What Constitutes a Proper League Quorum?

[xrayvizhen]

I’m wondering if other leagues are ever in a similar quandary: What percentage of a weekly golf league’s membership needs to play in order for a round to be considered legitimate?

We have a weekly 50 man 9-hole league that lasts for 20 weeks with weekly and year-end cash prizes. On the average about 30 people play each week and by the end of the season just about everyone manages to play at least the minimum 15 rounds which is needed to be eligible for the overall season prizes. There is no written rule or bylaw that specifically addresses this issue. There probably should be. 

This year, we’ve already had two rainouts and one round was cancelled due to the recent Canadian wildfires so we’re already under pressure to get all 20 rounds in. Everyone is free to decide on their own if they want to, or can play in any given week but a problem arose last week when we cancelled (notice sent via text and email) due to the unhealthy air, but about 10 people showed up at the golf course anyway, played their round, turned in their scorecards and felt that that the weekly cash payouts should be awarded to the winners and that their scores should count towards their overall season scores. Management said “No, we cancelled, and that’s that.” Needless to say, there are some unhappy campers. There have been other instances in past years when a round was cancelled due to a threatening forecast, but the storms never materialized, and people played anyway with the same argument ensuing afterwards.

So, is there a number / percentage, like 25 guys or 50% or some other number/percentage of the overall membership needed to legitimize a round or should we just say, “Management decided the round is cancelled, so it doesn’t count?” 

[boogielicious]

Well I’m in a league of my own, so I’d say 1!😜

My leagues had a minimum of 50% and if the round was cancelled by the committee, it was cancelled. If you played, it didn’t count. But your league committee should have this written down so there is no confusion.

[Elmer]

We only use quorum for voting on league rules. With 60 members we require atleast 60% present.

Our league format is different, we play match and stroke play for points.
Our league rule is unless the course is closed we play. Otherwise you are on your own to play match with your opponent.

We do run skins once a month. So if you put money in for skins, and it is raining, but the course is not closed, we are are playing. Should you chose not to play (or play another day,) you dont get a chance to win $$.

I guess you league needs clarity on who determines if you play when course conditions are great.
If the course is open, why is league choosing not to play?

[saevel25]

2 hours ago, xrayvizhen said:

I’m wondering if other leagues are ever in a similar quandary: What percentage of a weekly golf league’s membership needs to play in order for a round to be considered legitimate?

1 player. They could play by themselves. We have rules were if you do not get a sub, then you get a "ghost" player who basically shoots bogey golf with no handicap. You have to use that as their score. 

 

 

2 hours ago, xrayvizhen said:

So, is there a number / percentage, like 25 guys or 50% or some other number/percentage of the overall membership needed to legitimize a round or should we just say, “Management decided the round is cancelled, so it doesn’t count?” 

This is up to the constitution of the league. 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by saevel25

[StuM]

Our league has no requirement on how many show for any given week.  We play two 10-week "Half Seasons" so 20 weeks total, then the 21st is a "Fun round" and pass our prizes.

Our rules state if you are absent you cannot win any "Match Points" but will get "Hole Points" which is basically your Average less HCP compared to par.  This gives some points to those absent so they do not fall so far behind they never have a chance to compete.  You get 2 "Free" absences but after that we add 2 strokes to your average which effectively reduces your maximum points by 2 points.  If you are competing against an absent golfer your net score needs to beat their average less HCP to win the match.  One drawback of this is that it is an advantage to be absent vs play a real bad round.  Fortunately, none of our guys abuse the system.  We also have a sub list to fill the slot(s) of an absent golfer so most always we are all foursomes, even with absent golfers.  Nice thing is we charge the subs $20 to play which goes straight into the prize fund, so far this year I have collected $240 from the subs.

As for weather cancellations is we all golf or none of us golf.  Unfortunately, making the call to cancel is 100% on me, no committee, just me.  If we cancel a week we send out a text and no scores get counted that week.  Our contract with the course is for 21 weeks so any missed weeks get tacked on the end of the season.  This year started rough and we had 3 rainouts in the first 4 weeks but then got in 5 consecutive weeks until another rain out yesterday.  We have several older players that walking is not a valid option so will cancel if no carts are permitted out.  Also, if it is believed that not all groups would complete a round prior to a thunderstorm we cancel the whole thing.

A lttile off topic: Yesterday was 60% chance of Scattered Thundershowers at our 1st tee time and getting worse over the afternoon.  I made the call to cancel at 11am which was @ 4 hours ahead of our 3pm tee time and our last tee time was 3:48pm.  The storms were behind schedule and did not hit until @ 5pm so the early groups may have been able to finish but the later groups would have been called off the course.  There were a few that showed up and golfed (did not count for league) and said my call was "Wrong" but @ 70% of the golfers have agreed I made the correct call.  

Since we have had 4 rain-outs this year which will push us to early October and in Michgian that is uncertain weatehr.  We are talking about getting early tee times ahead of our league on one or 2 dates to do a "Double Header" to help catch up.  That is currently in the discussion phase and one concern is those with jobs that do not have flexibility to get out earlier than normal.  I will personally have a hard time tellling one of them "Tough Luck, you may have paid for the round but too bad" just because their employer will not accomodate a change.

[xrayvizhen]

15 hours ago, StuM said:

Our league has no requirement on how many show for any given week.  We play two 10-week "Half Seasons" so 20 weeks total, then the 21st is a "Fun round" and pass our prizes.

Our rules state if you are absent you cannot win any "Match Points" but will get "Hole Points" which is basically your Average less HCP compared to par.  This gives some points to those absent so they do not fall so far behind they never have a chance to compete.  You get 2 "Free" absences but after that we add 2 strokes to your average which effectively reduces your maximum points by 2 points.  If you are competing against an absent golfer your net score needs to beat their average less HCP to win the match.  One drawback of this is that it is an advantage to be absent vs play a real bad round.  Fortunately, none of our guys abuse the system.  We also have a sub list to fill the slot(s) of an absent golfer so most always we are all foursomes, even with absent golfers.  Nice thing is we charge the subs $20 to play which goes straight into the prize fund, so far this year I have collected $240 from the subs.

As for weather cancellations is we all golf or none of us golf.  Unfortunately, making the call to cancel is 100% on me, no committee, just me.  If we cancel a week we send out a text and no scores get counted that week.  Our contract with the course is for 21 weeks so any missed weeks get tacked on the end of the season.  This year started rough and we had 3 rainouts in the first 4 weeks but then got in 5 consecutive weeks until another rain out yesterday.  We have several older players that walking is not a valid option so will cancel if no carts are permitted out.  Also, if it is believed that not all groups would complete a round prior to a thunderstorm we cancel the whole thing.

A lttile off topic: Yesterday was 60% chance of Scattered Thundershowers at our 1st tee time and getting worse over the afternoon.  I made the call to cancel at 11am which was @ 4 hours ahead of our 3pm tee time and our last tee time was 3:48pm.  The storms were behind schedule and did not hit until @ 5pm so the early groups may have been able to finish but the later groups would have been called off the course.  There were a few that showed up and golfed (did not count for league) and said my call was "Wrong" but @ 70% of the golfers have agreed I made the correct call.  

Since we have had 4 rain-outs this year which will push us to early October and in Michgian that is uncertain weatehr.  We are talking about getting early tee times ahead of our league on one or 2 dates to do a "Double Header" to help catch up.  That is currently in the discussion phase and one concern is those with jobs that do not have flexibility to get out earlier than normal.  I will personally have a hard time tellling one of them "Tough Luck, you may have paid for the round but too bad" just because their employer will not accomodate a change.

You've given me a couple of good ideas. First of all, while not an answer to my original question, I LOVE the idea of a double-header. That's a great way to make up a rainout without having to mess with the schedule or go too deeply into October since that also becomes a problem when playing into the early evening and it gets dark earlier. (We tee off at 3pm also.) 

As far as the "quorum" question goes, it seems the consensus is no quorum - to just call it as you see it and if people bitch, they bitch. For this week's rainout some did since the storms cleared out earlier than expected, but about 75% said cancelling the round was a good call.