Following an extremely successful debut year for the Inter Club Competition in its current guise, a number of tweaks have been made to the structure for the competition in 2014, following consultation with captains and team members alike.

The changes are outlined in the nine points below: 

  1. Dates for all matches are set in advance (This is completed and in the new fixture book).
  2. Squad sizes are to be increased to 8 (Ladies) & 12 (Gents).
  3. Merge option not available for Inter/Junior gents teams.
  4. Merge option still available for Ladies and in Scratch Gents event. However, a merge is only allowed in the Gents Scratch section if the merging clubs have a combined number of registered Gents in all grades, of less than 60. This will be based on the previous year’s figures.
  5. Halves are allowed in individual ties.
  6. Halves are allowed in overall match in group phase only. In the knockout stages a 9 hole playoff is required in doubles format with two players from each side competing to find the match winner. Any two players from squad can be assigned to play this scotch foursomes sudden death match.
  7. Inter and Junior Gents are also allowed to play on the scratch team within their club as long as they pay the double entry fee.
  8. Smaller more regionalised groups is the aim for the group stages but will depend on entry levels.
  9. Last 16 matches are to be introduced this year.

 A reminder of the competition formats and overview of the handicap allowances:

  1. The format for the National Inter Club competitions are a combination of Scotch Foursomes and Singles Matchplay.
  2.  The Ladies event this consists of 2 scotch foursomes handicap matches. The handicap allowance used is 3/8 of the difference. (i.e. Team A have a combined handicap of 20 and Team B have a combined handicap of 8, therefore Team A will have 5 shots over 18 holes). 4 singles follow the 2 scotch matches. The handicap allowance used in the singles is 3/4 of the difference. (i.e. Player A has a handicap of 8 and Player B has a handicap of 18, therefore Player B has 8 shots over 18 holes)
  3.  The Gents Inter/Junior combo event consists of three scotch foursomes handicap matches. The handicap allowance used is 3/8 of the difference. (i.e. Team A have a combined handicap of 12 and Team B have a combined handicap of 16, therefore Team B will have 2 shots over 18 holes). 6 singles follow the 3 scotch matches. The handicap allowance used in the singles is 3/4 of the difference. (i.e. Player A has a handicap of 7 and Player B has a handicap of 8, therefore Player B has 1 shot over 18 holes)
  4.  The Senior Gents event consists of 3 scotch foursomes and 6 singles matches all played off scratch.

Entry forms have been distributed ad will be up on the website soon. The closing date for receipt of these is March 28th.