SweetgrassGolf ClubOfficial Sweetgrass rules
Search the approved rules without digging through the entire league format.
The current Sweetgrass league is men’s only. A separate women’s league will launch if enough women express interest. Women interested in a future women’s league should email info@sweetgrassgolf.com. Women’s and mixed teams cannot enter the current men’s league.
Your home ZIP gives you a provisional Haus during preseason. Teammates from different territories choose a shared Haus preference; once both agree, both players join that provisional Haus. About one week before roster lock, Sweetgrass reviews geography, team strength and roster size while keeping teammates together. Final assignments require club approval and lock for the season before block scheduling. Fans choose the Haus they support. Unlisted ZIPs receive club review. St. George, Walterboro, McClellanville and St. Stephen are not part of the starting map.
Every preseason Haus point stays attached to the player who earned it, including recruiting, events and other official achievements. At that player’s first season roster lock, pending points are permanently credited to their final Haus. Later transfers do not move those points. Players without a locked assignment keep their points pending. Team-level awards are split between the two earners so the original total is counted once.
Sweetgrass league matches are 2-man scramble match play. The front nine is the official match even when the group continues for 18 holes.
Every official hole requires a complete team stroke score. Concessions cannot prevent the score from being recorded.
The handicap score caps are 6 on a par 3, 7 on a par 4 and 8 on a par 5. A team may pick up when its next stroke would equal the cap.
The initial team handicap is 35% of the lower individual handicap plus 15% of the higher. Sweetgrass team performance then establishes the pairing dynamically.
The 18-hole team handicap is divided by two and rounded to the nearest whole number, with .5 rounding up. The weaker team receives the difference on the hardest holes by stroke index.
Each regular-season block lasts 14 days and includes two full weekends. Blocks run Monday through the second Sunday. The home team initiates scheduling and books the tee time after both teams agree.
Competitive parity is the primary rule: stronger teams face similarly strong teams, average teams face comparable teams, and developing teams face similarly rated teams from another Haus. Use team handicaps and preseason strength ratings when preparing the opening schedule, with confirmed Sweetgrass performance informing later strength assessments. Choose the closest available matchups across the block. Opponent requests and variety are secondary to competitive parity; teams are not deliberately given weaker opponents to offset difficult earlier matches.
All In-Haus matches take place in designated In-Haus blocks. All matches between different Hauses take place in designated Cross-Haus blocks. Give each Haus equal match opportunities whenever mathematically possible; otherwise compare Haus performance by winning percentage.
A seven-day weather extension applies automatically when weather or course conditions prevent reasonable completion. Weather alone should not create a forfeit.
Either captain may submit the agreed tee time. The opposing team has 24 hours to confirm or dispute it before it auto-confirms.
An interrupted match resumes later from the next unfinished hole with the score and match status preserved. It does not restart.
The home captain submits the result, hole-by-hole scores and scorecard photo. The away team has 48 hours to confirm or dispute before auto-confirmation.
A win earns 3 points, a tie earns 1.5, a loss earns 0.5 and a forfeit earns 0.
Forfeits are reserved for repeated failure to respond, refusal to play or a no-show. They create no default stroke score and have no handicap or on-course record impact.
Playoff seeding ties are broken by head-to-head result, then team stroke differential, then a random draw.
Use sudden death when possible. The backup is countback using the closing nine, last six, last three and final hole.
Registered accounts may predict matches, but players cannot predict a match they are playing. Picks lock at the scheduled tee time.
Challenges rotate by block and are awarded automatically from confirmed round data. All points remain in team history, but no more than three per team per nine-hole match count toward the normalized Haus calculation.