2026 PIT Starting Info
1. RULES: Play WHITE tees (but BLUE on #13) and use Official Rules of Golf, except as follows:
a. You may clean-and-place (or "roll") the ball, but do NOT move it more than 6 inches,
do NOT move it closer to the hole, do NOT move it ON or ONTO the green.
b. Move ball for free from bad sand trap or NON-TROUBLE bare/stony spot. Go to nearest grassed
relief area, no closer to hole. CANNOT USE THIS TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE (tree, hazard, etc).
c. If abnormal unmovable surface/object is in your swing or stance (fallen tree, sprinkler, hole,
pile, path, bridge, steps, stone, wall, fence, stake, railtie, flower bed, sign, marker, etc),
you may drop for free within 1 club length of nearest relief point, no closer to the hole.
If abnormal area is within a generally trouble-free area, choose nearest trouble-free relief.
But if in trouble area (on path in the woods, etc), nearest relief may still be in trouble.
d. If the group agrees that a lost ball is most likely in a trouble-free area, take a free drop.
Similarly, if group suspects someone picked up or moved your ball, place ball for free in the
spot where the group feels it most likely had been (may be a nice spot, may be a bad spot).
e. If unplayable (OB, trees, water, etc): count original stroke, ADD A PENALTY, drop at one of:
1. Designated drop zone, if applicable (such as found on left side of #2 or #5).
2. The original spot from which you hit the bad or unlucky shot.
3. Within 2 club lengths, no nearer hole, of POINT OF ENTRY (where ball crossed into trouble).
If there are branches/obstacles WITHIN 20 YARDS (on line to the green) from this drop point,
go out far enough from POINT OF ENTRY (NOT from where ball sits) to avoid those obstacles,
no closer to hole. This ruling may occur on PIT #4, #8, #10, #11, #12, #15, #16, #17, etc.
4. Behind the POINT OF ENTRY, on a line that extends from the flag thru POINT OF ENTRY.
f. If you are playing a penalty ball and you discover your original ball was actually playable
(for example, ball did not end up unfindable or dead after all), you may do either of:
1. Cancel penalty ball and return to original ball & strokes, without penalty. You may
choose this option even if you did not specify the penalty ball was "provisional".
2. Ignore the original ball, continue with penalty ball & strokes.
g. Starting in 2026: NO GIMMEES ALLOWED!
Pre-2026: Gimmes of "1 foot or less" were allowed.
h. On #13, play from BLUE tees (if available). There is a penalty drop zone (hitting 3): anywhere
on yellow/red teeing area (to left after the chute). Use drop zone to speed up play, no matter
where your bad tee shot might have gone (even if it likely ended up short of the zone).
If not sure of ruling, play provisional ball(s) as needed thru the hole; get ruling later.
2. HANDICAPS:
For PIT veterans: Starting Handicap = 85% of Average of your "Low 6 of last 9" PIT rounds (3 years).
This yields a much lower handicap than typical golf leagues, even lower than pre-2022 PIT's.
The ultimate goal is for the hallowed PIT Champion to have played "very good for himself".
For newer players: Starting Handicap = 85% of Average based on pre-assigned rookie estimate, and
the Low 1/3 of PIT rounds already played:
if played 2 years: Low 2 of estimate and last 6 rounds
if played 1 year : Low 1 of estimate and last 3 rounds
if played 0 years: estimate
To help avoid total runaway, and minimize Friday night blues, your handicap is recomputed before
2nd & 3rd round as 85 percent of Average of your "Starting Average + Fri Round (+ Sat Round)".
Note that handicaps are rounded to the nearest whole number, with .5 rounding down.
3. STANDARD COMPETITIONS (the official "PIT Champion" is the Low Net winner among non-rookies):
a. 54-HOLE PIT CHAMPION (LOW NET): Real Sudden Death Playoff for 1st place, starting at hole #1
(net hole scores based on handicaps entering final round, but
handicap max is 36 more than finalist with lowest handicap).
b. 54-HOLE JULIAN LOW GROSS CHAMPION: Real Sudden Death Playoff for 1st place, start at hole #1.
c. 54-HOLE SENIOR LOW GROSS CHAMPION: Real Sudden Death Playoff for 1st place, start at hole #1.
By default, all players (regardless of age) will be entered in the JULIAN Low Gross.
Prior to tee off on 1st day, all players aged 50 or older (as of 1st day of The PIT) may
optionally choose to compete in the SENIOR Low Gross INSTEAD OF the JULIAN Low Gross.
Note that 2024 was the first year of the SENIOR Low Gross.
d. 54-HOLE BEST BALL: Scorecard Playoff is used for ties, using this order of precedence:
1. Team with the best 18-hole net bestball score for Round 1.
2. Team with the best 18-hole net bestball score for Round 2.
3. Team which took the earliest lead in the tournament (hole by hole).
Note: Pre-2026, BestBall scores were figured each day, then they were SUMMED for all days.
Starting in 2026, "Best BestBall" scores are determined PER HOLE.
So if the 3 Team BestBall scores were 3 2 4 on a hole per day, the 3 is used in round 1, and
2 is used as the Best BestBall score on that hole in round 2 and round 3.
The 2-man Best Ball teams are chosen by agreement. The "normal BestBall" score per hole is the
best of the two individual net scores on that hole. To get, say, a 28-handicapper's net on a hole,
deduct 2 on the 10 toughest holes, deduct 1 on the 8 easiest holes.
MAX BEST BALL HANDICAP: 36 strokes more than the player with the lowest handicap.
However, beginning in 2026, the team's "Best BestBall" score on that hole (for the weekend) will
ultimately be used to determine the team's final BestBall score.
4. AWARDS: Plaques will be awarded to the PIT Low Net Champion and the JULIAN Low Gross Champion.
Money will be awarded as follows:
PIT Low Net: $100 1st, $75 2nd, $50 3rd
JULIAN Low Gross: $100 1st, $75 2nd, $50 3rd
Senior Low Gross: $75 1st, $50 2nd, $25 3rd
Best Ball Champs: $100 ($50 per player)
5. PROXIMITIES: Each day there will be 3 $10 Proximities (Long Drive, Closest To Pin, Long Putt).
6. OPTIONAL SKINS GAME: Any player may optionally put $10 into a 54-hole Skins Game pool.
The money will be divided up equally for each skin won. A skin is awarded for a player having
the low actual score on a hole during the regulation 54 holes, without being tied by anyone else
who is in the Skins Game. If no one collects, skin money will be returned after the tourney.
7. OPTIONAL EAGLES POT: Any player may optionally put $10 into the Eagles Pot. The pot will be
divided and paid out for each actual eagle (or better) by a contributing player during the
regulation 54 holes. If no one collects, the pot carries over to the next year. In each
carryover year, players wanting in are required to pay $10 for any year they had not contributed.
The 2026 pot starts at $240, because no there were no eagles in 2025.
Friday pairings:
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Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7
------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
Troy J Randy T MikeBSr Tony B Deron D Zack S Bill M
Tim R AJ T Woody S DannyBa Drake S JJ D Tom E
Steve M Paul C Bob M MikeBJr Blake A Grady S Jeff J
Nick M Tod W Bob O Mike S Lane H CarterD Joe S
2026 PIT Starting Averages & Handicaps:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Low 6 Starting
Scoring Average Starting
2023 Scores 2024 Scores 2025 Scores Average Over Par Handicap
----------- ----------- ----------- ------- -------- --------
1 Grady S 77 77 73 68 74 72 68 68 71 70.00 0.00 0 Grady S
2 Bob M 78 79 76 73 76 74 74 68 74 73.17 3.17 3 Bob M
3 CarterD 81 78 80 76 79 71 77 73.50 3.50 3 CarterD
4 MikeBSr 72 73 74 82 80 74 82 77 79 74.83 4.83 4 MikeBSr
5 Joe S 74 81 76 78 76 76 74 87 79 75.67 5.67 5 Joe S
6 Zack S 80 76 83 75 76 79 77 74 77 75.83 5.83 5 Zack S
7 Deron D 77 80 75 73 78 83 79 77 79 76.50 6.50 6 Deron D
8 JJ D 92 84 90 85 77 76 76 79 76 78.00 8.00 7 JJ D
9T Bob O 75 80 81 89 89 84 79 80 83 79.67 9.67 8 Bob O
9T Tod W 82 82 80 73 83 84 80 81 86 79.67 9.67 8 Tod W
11 Tom E 75 82 79 86 84 80 88 87 84 80.67 10.67 9 Tom E
12 Mike S 84 93 87 85 90 84 88 83 81 84.00 14.00 12 Mike S
13 Tim R 96 88 80 85 88 83 91 83 86 84.17 14.17 12 Tim R
14 Jeff J 87 84 85 85 86 88 87 97 87 85.67 15.67 13 Jeff J
15T Paul C 102 89 89 90 88 92 84 90 80 86.67 16.67 14 Paul C
15T DannyBa 92 92 95 86 87 88 82 95 85 86.67 16.67 14 DannyBa
15T MikeBJr 86 93 87 89 86 91 85 87 95 86.67 16.67 14 MikeBJr
18 AJ T 89 93 81 85 89 100 90 89 91 87.17 17.17 15 AJ T
19 Blake A 88 88.00 18.00 15 Blake A
20 Troy J 91 93 89 98 83 85 95 94 89 88.33 18.33 16 Troy J
21 Lane H 89 89.00 19.00 16 Lane H
22 Drake S 90 90.00 20.00 17 Drake S
23 Woody S 92 94 100 88 99 98 90 95 91 91.67 21.67 18 Woody S
24 Tony B 105 96 103 93 99 90 95 89 93 92.67 22.67 19 Tony B
25 Nick M 96 102 99 97 90 94 96 94 92 93.67 23.67 20 Nick M
26 Bill M 100 106 97 99 94 91 109 102 95 96.00 26.00 22 Bill M
27 Steve M 103 97 100 95 95 96 107 118 116 97.67 27.67 24 Steve M
28 Randy T 102 113 105 94 101 96 96 99 113 98.00 28.00 24 Randy T
2026 PIT Aggregate Hole Rankings (based on 2021-2025 scores):
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Avg Over
(Hdcp) Hole Par Score Par
------ ---- --- ----- -----
1 11 4 5.56 1.56
2 3 4 5.25 1.25
3 1 5 6.20 1.20
4 13 5 6.15 1.15
5 15 4 5.11 1.11
6 2 3 4.11 1.11
7 5 3 4.08 1.08
8 16 3 4.06 1.06
9 8 4 4.91 0.91
10 14 4 4.90 0.90
11 10 4 4.88 0.88
12 7 3 3.88 0.88
13 18 3 3.88 0.88
14 17 4 4.86 0.86
15 12 3 3.78 0.78
16 9 5 5.78 0.78
17 4 5 5.69 0.69
18 6 4 4.49 0.49