Are you tired of the lockdown and playing your home course over and over?? Ready to play a competitive round where you have to putt everything out instead of taking gimmies?? Have we got a good deal for you!
Entries are now open for the Northern Virginia Golf Association (NVGA) Senior 4-ball tournament which will be held on 22 June at the Robert Trent Jones (RTJ) Golf Club in Gainesville, VA.
We have modified the format of the tournament from past years to accommodate the Covid-19 virus precautions that limit group gatherings. Instead of a shotgun start, we have shifted to tee times. The participants will show up, prepare to play, and tee off as scheduled on the tee sheets. In practicing social distancing guidelines, players are not allowed on site prior to 1 hour before their scheduled tee times. Please maintain a separation of at least 6 feet from other players at all time — on the range, on the practice green, on the course. Once the round is finished, scorecards will be signed and turned it and participants will depart. No teams should loiter awaiting the results. In the event of ties for 1st place in each division / flight, the winner will be determined by the USGA scorecard playoff method (last 9, last 6, last 3, etc.). — there will be no live playoffs this year to prevent having teams waiting and creating a crowd. The tournament results will be provided on the website and emailed to all participants. Pro shop gift certificates will be mailed to anyone winning a prize and they can return to the golf club at a later time to redeem their gift certificates for merchandise.
Due to a limited number of carts at the RTJ Club, there are not enough carts for a full field for each player to have their own cart. Each team will have both bags transported on one golf cart and team will have a forecaddie. The carts will be sanitized at the start of the round and only one person should operate the cart for the entire round. The cart may be operated by the forecaddie and both players would walk the 18 holes, or one player may operate the cart and the forecaddie and other player will walk the course. If both players on a team would require a cart instead of walking the course, please do not enter this event. Maintain a separation of at least 6 feet from other persons around the team golf cart —- only one player at a time should approach the cart to get equipment.
The forecaddies will not be able to handle your golf bag or equipment. They will provide the usual advice: Club recommendations, line-of-play, determining yardages, reading greens, raking sand bunkers, etc. The forecaddies will receive a nominal fee from the entry fees and a recommended tip of $40 per player is not included in the entry fee. Please bring cash with you to tip your forecaddie.
To minimize any possible spread of the virus, no food will be provided. Please bring any snacks / sandwiches / drinks that you desire with you for your own consumption. The money for food that we typically include in the entry fees has instead been used to partially fund the forecaddies and add to the prize pool.
In years past we have run the tournament with both gross and net prizes and all teams playing from the same tees. This year we are using a different format — prizes will be determined by gross score only. We will separate the field into 3 flights based on age (Open division / Championship flight — age 55+; Super-Senior Division – age 65+ both players; Legends Division — age 70+ both players). The Open division will play from the Blue tees at about 6400 yds; the S/S and Legends Divisions will play the Red tees at about 5900 yds.
The normal guest fees at the RTJ Club are about $175 per person not including carts or caddies. At $150 per person / $300 per team, this is a very good deal to play this exclusive golf course. We anticipate we will oversubscribe this event — more teams will want to play than we will have room to include (42 team maximum). If we are oversubscribed, teams from the four VSGA Northern Sections (NE, N Central, NW, and Fredericksburg sections) and those with the lowest combined team handicap indexes will have priority. Any team not making the cut will receive a full refund of their entry fee. Entries will close on Wednesday June 17th and tee times and pairings will be published by Friday 19 June.
Entries will be done online only – no entries by mail. Please go to our website to make your entry: https://novagolf.org/tournaments/senior/senior-schedule/
We appreciate your kind considerations for the modifications we have made to the tournament format. We believe this will be a good way to return to competitive golf and maintain a safe environment. Come play a premium golf club and have a nice walk too!
Please let us know if you have any questions not addressed above.
Mark Boedicker, NVGA President and Senior Events Chairman
Lynn Wessman, NVGA Secretary/Treasurer and Assistant Senior Events Chairman