Terms of Entry

These terms apply to every team in The Georgia Cup. The captain accepts them for the team when registering, and again when paying the entry fee, and confirms that their partner has read and agrees to them. The Refund Policy is part of these terms.

Eligibility

Teams consist of two amateur golfers, each with an active GHIN number and a current Handicap Index. The tournament committee may verify handicaps and decline or remove entries at its discretion.

Entry, payment, and your spot

Registering is free and holds your team's spot in its region, subject to committee review. The entry fee is $100 per player ($200 per team) and is due by March 1, 2027. Teams still unpaid 3 days after that are removed, and their spot is offered to the waitlist. Paying the entry fee is the team's commitment to play the full tournament. Withdrawing after paying is refunded only as the Refund Policy describes: $185 before the bracket is published, and nothing after.

Prize purse

The prize purse is $10,000 for a full field of 64 paid teams. Each region champion team wins $1,000. In the Championship match, the winning team also wins the $5,000 championship prize, for $6,000 in all, and the runner-up team also wins the $1,000 runner-up prize, for $2,000 in all. Prizes are paid per team, split evenly between the two players, after the Championship is complete. If fewer than 64 teams have paid when the bracket is published, every prize is reduced in proportion to the number of paid teams (for example, with 60 paid teams each prize is 60/64 of its full amount). The entry fee stays $100 per player whatever the size of the field. Prize winners must provide the tax information needed to pay them, and players paid $600 or more in a year will receive the tax forms the law requires. A prize may be held while the committee reviews a disputed result or a player's eligibility.

Regions and travel

The field is split into four regions of 16 teams. A team's home region comes from its players' ZIP codes, so that most matches stay local. The region a team clicks on the map is a preference, not a guarantee.

When a team's home region has no open spots at registration, the team chooses one of two options:

• Play in another region that still has room. The team plays that region's bracket for the whole tournament and agrees to travel to wherever its matches are played, which may be well outside its own area. The choice is final. The committee is not obliged to move the team back if a home-region spot opens later.
• Join the home region's waitlist. The team pays nothing unless a spot is offered. Whenever a spot opens before the bracket is published, it is offered to the next waitlisted team in registration order, which has 24 hours to pay. A team that doesn't pay in time leaves the waitlist. After the bracket is published, the committee fills any openings at its discretion.

To cut travel, the committee may pair teams and choose match locations using players' ZIP codes. For example, two teams from the North that both chose the East region may be paired with each other and play closer to home. This is a courtesy, not a promise. Travel distance, travel cost, match location, and region placement are not grounds for a refund, a forfeit reversal, or an extension of a round. A team's maximum travel distance on the registration form is a preference only.

Conduct and play

Matches are governed by the Rules of Golf, the tournament's published format, and any local rules at the host course. Teams are responsible for scheduling matches within each round's window and reporting results promptly. A team that misrepresents a handicap or GHIN number, or whose players behave in a way the committee considers unsportsmanlike, may be removed without a refund.

Results

Matches are 18 holes. A match tied after 18 holes is decided by playoff holes on site; if the club won't allow playoff holes, the match is rescheduled. A score both teams confirm in Pin & Paper is final for the bracket automatically. If a score is disputed, the committee reviews it and its decision is final: it may deny the reported score and record the correct result, and the Pin & Paper record is corrected to match. A committee ruling on a result is not grounds for a refund.

Second Chance Bracket

Each region is double elimination. After a team's first loss in the Championship Bracket, it may enter its region's Second Chance Bracket for $50 per player ($100 per team), paid within 72 hours of the loss being recorded. A team that does not pay in time is out of the tournament, and its next opponent advances on a bye. A second loss ends a team's run. The Second Chance winner meets the unbeaten Championship Bracket winner in the Region Final and must win twice: if it wins the Region Final, a reset match decides the region. The Final Four and the Championship are single elimination. A loss by forfeit counts as a first loss, so the team is offered the Second Chance Bracket like any other. The reset match carries no extra fee. A team that enters the Second Chance Bracket agrees to be available on the play dates of every Second Chance round it may reach.

The $100 Second Chance fee is non-refundable once paid, whatever the outcome of the team's later matches. The one exception: if the committee overturns the loss that led to the entry and restores the team to the Championship Bracket, the fee is refunded in full.

Schedule and availability

Each round has four play dates: the Saturday and Sunday of two weekends. Holiday and major-event weekends are skipped. The Season 1 windows are:

• Round of 16: Mar 20–Apr 4
• Quarterfinals + Second Chance Round 1: Apr 17–25
• Semifinals + Second Chance Round 2: May 1–16
• Championship Bracket Final + Second Chance Round 3: May 22–Jun 6
• Second Chance Round 4: Jun 12–27
• Second Chance Semifinal: Jul 10–18
• Second Chance Final: Jul 24–Aug 1
• Region Final: Aug 7–15
• Region Final Reset: Aug 21–29
• Final Four: Sep 11–19
• Championship: Sep 25–Oct 3

By paying the entry fee, the team agrees that both players are available on all four play dates of every round the team may reach, including Second Chance rounds if it enters. Exact dates are listed on the schedule, which is published before registration opens. A team may play a match with one player; it needs only one player present to avoid a forfeit.

Tee times

The Georgia Cup assigns every match's date, course, and tee time. Teams do not book their own matches.

• When a match's opponents are set, each team has 48 hours to tell the committee which of the round's dates work best. This is a preference, not a condition: the committee tries to use a date that suits both teams, but may assign any of the round's play dates.
• The committee emails both captains the date, course, and tee time at least 72 hours before the tee time. Round 1 assignments are sent at least 7 days before Round 1 begins.
• Matches are played at a course in the teams' region, or at another course both teams agree to. Each player pays their own green fees and cart fees directly to the course. The Georgia Cup does not pay any course fees.
• A team that can't make its assigned time may ask the committee to move the match once, at least 72 hours before the tee time. The committee moves it if another play date in the round, or the makeup window below, works for both teams and the course. Otherwise the assigned time stands.
• If the committee can't assign a match a time within its round, that is never a forfeit for either team: the committee extends the round for that match.

Forfeits

A team loses a match by forfeit if:

• neither of its players is ready to play at the first tee within 15 minutes after the assigned tee time; or
• it can't play its assigned time and the match can't be moved as described under Tee times.

The opponent advances. A forfeit counts as a loss (see Second Chance Bracket), and a second forfeit by the same team ends its season. A forfeit is not grounds for a refund. If neither team can play, the committee decides the result and may remove both teams, in which case the next opponent advances. Any no-show or late-cancellation charge a course makes because of a team is that team's responsibility, paid to the course; a team that leaves such a charge unpaid may be removed without a refund.

Weather and course conditions

Weather is never a forfeit. The committee decides when a match is called off for weather, based on the course closing or suspending play, or conditions the committee judges unsafe or unplayable. A team may not cancel for weather on its own: if the course is open and the committee has not called the match off, the assigned time stands.

• A match called off before it starts is reassigned to another play date in its round or, if none is left, to the makeup window: Monday to Thursday after the round's last Sunday, finishing by 11:59 PM Eastern on Thursday.
• A match suspended during play resumes later from the hole where play stopped, with the match standing exactly as it was, using the hole-by-hole record in Pin & Paper. If it can't be finished by the end of the makeup window and at least 9 holes were completed, the side ahead at that point wins. Otherwise the committee decides how it is completed.
• When weather affects many matches at once, the committee may extend a round by up to 7 days for the affected matches. The Championship's rain date is October 9–10, 2027.

Weather, course conditions, and course closures are not grounds for a refund.

Cancellation

If the committee cancels the tournament before Round 1 begins, every paid entry fee is refunded in full. Once play begins, matches that can't be played as assigned are rescheduled under the rules above.

Card disputes

Before paying, the captain confirms on the payment screen that both players are available on every play date, that The Georgia Cup assigns the team's tee times, and that a match the team can't play is a forfeit with no refund. That confirmation is recorded with its date, time, and the version of these terms. A schedule conflict, a forfeit, a match the team chose not to play, weather, or a committee ruling is not a valid reason to dispute the charge. Questions about a charge go to the committee first. A team that files a chargeback is removed from the tournament and may not enter future seasons, and the committee will give the card issuer its records of the team's acceptance of these terms.

Changes

The committee may adjust the schedule, format, or these terms as needed to run the tournament fairly. Material changes will be communicated to registered captains by email.

Contact

Questions about these terms go to info@thegeorgiacup.com.