Rules & Regulations

The Interclub Rules provide a comprehensive framework that governs the administration of the league, the eligibility criteria for participating clubs, and the specific standards required for the successful management of every competition

Last Update 2026

Algarve InterClub League Rules & Regulations

5. Responsibility of all Clubs Regarding Handicaps

11. Scoring and Resolution of Ties

1. A Management Committee (MC) will be responsible for the administration and management of the InterClub league. Members of the committee will not be representatives of any particular club but will be required to serve the interests of all clubs. Working within the remit, as decided by the member clubs by ballot or in general meeting, the committee will be responsible for organizing Finals Day, the Annual General Meeting, appointment of an Administrator, if thought necessary and consideration of any proposals/suggestions made by member clubs.

2. In the event of any dispute arising between member clubs, the MC will seek to resolve the issues and make a final decision on the matters in dispute. Should one of the members of the MC be from a club involved in the dispute, a club from another division will be called upon to provide a representative to help make the decision.

3. Nominations for the MC will be sought from all member clubs in November of each year and these should be submitted to the MC one month in advance of the AGM. Each year one of the existing members of the MC will stand down, by rotation, and may seek re-election. If there are more nominations than vacancies then an election will be carried out at the AGM. Volunteers may be sought to fill any vacancies which may arise on the MC at any time. At no time will more than one member of any club serve on the MC unless approved in general meeting.

4. Each year the Captain of the Championship winning club will be co-opted to the MC to assist with the preparations for the following year’s Finals Day.

3. Participating clubs

1. A participating club is a golf club that has met the entry criteria of the League, and is accepted into the League by a majority decision of the Annual General Meeting. Inter alia, all participating clubs must meet the following criteria:

The club must be a golfing institution with subscription paying members and must be recognised as a handicapping authority by the Portuguese Golf Federation
The club must have agreed playing rights on a specific course or golfing resort in the Algarve region of Portugal.
Representatives of the club must agree to abide by the rules and regulations set out below with regard to their participation in the competition(s) of the League.
Any Club that enters the League, or re-enters the League having not paid the annual subscription for the previous year, shall pay an entry fee equivalent in value to the annual subscription of the year of entry.

2. Any Club who leaves the League for whatever reason will have no claim on interclub funds.

4. Eligibility of Players

1. It is the responsibility of each club to ensure that all players selected for a team, on each match day, comply with the following:

The player is in possession of a current active amateur license issued by the FPG,
The player is in possession of a FPG WHS registered active handicap as shown on the FPG database
The player is ‘home’ clubbed for handicap purposes with the club they are representing
The player is aged 18 and over
The player has not played for any other club in the League during the current season.

Guidance note: Preference in selection by all clubs for players participation in matches, should in the first instance, be given to those who regularly support club competitions. This should be an integral feature of clubs commitment to the spirit of the InterClub.

2. A club that fields a player, who is ineligible, will lose the game in which the player played and the team fielding the ineligible player forfeits all points in the relevant match. The opposing club will receive the normal points that would have been awarded to them.

5. Responsibility of all clubs regarding Handicaps

1. Member clubs must comply with WHS and FPG regulations in the administration of handicaps. In particular,

committees should never deprive a competition of its status as an Acceptable Competition only to circumvent the regulations of the WHS handicap system and prevent scores from counting for handicaps. Such action is contrary to the spirit of the WHS handicap system. The handicap committee at all member clubs should give players the opportunity to return as many qualifying scores as possible.
Players’ WHS index must be updated with scores from jurisdictions outside Portugal. Each time an affiliated member returns to Portugal after having played golf under another national golf association, that member is required to bring their Handicap Playing Record showing the Acceptable Scores and/or any adjustments recorded in that jurisdiction. This record must be submitted to the Handicap Committee of the club responsible for their handicap administration on the FPG system, and their handicap record amended accordingly. A club that fields a returning player whose handicap has not been updated in accordance with this requirement will lose the game in which the player played where the adjustment would have resulted in a lower playing handicap.

2. The MC have the authority to discuss with individual member clubs the handicap of any player or players they believe to be incorrect. If after discussion the MC are not satisfied with the explanation they may impose sanctions including determining a maximum handicap on the player or players in question for subsequent use in InterClub league matches.

6. League Set Up

1. The InterClub League will be played in divisions with each club playing home and away against all clubs in their division. Home matches must be played on one of the officially designated home courses of the host club. The host club is required to nominate the course to be played and give at least two weeks’ notice, in advance of the match date, thus allowing practice rounds if required.

2. The divisions will be numbered in sequential order and the clubs therein ranked according to the points won in matches throughout the season. The standard rule of promotion and relegation is as follows: there will be promotion of the 2 highest ranked clubs from each of the lower divisions to the division one place higher and relegation of 2 lowest ranked clubs from the higher divisions to the division one place lower.

The number of clubs promoted or relegated may be changed in the event of an unequal distribution of teams across the league, so as to, wherever possible, start the season with an equal number of clubs in each division. If there is an inequality of clubs in each division then the fewest clubs will be allocated to the lowest division(s).
The number of clubs promoted or relegated may also be changed in the event that the total number of divisions is being increased or decreased. (Although there is no hard and fast rule, owing to the demand for tee times on some of the host courses, the maximum number of clubs in a division should not exceed 8 or be less than 5.)

New clubs accepted into the league will enter in the lowest division.
Wherever possible the Management Committee will clarify before the start of each season should the number of clubs to be promoted and relegated from each division be different to the standard rule.

7. Arranging matches

1. Clubs will be advised of their division for the coming season by the MC as soon as possible after the close of the previous season. Clubs will then arrange one home and one away fixture with all the other clubs in their division, within the dates stipulated for the start and finish of the season. Matches must be arranged and entered on the League website before the official start of the season. It is the duty of the Home side to record the agreed date of the match.

2. Match dates, once agreed, can only be postponed once. Both captains have to agree to the postponement of the match. This being the case, a new date must be set within 14 days and played by the season end.

3. The MC should be advised of all postponement requests, with the reason for the postponement along with the revised date for the match. The onus on being flexible, in agreeing alternative match dates, rests primarily with the club seeking the postponement. In the event that either team finds they cannot fulfil the fixture, they must inform the MC, who will then, in light of the relevant facts, adjudicate and award points accordingly.

8. Set up of the course

1. The tees used for any individual match must be the SLOPE rated tees and be set up in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the FPG update of November 2016. The choice of tees for Men will be at the discretion of the home club. The Ladies will play from the Home clubs Ladies “Competition Tees” (Which in most cases will be the “Red” Tees).

2. Once a club has chosen tees in its first home match it MUST continue to use those tees for the remainder of matches for that year. If a club has more than one HOME course, then they must declare the tees to be used on any other courses at the same time. All home clubs must notify the course they will play on to their opponents two weeks prior to the match date.

3. In the event that any course has differing indices for men & women the men’s indices will prevail throughout the match

9. Handicaps for matches

1. Any player with a handicap higher than 24.0 will be attributed a WHS index of 24.0 for the purposes of calculating their playing handicap allowance.

2. The handicap allowance will be determined using the FPG “calculo de handicap de campo e jogo” to calculate a playing handicap at 100%. Following which the lowest handicapped player will play from scratch with the other players receiving strokes equivalent to 90% of the difference. Strokes are taken according to the stroke index on the card.

10. Competition Rules

1. Each division is organised as a ‘mini’ league, with all clubs within the division playing each other on a home and away basis.

2. Each match between clubs will consist of teams of 10 players representing each Club, playing 5 games of fourball pairs match play.

3. The visiting club must provide the host club with a team sheet at least 72 hours before the match. Team sheets should detail player’s names, gender and their WHS handicap index, and should be grouped in pairs.

4. The host club decides the order of play and makes up the games from the pairs provided by the visiting club.

Guidance Note: To make matches more enjoyable for all players, Captains are asked to strive for fair matchups between host and visiting pairs to minimize shot differentials.

5. It is the responsibility of the host club to supply score cards for each pair clearly indicating shot allowances. The host club should also prepare a list of Local Rules and Temporary Local Rules for the visiting team.

11. Scoring and Resolution of Ties

1. The following scoring system will be used for all matches.

Games Won – 2 points
Games Halved – 1 point
Away Match Win -1 bonus Point

2. For overall league positions ties will be resolved in the following order:

Points in the matches between the two teams who are level
Total away points
Toss of a coin

3. After each match it is the responsibility of the home Captain to enter the result into the website within two days of the match being completed.

4. On completion of all matches, prizes will be awarded to the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in each Division. The winners of Division 1 will be declared the League Champions and will be awarded the League Trophy. Presentations will normally be made on Finals Day.

12. Finals Day

1. A Fourball Stableford Competition, meal and prize presentation ceremony will be organized by the MC and will be hosted by the previous year’s Division 1 champions or MC as appropriate. Six players will be invited to participate from each Club with all pair’s better ball scores to count. Handicap allowances will be 90% of each player’s playing handicap, from tees as decided by the MC. The cost will be decided by the MC and advised to participating Clubs. Prizes will be awarded for the three clubs finishing 1st and 2nd and 3rd on the day.

13. Knock Out Cup

1. The Knockout Cup will consist of as many clubs who wish to enter and be played on a straight KO basis. The arrangements and format of matches will be the same as for the InterClub league matches, 10 players per team and meals after the match. The differences are:

Matches must be agreed between the drawn clubs to be played within the dates scheduled for the round by the MC
The winners of all matches, except the final, will go forward to the draw for the next round.

2. The Preliminary & First round matches will be drawn at the AGM and will all have to be completed by the end of March each year. Thereafter draws will be done by the MC and advised to clubs via the website. Subsequent rounds must be played within a six week period of the draw.

3. The draw and progress will be entered into the News pages of the InterClub website.

4. In the event of a tied match the away team will progress to the following round. In the event of a tied result in the final there will be a playoff. The pair to represent each club in any such playoff must be advised to the MC prior to matchday and must be one of the pairs as played in the final matches. The hole or holes to be played in the playoff will be as determined by the host club to suit the flow of play at the course.

5. The final will be played at a neutral venue as decided by the MC with green fees for both teams paid from InterClub funds. Memento trophies will be awarded to both finalists.

6. All clubs are requested to keep the MC administrator advised of dates for match days and all subsequent results.

14. Other Organisation Rules

1. Host clubs in all matches are to provide visiting teams with courtesy of the course. Where the management of such member clubs wishes to charge a green fee in respect of visiting players, it is the responsibility of the host club to pay such charges.

2. The host club in each match, must appoint a time keeper to monitor play. The timekeeper’s responsibility will be to try and ensure that matches do not adversely impact on the general pace of play. This role needs to be carried out with courtesy to try and avoid conflict within the spirit of the interclub.

3. Host clubs will be required to provide after match refreshments for a recommended maximum cost per player including gratuities as decided at each AGM. Each team captain is required to collect all the money for their team and ensure that it is paid in full on the day of the match. All players are expected to attend after match meals, in line with the spirit of fair and friendly competition, which is an essential element of the InterClub.

4. An annual membership fee, as decided at each AGM, is payable by each club, preferably immediately following the AGM and at least prior to their first match. The fees will be used to cover the cost of administration, provision and engraving of divisional trophies, prizes for Finals day and any other incidental expenses. A financial statement will be provided by the MC at each AGM.

5. It is the duty of all participating clubs to keep the MC informed of any changes to personnel, telephone or fax numbers, email addresses or any other details that may affect efficient communication between all InterClub member Clubs.

As the premier organization for competitive club golf in the region, the Algarve Interclub League welcomes inquiries from established clubs interested in joining our vibrant community of golfers and participating in our annual league and cup competitions.

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