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GuruGolf 2017 - Rules

Note: All rules are the same as in 2016. However, there will be two “bye weeks” in late May and early June, due to travel-related site management limitations during those weeks. No additional trades will be awarded for those two bye weeks.

  1. The game is free to enter, and you may enter as many teams as you wish. Up to ten teams may be managed under a single login. If you wish to manage more than ten teams, you will need to register more than one login ID.
  2. Each team receives $4000 to start. (fantasy money only!)
  3. Each team has 4 roster spots to fill. If any slots are vacant at the time of the freeze, that team's tournament score will be zero. However, if the invalidity appears to be due to a technical glitch, the Commissioner (i.e., Guru) will exercise judgment in restoring the roster to a valid state which appears to be consistent with the intent of the manager. If a manager believes that his roster is incorrectly specified, it is that manager's responsibility to alert the Commissioner as soon as possible. The Commissioner may refuse to consider roster adjustments after the first round of a tournament is completed.
  4. Each teams gets 4 trades to start. 2 additional trades are added after each subsequent freeze. Only a sell transaction counts as a trade. A buy transaction does not count as a trade, so you can set your initial roster without using any trades. (Clarification: Prior to the first tournament of the season, trades will be unlimited, so you can set your initial roster without regard to trading. Once the first roster freeze occurs, all teams will have their trade capacity reset to 4. The weekly addition of 2 trades will begin with the second freeze.)
  5. For each team that has the tournament winner, a bonus trade will be awarded at the end of the tournament. This trade will be added to your total available trades, and may be used at any time thereafter. If an invalid roster (i.e., a roster with less than four golfers) includes the winning golfer, no bonus trade will be awarded.
  6. You may purchase extra trades each week, paid for by reducing your roster cash. For any week, each extra trade will cost $100. There is no need to purchase more than 2 trades in any week, since you have only four roster slots and 2 trades are allocated each week for free. If you need more than 4 trades, reset your roster to the last freeze, and retrade.
  7. You may sell up to 10 trades during the season. Each sold trade will add $50 to your team’s cash balance. (Be aware that if you sell a trade and then need to buy an extra trade later in the season, the cost of buying back that trade will be $100.) There is no requirement to sell any trades. Selling a trade is a way to add extra value to your team if you are able to conserve trades over the course of the season. Note: you may not sell any trades until after the first regular season tournament is completed.
  8. Each tournament roster will freeze at the scheduled tee time of the first round. If the opening tee time is delayed due to weather, the freeze time will not be adjusted unless the entire first day is postponed, in which case trading will be unlocked until the scheduled opening tee time of the following day. Rosters will remain frozen throughout the tournament. You cannot make daily trades during a tournament.
  9. Tournament scoring is calculated by hole, relative to par. If you have a golfer who is not active for a round, he is ignored for that round's scoring. If a team has no active golfers for a round, the team score for that round will be zero.
  10. Scoring will be calculated on two bases: best ball and worst ball.
    • A team's best ball score for a hole will be the lowest score (relative to par) for any active golfer on that hole.
    • A team's worst ball score for a hole will be the highest score (relative to par) for any active golfer on that hole.
    • If a team has no active golfers who complete a given hole, the score for that hole is zero for both best ball and worst ball scoring.
    All teams will be scored both ways, and separate standings will be maintained for each scoring basis. It is not necessary for a team to designate in advance which scoring method it is pursuing.
  11. If a player withdraws during a round, any completed holes will count in the scoring.
  12. Each week, you may designate one "provisional golfer" for each team. A provisional golfer can replace an eligible golfer who withdraws from the tournament prior to the completion of any holes. The purpose of the provisional golfer is to protect against a last minute withdrawal. The following rules govern the provisional golfer feature:
    • The designation of a provisional golfer is optional, and must be re-specified each week. There is no carry-over.
    • A provisional golfer will only be eligible to be added to your roster if one of the golfers in your foursome withdraws after the preliminary field is announced, but prior to the completion of the first hole.A golfer who was never in the tournament field, either as an active player or as an alternate, is not eligible to be replaced. A golfer who completes at least one hole before withdrawing is not eligible to be replaced.
    • In the event that more than one of your roster golfers is eligible for replacement, the following rules will prioritize those golfers:
      1. All golfers added since the last freeze have the highest priority, and are sequenced LIFO (last in, first out). This allows each manager to set the replacement priority, if he/she desires.
      2. All remaining golfers (i.e., those carried over from the prior freeze) will then be sequenced in descending price order. If two of these golfers have the same price, then the most recently added golfer will have the higher replacement priority.
    • The system will automatically insert the provisional golfer in place of the withdrawn golfer with the highest priority, provided that funds are sufficient to make the transaction. If the withdrawing golfer with the highest priority cannot be replaced due to affordability constraints, then the other roster golfers will be similarly evaluated in the priority order specified above.
    • In the event that a roster golfer is to be replaced by the provisional golfer, if a trade is required to make the substitution, it will be charged. If an extra trade must be purchased, it will be. But if a trade can be conserved by replacing a golfer who was added since the last freeze, it will be.
  13. If the early rounds of a tournament are played on multiple courses, player scorecards will be matched by course played, rather than by round. Details will be posted as each of those tournaments comes along. Suffice it to say that all rounds will be scored in a fair and consistent manner.
  14. Scoring will be based upon information which is deemed to be reliable. In the event a golfer's score is reported differently by different sources, the score reported by PGATour.com will generally be considered to be correct, unless another score is demonstrably the correct one. RotoGuru.net will make its best efforts to obtain and report accurate team scores on a timely basis. If a game player believes that his score has been incorrectly calculated, he or she should notify RotoGuru.net via email (davehall@rotoguru2.com) as soon as the error is discovered. Seven days following the completion of any tournament, all team scoring for that tournament shall be final - unless RotoGuru.net believes that the best interests of the game are served by restating the score for a previous tournament.
  15. At the conclusion of each tournament, each golfer will be repriced based upon his actual performance in that tournament. RotoGuru.net will be the sole determiner of price changes, and will employ a quantitative formula which is consistently applied each week. In general, most golfers who fail to make the cut will suffer price declines, and most golfers who survive the cut will enjoy price increases. The primary factors in determining each golfer's price change will be his total score, his below-par scores, whether he makes the cut, the proportion of the field which makes the cut, the general strength of the field, and the golfer's starting price. The minimum price for all golfers is $500. There is no theoretical maximum price, although a golfer will need to get on a sustained hot streak to attain a price of $2000 or higher.
  16. After players have been repriced, the roster freeze will be released and trading will be open once again for the next tournament.
  17. Full season scoring will allow for one "mulligan tournament". The mulligan tournament score for each team will be excluded from that team's full season score. The mulligan tournament will be determined as follows:
    • For best ball scoring, the mulligan tournament for a team will be the tournament that produced the highest weekly score for that team, except that a "Major" tournament may not be the mulligan tournament.
    • For worst ball scoring, the mulligan tournament for a team will be the tournament that produced the lowest weekly score for that team, except that a "Major" tournament may not be the mulligan tournament.
    The purpose of the mulligan adjustment is to allow for one bad week, which may be a week with inferior performance, or may be a week when a roster was invalid or was not updated. However, the scores for all four Major tournaments (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship) must be counted for each team, and cannot be excluded by the mulligan rule.
  18. As described in the prize section of these rules, shorter contests will be conducted during the season, for which prizes will be offered. These contests will be based on the scoring for a subset of tournaments, and will not be adjusted for mulligan scoring. All tournaments during a contest period will be included in a team's score for that contest.
  19. The lowest cumulative score at the end of the season wins the overall best ball prize (adjusted for the mulligan tournament). The highest cumulative score at the end of the season wins the overall worst ball prize (adjusted for the mulligan tournament). In the event of a tie, the team with the greatest franchise value (among tied teams) will win the tiebreaker.
  20. Contest ties will be decided in favor of the team with the greatest team value appreciation for the tournament weeks covered by the contest period. (Note: Posted standings may not always accurately reflect the tiebreaker.)
  21. Official contest standings will include all weeks from the Northern Trust Open through the TOUR Championship. However, the standings program will be set up to provide scoring for alternate periods, including contest periods. The range of alternatives are solely for the convenience of entrants who may have started late, or who choose to play only limited tournaments, or who would simply like to evaluate performance over a more recent period.
  22. The following prizes will be awarded: In the event that the listed prizes are not available, RotoGuru.net may substitute a prize with a similar value.

  23. The season will begin with The Honda Classic. The first tournament listed below is for "preseason" only will not count in the final standings. All roster activity and scoring during any preseason week(s) will be cleared when the regular season begins. The season will continue each week through the TOUR Championship, held in late-September. A list of covered tournaments appears below. (If a tournament is rescheduled for any reason, RotoGuru.net may amend this list of included tournaments.)

ContestWeeks
"March to the Masters" 1-6
"Spring to the Open" 8-16
"Open Faced Sandwich" 18-21
"Dog Days" 23-26
"FedEx Cup" 27-30
Majors Combined
(separate prizes will be awarded
for each Major tournament as well)
7,17,22,25


Genesis Open (preseason) Feb 16 - 19 Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, CA 
1 The Honda Classic Feb 23 - 26 PGA National (Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, FL 
2 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship Mar 2 - 5 Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, MEX 
3 Valspar Championship Mar 9 - 12 Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), Palm Harbor, FL 
4 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard Mar 16 - 19 Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, FL 
5 Puerto Rico Open Mar 23 - 26 Coco Beach Golf & CC, Rio Grande, PUR 
6 Shell Houston Open Mar 30 - Apr 2 GC of Houston, Humble, TX 
7 Masters Tournament Apr 6 - 9 Augusta National GC, Augusta, GA 
8 RBC Heritage Apr 13 - 16 Harbour Town GL, Hilton Head, SC 
9 Valero Texas Open Apr 20 - 23 TPC San Antonio - AT&T Oaks, San Antonio, TX 
10 No GuruGolf - Zurich Classic of New Orleans Apr 27 - 30 TPC Louisiana, Avondale, LA 
11 Wells Fargo Championship May 4 - 7 Eagle Point Golf Club, Wilmington, NC 
12 THE PLAYERS Championship May 11 - 14 TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 
13 AT&T Byron Nelson May 18 - 21 TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, TX 
14 No GuruGolf - [Dean & Deluca] May 25 - 28
15 No GuruGolf - [the Memorial] Jun 1 - 4
16 FedEx St. Jude Classic Jun 8 - 11 TPC Southwind, Memphis, TN 
17 U.S. Open Jun 15 - 18 Erin Hills, Erin, WI 
18 Travelers Championship Jun 22 - 25 TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, CT 
19 Quicken Loans National Jun 29 - Jul 2 TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, MD 
20 The Greenbrier Classic Jul 6 - 9 The Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs, WV 
21 John Deere Classic Jul 13 - 16 TPC Deere Run, Silvis, IL 
22 The Open Championship Jul 20 - 23 Royal Birkdale GC, Southport, ENG 
23 RBC Canadian Open Jul 27 - 30 Glen Abbey GC, Oakville,Ontario, Can 
24 Barracuda Championship Aug 3 - 6 Montreux G&CC, Reno, NV 
25 PGA Championship Aug 10 - 13 Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC 
26 Wyndham Championship Aug 17 - 20 Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, NC 
27 THE NORTHERN TRUST Aug 24 - 27 Glen Oaks Club, Old Westbury, NY 
28 Dell Technologies Championship Sep 1 - 4 TPC Boston, Norton, MA 
29 BMW Championship Sep 14 - 17 Conway Farms GC, Lake Forest, IL 
30 TOUR Championship Sep 21 - 24 East Lake GC, Atlanta, GA 


GuruGolf is offered solely for the enjoyment of the users of RotoGuru.net. No sponsorship, endorsement, or affiliation with the PGA, The PGA Tour, or any of its members is implied, and none should be inferred by the users of this site. Any references to a PGA Tour golfer within this site should be construed only as a shorthand indicator of the golf scores posted by the respective golfer.

Uncommon Cents, LLC, the operator and producer of RotoGuru.net and its affiliated domains, intends to offer GuruGolf throughout the season under the rules outlined above. However, Uncommon Cents, LLC retains the right to discontinue or amend the rules of this game if its continuance would otherwise pose an economic hardship, financial risk, or burden on the resources at the operator's disposal.

(c) 2017 by Uncommon Cents, LLC. All rights reserved.