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General Rules

Membership

TheGrint Tour is owned and operated by Sandy Birdie LLC and is headquartered in Coral Gables FL.

Membership to the TheGrint Tour is open to any amateur golfer with a verifiable handicap index.

In order to compete in our events, you must have entered a minimum of six (6) completed scorecards into your TheGrint App account, or have a verifiable USGA Handicap Index, or have received approval by the Tour Director(s). Any amateur golfer can sign up

for TheGrint Tour on the official website:

www.TheGrintTour.com.

Membership Fees

The cost of an annual membership into the TheGrint Tour is as follows:

$100.00 w/ an active “Pro + Membership” on TheGrint App
$125.00 w/ an active “Pro Membership” on TheGrint App
$150.00 w/o an active “Pro Membership” on TheGrint App

Grinters will also have the option to become a Pro + on TheGrint app when becoming a tour member or upgrade at any point during the season

Tour member benefits include, but are not limited to the following:

- Discounted entry fees & unlimited referral credits
- Tour Welcome Kit w/ logo’d promotional items
- Participation in TheGrint Tour Cup Season Long Race and its prizes
- Any special discounts offered by sponsors for their products/services
- Member rate in any  TheGrint Tour tournaments around the world
- Discounts at linksoul.com and OnTheGreenCbd.com

Memberships will be placed in auto renewal. To turn off autorenew please go to the My Account section of TheGrintTour.com and turn off this function.

Tournament Registration / Payment Policy

Tour players can register online for Regular, Playoff, and Major events at www.TheGrintTour.com. Events may have a limited number of entries available. Therefore, each event will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Tour players are encouraged to register early, as any event may sell-out in advance of the entry deadline.

It is the responsibility of the TheGrint Tour player to submit the required entry fee for each tournament prior to the entry deadline, as payment will be the only means by which to secure a position in the tournament field. Entry fee payments should be made via the TheGrint Tour website using a credit card, but may be paid by other means (i.e., Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, etc.) with the permission of the Tour Director(s). When your payment is received and registration is complete, an email confirmation along with a receipt will be sent to you.

TheGrint Tour Members will qualify for discounted registration fees (Member & Member Early Bird). Early Bird registration is limited and subject to entry gift restrictions. Refer to each event’s Registration page for details. The additional Member Early Bird discount will be available to any Member completing their registration to an event 21 days prior to the originally scheduled date of the event for which they are registering until the designated number of spots are available. If a Member is not able to complete registration before the cutoff date of the Early Bird discount, the Member discount will apply up to the date of the event.
By registering for any event, you are agreeing to these Rules and Guidelines.

Assumption of Risk and Release from Liability

By becoming a member of TheGrint Tour or entering and playing in a TheGrint Tour tournament, the participant understands and agrees that there are certain dangers involved with the participation in a golf tournament, including but not limited to being struck by lightning, getting hit by a golf club or golf ball, suffering from heat exhaustion, heart attack or injury from uneven terrain, for all such risks the participant assumes, solely accepts, and waives all claims of injury to body or property against TheGrint Tour. Furthermore, the participant agrees that while on the premises of a TheGrint Tour tournament, the participant, and any guest, relative or anyone else affiliated with participant, shall be present at their own risk and that Sandy Birdie LLC shall not be liable for any claims for injuries or damages whatsoever to person or property of the participant or related person arising out of or in connection with the participation in the tournament or presence at the tournament. Participant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless TheGrint Tour and Sandy Birdie LLC from all claims by or liability to participant or affiliated person.

Payment Policy

It is the responsibility of the TheGrint Tour player to submit the required entry fee for each tournament prior to the entry deadline, as payment will be the only means by which to secure a position in the tournament field. Entry fee payments should be made via the TheGrint Tour website using a credit card, but may be paid by other means (i.e., Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, etc.) with the permission of the Tour Director(s). When your payment is received and registration is complete, an email confirmation along with a receipt will be sent to you.

Referral Credits

All current season active/registered TheGrint Tour members are eligible for a referral credit of $25 for each referral’s completed Tour Membership registration. The credit is good for any future Tour event(s) beyond the current event in which the referral was validated. The referral must not have been a prior Tour Member, or have played in any previous Tour events. A referral credit will only be given when the new Tour Member enters the referring member’s email at the time of their new Membership registration. Be sure to know and enter the proper email your referring Member has on file with TheGrint in the search box when prompted during your registration. If the referring member’s name or email is not found in the search box, please seek assistance by emailing Tour Director(s) via the “Contact Us” link on our website’s Home Page. All referrals will be reviewed and verified by Tour Director(s).

Credit Redemption

Any online credit to your TheGrint Tour account is redeemed automatically when you register for a tournament. Credits will not be eligible to be applied to an Early Bird tournament registration fee. Credits can be applied ONLY to a regular Member Price. Non-members will not be eligible for credits. Credits can be redeemed when they become a member, you will have five (5) days after the event to become a member in order to redeem them. If you don't, you lose those credits. Referral and Tournament Credits will expire 120 days or 4 events after being awarded. Credits can only be used on the Local Tour where the member earned them, or at National Events. Credits by Refund will not expire.

Tour Flights

The following table depicts how players are assigned to their respective Tour flights based on their USGA Handicap Index. Final decisions on assigning Tour Players’ flights are solely at the discretion of TheGrint Tour Director(s) after a full review of the players and their scores.

Flight Name Handicap Index
Champion < 3.9
Albatross 4.0 - 7.9
Eagle 8.0 - 11.9
Birdie 12 - 15.9
Par >16

Player Flight Assignment & Re-Assignment

TheGrint Tour wants to ensure a competitive atmosphere at our events yet ensure fairness to all players. In order to achieve this, sometimes it is necessary to evaluate new players and those who compete throughout the season. If warranted, the Tour Director(s) will exercise discretion on player reassignments to flights for competition. The following are some common examples:

Consecutive Wins – If a player wins two consecutive events that they play in for the same flight to which they are assigned, that player will be reviewed and possibly moved up to the next flight for the remainder of the season or their handicap improves to move up yet another flight. Handicap and performance relative to the field will be taken into consideration. Three wins will result in automatic promotion.

New Grinters – Members not having the minimum six (6) rounds entered into TheGrint App will be flagged as not having a valid handicap index. All such members will be contacted and reviewed by the Tour Director(s) to determine flight assignment and/or inclusion into the competition. The following are possible scenarios:

The new Grinter has an established handicap index thru GHIN or another service. The Grinter will be asked to enter past scores into TheGrint App in order to become Tour compliant.

The new Grinter is a novice to the game with less than 6 rounds entered. TheGrint Tour welcomes and encourages new players to the game and our Tour. The Tour Director(s) will contact and discuss the players golf game. After review, inclusion to competition and winnings may be allowed. However, any points awarded will be retained only if the player has entered six (6) scores by their next event participation.

A player who has been promoted to a higher flight will be allowed to play in his previous flight after playing in 2 events in the higer flight. His results will be taken into account only if his handicap index is 0.5 over the minimum for his original flight ( ex: 12.5 in Birdie Flight ).

Tour Manager will have final say in all decisions regarding placing players in the right flights.

Cancellations and No Shows

If a Tour player who has registered for a tournament withdraws more than 7 days before the date of that Tour event, they will receive a credit for use in future TheGrint Tour events. Withdrawal from any tournament must be done no later than 3 days before the date of the event. If a Tour player withdraws prior to the tournament, they are subject to a cancellation fee plus any additional fees or green fees from the hosting golf course. Any Tour player that has registered for an event and does not show to the event or fails to make contact with the Tour Supervisor on the day of the event will forfeit their registration fee and may have their player privileges revoked for future events. All withdrawals must be communicated to the Tour Director(s) by email or text. The timestamp of the communication of intent to withdraw will be used in consideration of any fees or credits depicted in the policy stated previously.

Any requests for refunds and not credit will automatically trigger a cancellation fee (varies by tour)

Tournament Payouts

By Flights

Each flight will have a "Gross Score Champion", and there will also be an "Overall Net Score Champion", for a total of six (6) champions per event. Depending on the number of players per flight for each event we will also recognize/award 2nd thru 5th place finishes in each flight accordingly with credits and/or other prizes at the Tournament Director(s) discretion. Tour Director(s) may at their discretion extend the number of prizes and/or their values should a flight’s number of players exceed the chart shown below:

Number of Players (per flight) Number of Places Paid Regular Event Payout One-Day Major Event Payout Two-Day Majors, National and Playoff Event Payout

2-9 1 $100* Credits/Prizes & Trophy $150* Credits/Prizes & Trophy $200* Credits/Prizes & Trophy
10-14 2 2nd $50* Credits/Prizes $75* Credits/Prizes $100* Credits/Prizes
15-19 3 3rd $35* Credits/Prizes $50* Credits/Prizes $75* Credits/Prizes
20+ 4 4th $25* Credits/Prizes $35* Credits/Prizes $50* Credits/Prizes

* As interest and participation in the Tour grows locally, winner payout amounts will be reviewed and may be increased as the season progresses based on increased filed of players. The Tour reserves the right to award winners a combination of sponsor gifts, gift cards and/or credits towards future event registrations that are of equal or greater value depicted above.

Skins Game

An optional cash buy-in skins game will be offered for each flight as well. The game’s entry fee is cash only in addition to the event registration fee and will only be taken at the Check-In table on the day of the event. The lowest Gross Score per hole with a birdie (-1 to par) or better will qualify and be used to determine a winning skin for each flight. A winning player’s payout per skin will simply be the Flight’s pot value divided by number of Flight skins won in the event. If there are no winners, the pot(s) will carry over to the next event and continue to grow until a winner occurs or the Tour year ends. Any unclaimed prize money at year end will either be donated to a local charity or raffled in the form of gift cards and/or golf items to those who participated during the unclaimed period.

Scoring

The GrintTour will use Gross Scores to determine the winners of each flight. Each Regular/Playoff (1 day) event will consist of 18 holes, while Major (2 day) events will be comprised of 36 holes. Gross score is defined to be the total amount of shots taken to finish the 18 holes per round. There is also an Overall Net Prize, in which every player on the field participates.

Ties for first place in each flight will be decided by sudden death playoff (unless the course or weather does not allow Tour players back on the course). All players in a sudden death playoff MUST be present in order to participate, or else they forfeit their tie. In the event of a tie for second place and other places, the winner will be decided by scorecards in the following order:

For Gross Prizes:

- Best (gross) back nine (9)
- Best (gross) last six holes (6)
- Best (gross) last three holes (3)
- Handicap hole #1 score, followed by handicap #2 score, and so on
- If a tie remains, a coin flip will decide

For Net Prizes: Net Score Over Par - See below

Note: If the golf course or weather does not permit us to determine a Flight winner, TheGrint Tour and the Tour Director(s)/Supervisor(s) can use the above method to determine the Flight Champion.

What is "Net Score Over Par"?

A player’s Net Score Over Par is a unique formula that TheGrint Tour has developed to level the field regardless of handicap and tee box played, and is used to assign players’ points for each event towards the season long race for TheGrint Cup. The formula considers both the Course and Slope ratings. The calculation is defined as follows:

"Net Score Over Par = GROSS - (HCP_INDEX * COURSE_SLOPE)/113) - COURSE_RATING"

Tees

TheGrint Tour will have 3 sets of our own tournament tees from which players will play from.

- TheGrint Tour GOLD: Champion and Albatross Flight
- TheGrint Tour BLUE: Eagle and Birdie Flight (plus Senior Champion/Albatross)
- TheGrint Tour WHITE: Par Flight (plus Senior Eagle/Birdie) Women under 8.0 index
- Course Red Tees: Women over 8.1 index

Each flight will play an average distance during the season, the breakdown will be as follows:

Flight Distance
Champion 6500 - 7200
Albatross 6500 - 7200
Eagle 6000 - 6500
Birdie 6000 - 6500
Par 5800 - 6500

Seniors

Seniors who are of age 55 or older will be allowed the option to play ahead one set of tournament tees from their assigned handicap flight’s tees. Any NET scoring will be calculated according to the Course HCP from the tees being played. At no time will the most forward set of golf course tee boxes be allowed into tournament play for seniors. Age will be validated by a valid driver’s license.

Ladies

Female players having a USGA HCP Index > 8.0 will be allowed the option to play from the RED tee markers, while those with a USGA HCP Index < 7.9 will play from TheGrint Tour’s WHITE tee markers. Any NET scoring will be calculated according to the Course HCP from the tees being played.

League/TheGrint Cup Race

Each season (year) registered Tour Members will compete in two Leagues, each having their own points and Race for TheGrint Cup. There will be a minimum of 10 local events for points toward the Race. The two Leagues will be called “AUGUSTA” and “PEBBLE” after the famous golf courses. The AUGUSTA League will be comprised of the Championship and Albatross flights, while the PEBBLE League will be comprised of the Eagle, Birdie, and Par flights.

Each local Tour will have set the amount of events in a calendar year, how many of these events count for race purposes and how many playoff events will held. A minimum of 2 playoff events will be held in each tour.

Playoff events DO NOT replace your top scores but they are added entirely to your total amount of points for the race.

Point Distribution

"Tour event flight winners are based on Gross Score. TheGrint Cup Race will be based on your "Net Score Over Par” (See previously under “Scoring” to see what Net Score Over Par is). A playing member will accumulate points based on their position against their League’s respective field in each Tour event. Point distributions for each League are assigned as follows:

Regular Events:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
150 125 115 105 95 85 75 65 55 45 35 25

- Each player finishing in 13th position and below will receive 20 points for participating
- Each Flight Winner will also receive a 25 point (bonus) no matter their net score. The Net Overall winner gets them as well.

One Day Major Events:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
300 250 230 210 190 170 150 130 110 90 70 50

- Each player finishing in 13th position and below will receive 40 points for participating
- Each flight winner will also receive a 50 point (bonus) in no matter their net score. The Net Overall winner gets them as well.

Two-Day Majors, National and Playoff Events

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
450 375 345 315 285 255 225 195 165 135 105 75

- Each player finishing in 13th position and below will receive 60 points for participating
- Each flight winner will also receive a 50 point (bonus) in no matter their net score. The Net Overall winner gets them as well.

End of Year Prizes

Each League’s TheGrint Cup Race Champion receives the following:

- Name engraved on TheGrint Cup/Plaque
- TheGrint Tour Championship Trophy (that they can keep)
- TheGrint App PRO membership (One Year)
- Sponsored prizes (To Be Determined)
- Credits towards the upcoming Tour Season

The top 5 players in each League’s TheGrint Cup Race will receive the following:

- Credits towards the upcoming Tour Season
- TheGrint Tour Membership for upcoming Tour Season
- Sponsored prizes (To Be Determined)

All Players must have an active membership in order to be elegible for year end prizes.

Additional Event Information

During all Tour events the USGA Rules and Regulations will be adhered to, with the following exceptions:

- TheGrint GPS Rangefinder and Laser Rangefinder will be allowed
- GPS with Slope editions will be permitted as long as the slope function is turned off.
- One ball rule does not apply
- Course’s Local Rules apply.
- Divots in the fairway get free relief.
- Local Stroke and distance rule applies for the Pebble Race.

You will receive a Scorecard from one of your playing partners. You will keep their score and your score. At the end of your round, you must sign and turn in the score of your playing partner. Any changes must be made before turning in the Scorecard. So please make sure you review your scorecard before its turned in. Scorecards must be turned in at the same time.

Live Leaderboard

There will be a leaderboard on TheGrint App for every event. It is mandatory to keep score on the app so every player in your flight and race can have real time scores of each participant. There needs to be at least one playing group member that will enter the scores after each hole is completed. Accuracy is paramount. The entered score on the Leaderboard will be validated with the official attested paper scorecard for each player after the round is completed.

Pace of Play

Being off pace (based on local rules) and having more than one (1) hole difference with the tournament playing group ahead of you (at any point during the round) may result in a 1 stroke penalty to each player in the group. After one (1) warning is issued, the following notice will result in the penalty. Warnings will be issued only during the groups’ first 9 holes. If a group is playing their last 9 holes, a warning may not be issued and the penalty can incur directly. To report slow play of a tournament group, email/text/phone the Tour Supervisor/Director(s).

Event Check-In

All registered Tour players MUST check in (in person) on premises of each event. There will be a Check-In table with visible signage to clearly identify the check in area. Players are encouraged to arrive at least 45 minutes before their tee time and report to their designated tee off hole at least 10 minutes before their assigned tee time.

Late Arrivals

If a registered Tour player reports to their first hole’s tee box after their playing grouping has completed their hole #1, the player will be disqualified from the event and not allowed to play.

If a registered Tour player reports to their first hole’s tee box after their player grouping has teed off of their hole #1 (but not completed the hole), the player will be assessed a 2-stroke penalty.

Starting Times/Assigned Holes

Tournaments will typically utilize assigned starting times (either straight or split tees), but there may be occasional shotgun starts (depending on the course and number of players). Pairings will be available on the TheGrint Tour website prior to the event, as well as emailed to all registered tournament players. Pairings are subject to change at any time prior to the event. If an individual starting time has been changed, the Tournament Director(s) and/or Supervisor will notify that individual of the change via email, text, or phone.

Disagreements/Decisions

If there is a disagreement during course of play, a provisional ball must be played. Following the end of the round, the situation should be discussed with one of TheGrint Tour Director(s) or the Tour Supervisor of the event. The Tour officials will make the final decision and reserve the right to confer with the golf course’s Head Professional. We ask that players accept the committee’s final decision. Tour Director(s) may revisit the decision after the event is over at their own discretion. However, the change will only affect TheGrint Cup standings, and not individual event results.

Shortened/Cancelled Events

If a tournament is unable to be completed due to circumstances beyond the Tour committee’s control, a decision will be made according to how many holes the last group of a given flight finished, and base the results on those holes played.

In the event of inclement weather during a round, every effort will be made by the tournament committee to get in the full number of prescribed holes. If play is delayed, all players should remain on the property at the host facility and await official announcements from the tournament committee. If the delay comes during play, clearly mark their ball’s position on the course, return to safety at the clubhouse, and remain on premise for further instruction from the Tournament committee.

9 Holes in one day events will be considered a completed event and 18 holes in 2 day events. 27 Holes for 3 day events

Media

By entering any TheGrint Tour event, you are agreeing to be photographed or filmed while practicing, playing or participating in any stage of the event. TheGrint Tour reserves the right to use these materials for media content creation. i.e., Social Media, informational purposes, marketing, and such.

Caddies and Spectators

Caddies are allowed TheGrint Tour Events. The player is solely responsible for the actions of his caddie. Golf carts are limited to two carts per group. Caddies are expected to walk the golf course.

Spectators are welcome at each tournament, noting that each course may have different policies that we abide by as guests of the host facility. Caddies and spectators are the responsibility of the associated player whom is solely responsible for their proper golf etiquette and general decorum. If any issue(s) arise with their behavior or lack of proper golf etiquette they will be asked to leave the premises. Golf carts are limited at each event to two carts per group and players always have priority use of a golf cart.