Constitution and Rules

Chips Golf Society

Constitution and Rules

The name of society shall be the Chips Golf Society

The objectives of the society are:

To encourage the participation in golf amongst the employees of Plessey Semiconductors Ltd and their guests via the organisation of regular competitions.

To provide a handicapping system for those members not in possession of CONGU or EGU Associate Membership handicaps.

To co-ordinate the various Corporate Golf Arrangements.

Membership

Membership shall be limited to:

i. employees of Plessey Semiconductors Ltd (Full Members)

ii. non-company employees subject to clause 3c below (Associate Members)

Application for membership will be via the standard membership application form.

A full member who will be responsible for the conduct of the member introduced must introduce non-company employees.

Resignations from the society should be made in writing to the Secretary.

There shall be a subscription fee of £12.00 per annum payable in full by 30th April.

In the event of the dissolution of the society, the funds, assets and properties of the society shall be passed to the Roborough Sports & Social Club.

Royal & Ancient Golf Club / English Golf Union.

The society agrees to abide by the Rules of Golf as laid down by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The society agrees to abide by the Rules of Amateur Status as laid down by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The society recognises that the English Golf Union is the governing body for men's amateur golf within England and as such recognises its authority to govern the game.

Officers and Committee

a. The society will appoint a committee from within its members to run the affairs of the society. Committee members will be proposed and seconded by society members.

b. The society shall initially elect a Secretary, Treasurer and a Handicap Secretary. These officers and any others deemed to be required later shall be elected by and from within the committee of the society.

c. The society will appoint a competition and handicapping committee to organise competitions for its members and control the handicapping therein. The members of this committee will be the same as the main committee.

d. The Competition and Handicapping Committee will determine the conditions that appertain to each competition and supply all members with details of these conditions.

e. The committee shall keep full records of competitions and handicaps of members and these records to be available on request.

Discipline / Sanction Procedures

Society members should remember that we are visitors to all golf clubs and as such are subject to their rules and regulations.

Golfing etiquette must be adhered to at all times.

Should the society receive any complaint, from any source, regarding the conduct of any of its members, disciplinary action may be taken. The member(s) in question will be notified in writing of the nature of the complaint and must reply to this within 10 days. Both the individual member(s) and the committee will have the right to request a personal hearing, at which the member may be accompanied by any other member. Sanctions which may be taken should the member(s) be found to be in breach of society or host club rules or the general rules of etiquette will range from formal warnings to suspension or, in serious cases expulsion from the society.

With effect from May 2009 there shall be no requirement to hold an Annual General Meeting. Any member may request that an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) be held if deemed necessary.

Handicapping - The method to be used to establish and adjust society handicaps is as detailed in Appendix A.

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APPENDIX A - HANDICAPPPING

IT MUST BE STRESSED THAT WHATEVER HANDICAP IS ALLOCATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF SOCIETY MEETINGS, THIS CAN IN NO WAY BE CONSIDERED AS AN OFFICIAL HANDICAP FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE.

Allotment of Handicaps

A player with a CONGU handicap shall be allotted an initial society handicap equal to their CONGU playing handicap. The society handicap will then be adjusted independently of the CONGU handicap on the same basis as other society handicaps but will not be increased to more than CONGU + 3. A player will use his society handicap in society events only.

A player who does not hold a CONGU handicap shall submit 3 cards which shall be adjusted by the handicap committee so that any score of more than 2 over par at any hole shall be amended to 2 over par. Should a player fail to complete a hole he may record a "no score". In such circumstances the handicapping committee shall record for handicapping purposes a score equal to 2 strokes over par.

After these adjustments have been made the player shall be allotted a handicap equivalent to the number of strokes by which the best of the three rounds differs from the standard scratch score (SSS), subject to a minimum handicap of the average of the three rounds minus three.

The maximum handicap shall be 28

Reduction of Handicaps

With effect from 1st July 2000 handicaps shall be adjusted in accordance with the HandicapMaster computer software program

General Play Reductions

Where the handicap committee considers that a player's handicap does not reflect his current playing ability, they may reduce the player's society handicap to the figure it feels appropriate.

Increase in Handicaps

Increases of a player's handicap, other than as a result of a competition entry, may only be carried out at an annual review of all society handicaps.

This review shall take place not later than 30^th April each year and shall be carried out by the handicapping committee.

A maximum increase in any one year shall be 3 strokes.

General Rules

All cards submitted must be properly marked and signed by both the member and marker. The marker must be either a society member or a holder of a CONGU handicap.

After initial allocation of handicap each member should submit at least three cards per year. Failure to do so may result in loss of society handicap and it will be necessary to submit three new cards for allocation of a new handicap.

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