The National Golf Club Challenge

The idea for the National Golf Club Challenge was born out of Pure Golf Events wanting to assist the excellent Help for Heroes charity.

Our solution was to organise a national golf competition in which every golfer in the United Kingdom could participate. The Challenge will bring hundreds of golf clubs, and thousands of golfers together on the same weekend to demonstrate our support for our injured armed forces.

The Challenge

Every golf club in the United Kingdom and Ireland is invited to enter their club in to The National Golf Club Challenge.

The aim of the Challenge is to find The Help for Heroes National Golf Club Champions 2010. At the same time raising much needed funds for the Help for Heroes charity.

How the Challenge Works
The Challenge is to encourage every golf club in the UK to host their own fundraising stableford competition (played from the club's official competition tees) in aid of Help for Heroes.

The challenge will be split into a Men's event and Ladies event – with two separate scores returned from each club which hold a mixed event.

Each club who has formally entered the Challenge will be required to return their top 10 stableford scores to the Challenge organisers (on the official results form). Scores must be returned from both the men's and ladies section (if applicable), together with the fundraising cheque.

The top 10 scores from each section will then count as the club's official aggregate score for the Men's and Ladies sections. Each club's official aggregate score will be counted against standard scratch and Par.

The Men's Section
The top six clubs in the country from the Men's section will be invited to The Grand Final. The Final, sponsored by YourGolfTravel.com, will be held over two days at one of the UK's premier golfing venues, The Belfry.

The National Golf Club Challenge 2010 Champions will then be crowned and will hold the title for 12 months with a representative from the winning club invited to the 2011 National Golf Club Challenge Final to officially hand over the winner's trophy to the new champions.

The Ladies Section
The Ladies section will not have a final for 2010; instead, the top three clubs from the ladies section will be found from the official results and invited to The Belfry in October 2010 to enjoy a golf clinic, 18 holes of golf on the PGA National (or a spa treatment if preferred) and receive their awards at the official presentation evening. Overnight accomodation will also be provided.

Scoring

The Challenge is a national event and will be scored using the Stableford scoring system.

This will require each club to identify the Par and SSS of each course played (if a mixed event held) which will identify what any one individual will need to achieve to 'play to handicap'. For example, Par 72, SSS 71 player needs to achieve 37 points to play to handicap. These are then added together to give you the Club score. This can be adjusted from the Par/SSS of the course (total club score - Par/SSS x 10).

Ties
In the case of a tie the Challenge organisers will use the following method to produce a full and correct leaderboard.

In the first instance, the course played with the higher standard scratch score shall take any tie. After which the organising committee will apply the following:

1. The top score and the poorest score from the 10 qualifying scores will be omitted and the club's score will be found from the 8 remaining scores.
2. The top two scores and the poorest two scores from the 10 qualifying scores will be omitted and the club's score will be found from the 6 remaining scores.
3. The top three scores and the poorest three scores from the 10 qualifying scores will be omitted and the club's score will be found from the 4 remaining scores.
4. The top four scores and the poorest four scores from the 10 qualifying scores will be omitted and the club's score will be found from the 2 remaining scores.

What is Expected From Each Golf Club?

1. Each golf club entering the Challenge will be asked to host its own fundraising competition on the 3rd or 4th June 2011, in support of Help for Heroes. No other dates are available to compete in the Challenge.

If demand is exceptionally high, the event can be spread over two days to cope with the numbers but the top ten scores must be taken from across both days. The Challenge team cannot accept two entries from the same golf club.

2. Each golf club – after obtaining permission from the club secretary or management committee – will need to select the person, or team of people who will take responsibility for organising their National Golf Club Challenge charity golf event.

3. To enter the National Golf Club Challenge, each golf club must fill out and submit the registration form here (not on the Help for Heroes website). Please note, there is no charge associated with participating in the Challenge.

4. Each golf club will manage and administer their own Help for Heroes charity golf day and raise funds in any way they see fit. This will include organising all the entries from their membership, to organising fundraising activities and prizes for the day.

5. Each club must have their own insurance and liability cover in place. The Challenge organisers will not accept any liability for loss or injury incurred whilst participating in the National Golf Club Challenge.

6. Each club must play to the rules of golf laid down by The R&A.

7. Each golf club must play their fundraising competition from their normal competition tees and only one standard scratch score for each section (Men's + Ladies) can be accepted.

All competitors must play the same course without exception. If your event is a mixed event, two sets of results must be produced and must include 10 scores for the men's section and 10 scores for the ladies section. Under no circumstances will less than 10 qualifying scores for each particular section be allowed to count as a club's official score.

8. Each club must decide on their own entrance fee. It is not dictated by the Challenge team. The main aim of the National Golf Club Challenge is to raise one million pounds for the Help for Heroes charity. The top fundraising golf club will win a special prize for the club house.

9. Once completed, each golf club must return the following to the Challenge team from each section (Men's & Ladies if mixed event held):

• The top 10 scores on the official results form, including each correctly completed scorecard.
• The relevant handicap certificates for the top ten scorers.
• The Golf Club's official standard scratch and par for the golf course played.
• The Golf Club’s official fundraising cheque made payable to ' The National Golf Club Challenge '. The Challenge will then pay the total amount to Help for Heroes.
• Any champagne moments: Anything out of the ordinary/funny/ridiculous that happens will be put before the Challenge organisers and a prize will be won for The National Golf Club Challenge 2010 champagne moment.

This Website
The National Golf Club Challenge website provides some resources, help and ideas to help make your event a success. However, it is not written in stone, if your golf club has a better way of organising your particular day, then please do so. The main aim is to raise as much money as possible for the Help for Heroes charity.