Warley Park Seniors Section - Swindle Rules 

The Seniors' Swindle arrangements for 2020
Eligibility - All members of the ‘seniors’ can play in the Swindle on any Monday, Wednesday or Friday, when no other senior competition is taking place. Stableford rules apply.
Duration - The Swindle will run from the 1st of January 2020 to the 30th November 2020.
Minimum Number - There must be seven, or more, for
a swindle to take place.
Draw – (1) Between 1st Nov - 28th Feb there will be one draw at 8am in the clubhouse.
(2) From 1st March the 1st swindle draw will be at 7:45am. All players in the hat then are guaranteed to tee off before the players in the 2nd draw, which will be at 8am. Players arriving at the 1st tee after 8am will be in the last group. Players can only put their ball in the hat if they are ready to tee-off. Players teeing off before 7:45 will not qualify for the swindle. The ‘organiser’ can use some flexibility to avoid problems, or delays e.g. if other tee times impact.
Payments - Players must pay £1 (which is collected at the end of play) to participate in the swindle.
New Swindlers - You must have a club handicap to play in the swindle and must have played in the swindle at least 3 times before you are able to win a prize. You will not have to put £1 in the pot until your 4th game, but you will be subject to a cut if you would have won or placed for prize money. New club players can play 3 times in a swindle in order to secure a club handicap.If you do so, you cannot win a prize, but also you will not be expected to pay the £1.
Completion of Cards - Cards should be dated, and contain full names and correct swindle handicaps.

Handicaps and Cuts
* All swindle handicaps will be reset to club handicaps from 1st January.
* Handicap cuts will be applied to the winners of prize money. The cut is dependent on the number of players participating on that occasion.
See the separate table on right.
* Cash prizewinners will play off their new handicap for four games and then (i.e. from the 5th game) revert to their full club handicap. If a swindler receives a further cash prize before they have played their 4 games, a further cut will be applied (as per table) and that new handicap will then apply for a further 4 games etc.
* ​​Handicap Increases of 1 will apply after four games have been played without a win or a place.  If a player has still not won or placed after another 4 games he will get another 1 shot increase. And so on. When a player does win or place, the normal cut will apply to the handicap that the player has used. Once 4 games have been played off the cut handicap the player will revert to his club handicap. The process applies continuously throughout the year.
​ * Swindle handicaps and prize money will be listed on the website at regular intervals. However, it is the responsibility of individuals to ensure that they play off the correct handicap each time.

Scores of 40 or above – An additional Handicap cut
of (-1) will be applied to all cash prizewinners who score 40 points or more. If a player has more than one score of 40 the extra cut of -1 will increase by a further -1 on each occasion i.e.
1st score of 40    -1
2nd score of 40   -2
3rd score of 40   -3
etc
Prize Money – The prize money ‘pot’ will be the total of the £1s on that day and will be paid out directly after each swindle event. It will be allocated as per the table.
Swindler of the Year Trophy - There will be an end of year trophy for the “Swindler of the Year”. To be eligible to win this you must have played in a min. of 15 swindle games. The winner will be the person who has the highest total net prize money at the end of the year. A person’s net prize total will be calculated by deducting the total number of times played (i.e. the £1 contributions) from the total prize money won. In the event of a draw there will be a play off.
Finishing Holes – All holes must be finished i.e. ‘putted out'. To speed up games players should ‘pick up’ where they cannot score.
Notifying Results – The results of each swindle must be communicated to Gordon at ‘allen393@btinternet.com’ to be counted in the “Swindler of the Year” competition. The information should include (1) A list of the players who participated on that occasion; and (2) The names of the winners of prize money, with amounts, the handicaps used on that day, and the handicap cuts made (as below). Wherever possible all sets of cards should be passed onto Gordon.