Golf Contacts, Hours, Rules & Info

Golf Committee

Spring and Fall
Mon - Fri 8A-5P
Weekends 7:30A-5P
Memorial Day through Labor Day
Mon-Fri 8A-6P
Weekends 7:30A-6P

Golf Section Rules

This website is the permanent home of the Washington Golf Club’s list of rules. Our course currently receives more play than it has at any time in its history. In order to preserve the informal atmosphere of our club, protect our greens and fairways, and keep the golfers on our waiting list from becoming totally discouraged, we have had to consider several issues that haven’t required much serious thought in the past. The revised rules reflect that process, and — with help from Fran and the entire golf committee — they will be enforced.

Sign In: All players must sign in at the desk in the golf shop before teeing off.

Proper Attire: Proper attire is required at all times on the course and on the driving range. Jeans, tee-shirts, short shorts, tennis shorts, and halter tops, for example, are not permitted. If in doubt, please ask the head professional.

Soft Spikes or Sneakers Only: Metal spikes harm our greens and are not permitted on the golf course, the driving range, or the practice green. Plastic spikes are available in the golf shop.

Equipment: Every player must be equipped with a set of clubs. Two players may not play out of one bag.

Priority on First Tee: On the first tee, a group making the turn has priority over a group beginning its round, unless the group beginning its round has already allowed a group from the ninth green to play through.

Ladies’ Day: Women have preferred tee times between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Wednesdays.

Club Matches: Club matches have priority over recreational play and should always be invited to play through.

Practicing on the Course: No player may practice on the golf course. Playing more than one ball is not allowed.

Guests

Registration of Guests: All guests must be registered in the golf shop by their host before teeing off.

Once Per Month: No guest may play more than once in any calendar month.

Houseguest Exception: Members’ houseguests may play with their host for the duration of their visit, up to five days, if the host has made arrangements with the head professional or the assistant professional. This exception is offered as a convenience to members; it is not intended to provide regular, repeated playing opportunities for non-members who make frequent visits. The Golf Committee reserves the right to withdraw the playing privileges of any houseguest if the Committee feels the exception has been abused.

Member/Guest Exception: Participation as a guest in a member/guest tournament does not count as a guest round.

Unaccompanied Guests: On weekdays only, a guest may play without an accompanying member if the member host has made arrangements in advance with the head professional or the assistant professional. Unaccompanied guests may not play on weekends.

Post-season Guests: All guest rules and fees remain in force after the golf shop has closed for the year, in the late fall, except that once the golf shop has closed no guest may play unaccompanied. Member hosts must register all post-season guests on the signup sheet posted near the golf shop door.

Driving Range

Use: The driving range may be used only by members and their guests, and only during its official hours of operation.

Range Balls: Range balls may not be removed from the range.

Children: Children who are not members of the golf section may not use the range, except during clinics or lessons conducted by the head professional.

Golf Carts

Driver’s License: Golf carts may be operated only by members and guests who have valid drivers’ licenses.

Passengers: Only two people may ride in a golf cart at one time.

90-degree Rule: Unless players are instructed to do otherwise by the head professional or the course superintendent, golf carts must be driven on cart paths (where available) and in the rough. To reach a ball that lies in a fairway or in the rough on the opposite side of a fairway, carts may be driven on the fairway briefly, but only by the shortest possible route, and at a 90degree angle to the direction of the hole.

Restricted Areas: Carts may not be driven on tees, within ten yards of any green, or within restricted areas defined by white lines.

Second/Eleventh Hole: On the green side of the brook on the second/eleventh hole, carts must be kept on the cart path at all times.

Suspension: The Golf Committee may suspend the cart privileges of any member who uses carts improperly, or whose guests use carts improperly. The Golf Committee may suspend the playing privileges of unlicensed drivers who operate golf carts.

Washington Golf Club
Tournament Eligibility and Rules

Tournament Eligibility

Section members must have reached their 65th birthday in order to play in a “senior-senior” tournament.

Section members must have reached their 55th birthday in order to play in a “senior” tournament.

Section members must not have reached their 18th birthday in order to play in a “junior” tournament.

To play in, or attempt to qualify for, the championship flight of the Women’s Club Championship, the Club Championship, and the Professional’s Cup, section members must have reached their 13th birthday; section members who have reached their 13th birthday but have not reached their 16th birthday must also receive the approval of the head professional. The professional’s decisions about eligibility will be based on the professional’s assessment of each golfer’s playing ability, sportsmanship, etiquette, and understanding of The Rules of Golf. To play in, or attempt to qualify for, flights other than the championship flight of these three tournaments, section members must have reached their 16th birthday.

Section members who have reached their 16th birthday are eligible to play in all adult tournaments with the exception of all Member/Guest tournaments, the Superintendent’s Cup, Ladies Tri-team matches, and Ladies’ Invitational matches — all of which are limited to section members who have reached their 21st birthday.

Play in all club tournaments is governed by The Rules of Golf. The senior rules official in all club tournaments is the head professional, whose decisions are final.

Play in junior tournaments is governed by The Rules of Golf, the rules of the Connecticut PGA Junior Golf Association, and any additional rules specified by the head professional.

Players in junior tournaments must walk, and they must carry their own clubs/equipment or use a pull cart. No caddies or motorized carts may be used.

Players in junior tournaments are responsible for replacing divots, repairing ball marks, and raking bunkers, and they may be penalized by the head professional for failing to do so.

Junior tournaments are conducted solely for the enjoyment of the competitors. Under no circumstances may parents or other spectators speak to competitors once play is underway.

Spectators who violate this rule or other tournament rules will be required to leave the course; competitors who communicate with their parents or with other spectators during a competition will be assessed a penalty of two strokes (in stroke play) or loss of hole (in match play) for each occurrence. There will be no warnings. All rules decisions by the head professional will be final.

All spectators at junior tournaments are asked to stay in the rough where possible, and to keep a distance from the players of at least thirty feet. Spectators are not allowed on greens or tees.

Equipment: Competitors in club tournaments may not use equipment that, in the opinion of the head professional, would be deemed nonconforming by the United States Golf Association. (See Appendices II and III of The Rules of Golf.)

Starting Times: During all club tournaments, competitors who are not at the tee and ready to commence play at the starting time posted by the head professional will be disqualified. In match-play tournaments other than the Club Championship, the Tournament Committee may change tee times to suit the needs of individual competitors if all affected players agree to the change and if the Tournament Committee believes that the change will not alter the competition.

Tournament Fees: Members who sign up for a tournament but do not participate will be charged the tournament fee unless they have notified the head professional at least forty-eight hours before play begins.

Multi-day Tournaments: A member who signs up for a multi-day tournament will be expected to remain in the field for the duration of the tournament unless he or she has made arrangements in advance with the head professional or the Tournament Committee.

Etiquette: Competitors in all tournaments are expected to abide by The Rules of Golf, to exhibit good sportsmanship, and to show respect for the other competitors in the field. The Tournament Committee may suspend the tournament privileges of competitors who fail to do so.

Handicaps

Posting Scores: So that fair handicaps can be computed, players should post their scores on the computer in the golf shop. Before posting scores, members must adjust them according to the U. S. G. A. Equitable Stroke Control guidelines. For more information on adjusting scores, ask the head professional, or consult The Rules of Golf or the handicap section of the U. S. G. A.’s website, at http://www.usga.org/handicap/index.html.

Calculating Handicaps: Members’ handicaps are calculated by the Connecticut State Golf Association using a formula devised by the U. S. G. A. Handicaps are based on the ten best adjusted scores in a player’s twenty most recent rounds.

Tournament Eligibility: To be eligible for club tournaments, a player must have a valid handicap card, or must have posted three scores by June 1, five scores by August 1, or ten scores in the previous year.

Tournament Handicaps: The Tournament Committee may assign a handicap to any tournament participant if it believes that the participant’s published handicap is inaccurate for tournament play. The Tournament Committee may base its decision on the results of other events, the health of the participant, and other factors.

Tournament policy and procedure

It is your responsibility to know your starting time.

Starting times will be available by 12:00 noon on the day following the event sign up deadline. (All deadlines are published on the golf calendar.)

To learn your starting time, call the golf shop – 868-0166 or consult the web site – www.washingtonclub.net. Times will also be posted on the golf shop’s bulletin board.

You may request a specific starting time, but such requests will not necessarily be honored.

If you are selected to play in an event as an alternate, the golf shop staff will contact you at least 24 hours before your starting time.

Withdrawal from Events

If you have signed up for an event must withdraw, you must inform the golf shop staff at least 24 hours before the start of an event.

You must be ready to tee off at your starting time.

It is strongly recommended that you arrive at least 10 minutes before your starting time.

If you arrive more than five minutes late for your starting time, you will be penalized according to the provisions of the rules of golf.

If you have signed up for an event, fail to show up and have not informed the staff, you will be penalized as follows:

1st offense - You will be charged the entry fee for the event

2nd offense - In addition to being charged the event entry fee, you will not be permitted to sign up for the next event on the golf calendar.

3rd offense – In addition to being charged the event entry fee, you will not be permitted to sign up for any events for the remainder of the year.

Safety

General Safety Issues: Our course is small, and the holes are closely spaced. All players must look after their own safety and the safety of other players at all times.

Third/Twelfth Tees: Before teeing off on the third or twelfth hole, players must determine that the group ahead has cleared the green and reached the next tee.

Etiquette

epairing Damage: All players are required to replace their divots, and to repair their own ball marks and any others they see on the greens. Repaired ball marks heal quickly; unrepaired ball marks leave damage that persists for weeks or months.

Slow Play: A nine-hole round may take no more than two hours to complete.

Position: Every group on the course should make its best effort to keep up with the group ahead of it.

Playing Through: Slower groups must allow faster groups to play through.

Searching for a Ball: From The Rules of Golf: “Players searching for a ball must signal the players behind them to pass as soon as it becomes apparent that the ball will not easily be found. They should not search for five minutes before doing so. They should not continue play until the players following them have passed and are out of range.”

Bunkers: Do not enter or leave a bunker on a side that is steeply banked. Doing so leaves deep footprints that damage the bunker and are difficult to repair.

Raking Bunkers: After playing from a bunker, thoroughly rake all footprints, and leave the rake in the sand near the bunker’s edge. (Rakes left in the grass interfere with mowers.)

Single Players: According to The Rules of Golf, “A single player has no standing and should give way to a match of any kind.” A group may elect to invite a single player to play through, but is not required to do so.

Juniors

Definition: A junior is any player under eighteen years of age. (This definition is distinct from the membership category “Junior Member,” which is defined in paragraph F of section VIII of the by-laws of the Washington Club.)

Club Rules: A junior must abide by all club rules, including those regarding attire and pace of play.

Unaccompanied Juniors: A junior may play without an accompanying playing adult only if he or she has been approved for unaccompanied play by the head professional. Approval will be based on the junior’s skill, etiquette, and understanding of The Rules of Golf, and on the judgment of the professional.

Permitted Playing Times: A junior may play at any time on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, except during tournaments or at other times when play is restricted; after 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays; on Friday mornings, as long as he or she is off the course by 1:00 p.m.; after 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and after 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Other Permitted Playing Times: The head professional may permit a junior to play during a restricted time if the head professional believes that the course is uncrowded and that the junior’s skill level is high enough to enable the junior to keep up with adult players.

Other Uses: At times when juniors are not permitted to use the course, they may use the driving range and practice green if they first receive permission from the head professional or the assistant professional.

Guests: Juniors may bring guests if they receive permission from the head professional or the assistant professional. (All club rules regarding guests apply to the guests of juniors.)

Golf Carts: A junior may operate a golf cart on the course only if he or she is a licensed driver and has received permission from the head professional or the assistant professional.

Playing Privileges: The head professional or the Golf Committee may suspend the playing privileges of any junior who violates the rules of the club or the etiquette expected of all members and guests.

Course Layout and Score Card