING
- Tiretown Golf Club will use the SQUABBIT APP as the official score for all Tiretown events
- Each group must also keep a written scorecard which must be signed off on
- In the event of a discrepancy between the Squabbit score and the written score card, the higher score will be used and adjusted in Squabbit if necessary
- Before playing in a Tiretown event, each player must have the Squabbit app installed on their cell phone
- If a player doesn’t already have a Squabbit account, they must download the Squabbit app and set up an account with their email address and a password of their choice
- New Squabbit members will then need to get a Tiretown Golf Club “Invite Code” from the Rules Committee Chairman or Tournament Director in order to access Tiretown golf events
- It is the player’s responsibility to request training on the use of Squabbit from the Rules Committee Chairman or the Tournament Director
- Handicaps will be calculated and updated each week using the Squabbit app
- There will be 2 sets of handicap ranges… one for the weekly skins pot and one for strokeplay which determines the final handicaps for the Club Championship as follows:
- Weekly Skins Pot
- Low Handicap: 0-20
- High Handicap: 21 and above
- Strokeplay for Club Championship and any other Tiretown sanctioned events
- A Flight: 0-14
- B Flight: 15-26
- C Flight: 27 and above
- Each player can look up their handicap in the Squabbit app before each round to determine what group they are in for skins and strokeplay
- NOTE: HANDICAPS MAY ADJUSTED IF THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR AND CHAIRMAN OF THE RULES COMMITTEE DETERMINE IT IS APPROPRIATE
- Weekly Skins Pot
- There will be 2 sets of handicap ranges… one for the weekly skins pot and one for strokeplay which determines the final handicaps for the Club Championship as follows:
Respectfully Submitted
Tony C. Banks
Chairperson of the Rules Committee