Events & Competitions

2025

• Tues January 7th: HARGA AGM & Quarterly Meeting @ Oakdale GC - 19.00 (no golf)

• Tue April 15th: Spring Quarterly Meeting @ Ripon GC - 11am 

• Sun April 27th : HARGA  Spring Invitational @ Easingwold GC - 10.30am 

• Thurs May 8th: Immediate Past Presidents Trophy @ Knaresborough GC - 11am 

• Tues July 1st:  Summer Quarterly Meeting @ Harrogate GC - 11am

• Sun Sept 14th: HARGA Autumn Invitational @ Skipton GC - 10.30am

• Mon Sept 29th: Autumn Quarterly Meeting @ Wetherby GC - 11am

• Fri Oct 24th: Annual Dinner @ Ripon GC - 12.00pm

YRGA 2025

• Thurs June 12th: YRGA Thornton Trophy@Dewsbury & District GC

• Tues July 15th: YRGA Plowright Trophy @ Lightcliffe GC 

1. The HARGA Council stresses the importance of offering competitive golf to higher handicap players.  These general rules 1 through 5 on Handicap Eligibility apply to the HARGA Invitationals, HARGA League and Past President's Trophy.

2. HARGA Competitions shall be open to all Rabbit Golfers with World Handicap System (WHS) Handicap Index (HI) >=15. Players registered for a competition must be HI >=15 at the time of registration unless covered by the exceptions under Paragraph 4 below. 

3. A maximum HI of 29 max will be applied to all competitions. Players with higher HI may play but with a playing handicap calculated based on HI 29.  Course and playing handicap will typically be based on yellow tees in HARGA competitions.

4. Permitted exceptions to the HI >=15 criteria:

a. HARGA Council members whose HI falls below 15 during their term of office - see the HARGA Constitution for details of this exception.  In such cases the Council Member shall play off his new lower HI.

b. A player who has played a HARGA League match and then falls below HI 15 is eligible to play in the HARGA League in the same year using his new lower HI.

c. A player that played in the Spring Invitational and then falls below HI 15 is eligible to play in the Autumn event in the same year using his new lower HI.

d. If a player registered for a competition (or in the case of HARGA League named to the other team) falls below HI 15 in the week (7 days) preceding a scheduled competition or match he shall remain eligible to play using his new lower HI.

5. For players to be eligible for a HARGA Competition they must have a minimum of five handicap qualifying cards registered in England Golf in the 12 month period preceding the event.

6.  For HARGA Quarterly Meeting Competitions, which are restricted to HARGA Council Members, there is no minimum number of qualifying cards required and no maximum WHS Handicap Index

Background

The HARGA Spring and Autumn Invitationals are co-organised by HARGA and the Rabbits Golf Section at a host HARGA member club.  A different club will host the Spring and Autumn events in any given year. The Invitational events to be played on a rotation basis between the HARGA member clubs.

The goal is to have an event that will be open to member club Rabbit golfers by invitation from the Rabbit Section Captain or Committee, as applicable. 

Each of the HARGA member clubs are invited to field a team of 6 players (3 pairs, 4BBB, Stableford format) at each of the Invitationals with the team scores being totalled over the two events to arrive at a Champion Club for the year.  There will be prizes for the pairs and teams successful at each event. 

Format and Rules

1. The HARGA Invitationals are a team event – six players (three pairs) from each club in each event.  Should a club be unable to field three pairs, one or two pairs may be entered but scores will only count towards the pairs competition i.e., no Team Score for the club.

2. Each player must have a current WHS Handicap Index and provide a CDH Number to HARGA and the host-club at the time of registration.

3. Format for the competition will be 4-Ball Better Pairs (4BBB), Stableford Scoring, each player playing off 85% of the of the Course Handicap from the yellow tees.

4. Each pair will play in a four-ball with a pair from another club.  Tee-times and four-ball groups will be randomly assigned in three groups (early, mid and late) to ensure that match tee-times are fairly distributed for every club.  Pairs must exchange score cards.  Completed score cards must clearly show the gross-score per hole for the best scoring player in the pair.  This will be used for the computerised scoring at the end of the round.  Additional information such as the net Stableford points scored and total Stableford points for the round may also be shown for information along with the markers record of his team’s scores and total.  All cards must be signed by a player from the pair and a marker.

5. Three qualifying pairs cards from each Club will be added together at the end of all the rounds, forming the “Club Score”.  Should any pair’s score be disqualified then the Team Score is disqualified. The remaining pairs scores will only count towards the pairs competition (see rule 7 below).

6. The pair with the highest score overall in the event will win the pairs competition prize (this prize is also available to entries from clubs with less than three pairs).  

7. The Club with the highest Club Score in the event will be honoured as the best Club in the event.

8. The Club Scores from the Spring and Autumn Invitationals will be totalled.  The Club with the highest total score will be honoured as the Champion HARGA Club.

9. In the event of a tie in the final pairs scores competition:

• The back nine, then the back six, then the back 3 scores will be assessed to determine the winner;

• If the scores are still tied, then the best scores on all the par 3s will be the next assessment, then the best on the par 5s;

• In the event a tie is still evident, then the final result will be on the sudden death toss of a coin.

10. In the event of a tie in “Club Scores” at an event:

• The Club with the highest score out of the three cards is the winner;

• If the scores are still tied, Club with the highest second score of the three cards is the winner

• If all three scores are equal then, Rule 10 shall be applied to the best score from both teams to determine the winning Club.

11. In the event of a tie in total “Club Scores” from the Spring and Autumn Festivals then:

• The Club with the highest score out of the six cards is the Champion Club;

• If the highest scores are still tied, the Club with the highest second score of the six cards is the Champion Club. 

• If the scores are still tied, continue down the series of cards to the highest score to determine the Champion Club.

Background

The trophy is organised by the current HARGA Immediate Past President and played on his own course. 

Format and Rules

1. The IP President’s Trophy is a team event – two players from each club.

2. Each player must have a current WHS Handicap Certificate available for review on the day.

3. Each club in the area will nominate two players who will have Playing Handicap of 95%  of the Course Handicap  and play an individual Stableford round of golf from the yellow tees.

4. The players will not play together, but will play in a group of up to four mixed from each club.

5. The two cards will be added together at the end of the round, forming “The Score”.

6. The pair with the highest score will win the Trophy for their club, which they will keep until the following year.

7. In the event of a tie on the final scores:

• The back nine, then the back six, then the back 3 scores will be assessed to determine the winner (aggregated team score on those holes to count).

• If the scores are still tied, then the best scores on all the par 3s will be the next assessment, then the best on the par 5s.

• Should this still not yield a winner, the best individual card for each team (decided in the same manner as above) will be assessed against each other.

• In the event a tie is still evident, then the final result will be on the sudden death toss of a coin.

General Organisation 

HARGA Clubs will be equally and randomly divided into two Sections - A and B, eight  teams in each Section. 

In each section, pairs-representatives of each of the HARGA clubs will play each other on a home and away basis.

Format is 4BBB Matchplay - 3 points for a win, 1 point each for a halved match

The winners of Section A and Section B will each receive a divisional trophy and play each other for the Kershaw Trophy to be played for at a neutral HARGA club to decide the champion HARGA club of the year. 

The runners up in each Section will play for the new Loveday-Reveley Plate, also at a neutral venue. 

The Divisonal Trophies, Kershaw Trophy and the Loveday-Reveley Plate will be presented to the winnersat the Annual Dinner.

GENERAL:

· Any member club who feel they will be unable to take part, for example due to the fear that they cannot field enough players, should declare this before the start of the season and withdraw from the competition.

· It has been assumed, that Rabbit Secretaries will be the point of contact and  will, therefore be named in the Directory.  In the event of someone else filling this role, then please inform Area Secretary (See Rule 3).

1. Clubs will be divided into two Sections A and B. Each Section will consist of 8 clubs. In each Section, clubs will play each other on a home and away basis.

2. Matches to be played 1st April to 31st August.

3.  (See Note Above) Each club will appoint a nominated HARGA League liaison officer (e.g. Secretary/Captain. or other). These persons will be solely responsible for all communications between competing clubs (e.g. arranging dates, times and players). They should offer 3 dates, which should include a Saturday or Sunday. Matches to be played in any order. Disputes to be referred to the Area Competition Secretary, whose decision is final.

The only exception to the rule that matches be arranged by the club contacts, will be if the 4 players competing on the day can arrange for the return match which, for example could be the following week.  If this cannot be done on the day, then it will again be the responsibility of the club liaison contacts to make arrangements, which may not necessarily involve the same players.

4. Each club team will consist of two players who must be active rabbit golfers and have a current active competition handicap.

5. Matches will be 4 ball better ball match play, and will be played off YELLOW markers.  The course playing handicap shall be determined for each player and 90% of the difference shall be used to determine shots given with the lowest player playing off scratch.

6. A player may NOT PLAY in more than 50% of Section matches. Players selected for the final must have played in a Section Match.

7. All players to receive a copy of the rules before playing.

8. Three points will be awarded for a win and one point for a halved match.  (There will be no need to complete 18 holes in a match if a winner is apparent at any stage, although it would be expected that the host club would offer the visitors the courtesy option of completing 18 holes).

9. Both clubs to complete a match card showing the names and handicaps of their players. These match cards to be retained by both parties in order to enable later scrutiny in the event of a dispute.  The winning team (or in the case of a draw the home team) shall inform the Area Competition Secretary (Andy Robinson) via the online HARGA League Match Report of the match result within 48 hours of completion. This will enable an on-going section table points report to be issued at periodically throughout the playing season. Should any results not be received within 7 days of the stated closing date, they will be discarded and will not be included in the final table.

10. If a team fails to fulfil any fixture, their opponents will be awarded two points.

11. A team failing to fulfil any fixtures will have their points reduced by two points for each fixture un-fulfilled.

12. When deciding section placings, in the event of teams having an equal number of points, then the team with the better head to head winning margin will be the winner.  If this does not produce a result then it will be  based on the total of the margin of wins/losses over the full set of matches played. As an example, if a team "A" wins 4 & 3 (the difference is 4) and team "B" wins 1 up (difference 1) then team "A" wins.

13. Where the host club regulations permit, a measuring device may be used.

14. All disputes should be referred to the HARGA Competition Secretary.