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Season Point standing, also known as Order of Merit, is used at many clubs and associations. As the season progresses, players earn points from events that roll-up into their season points. Our Season Points feature can be used to track and manage season points for players on your Master Roster.
In this article, we will discuss how to set up and manage season points in our system.
Setting Up Season Point Categories:
Before the season starts, it is important to set up the season point settings and parameters. Every season point race requires a Season Point Category. For instance, if your club has Men's Season Points standings and Ladies Season Points standings, you must create a separate category for each.
Note: Golf Genius TM Club users are limited to only one season points category at a time. If necessary, a season points category from a previous season can be archived to make room for a new one.
To begin setting up season points, go to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points. Click on "New Season Point Category" to create your first category. There are serval options available and defined in detail below:
Name: Enter the name of the season points standings category (e.g., Junior Player of the Year, Amateur Player of the Year, Men's Player of the Year, etc.).
Abbreviation: Enter an abbreviation for the category used in areas where the category name is too long.
Season: Select the season of the season points category. Only events and leagues contained in the selected season will be used for the season points category. Click Here for more details on managing seasons. If you do not want to use a season, you can select "All," which will allow you to optionally specify a rolling window (defined below).
Rolling Window: If you have selected "All Seasons" in the previous option, you can establish a rolling window of season point standings optionally. For example: Setting this option up on April 8th, 2020, with a rolling period of 4 months, will result in displaying only those season points that were awarded between December 8th, 2019, and April 8th, 2020. As time passes and May 1st is reached, only points awarded between January 1st, 2020, and May 1st, 2020, will be considered without changing other settings.
Number of Points: Specify whether all award points are counted in the point category. You will have two options:
All point awards are used in standings: All awarded season points will count toward the season point category.
Use Best "X" point awards: In some cases, you may not want to count all awarded points to a season points category. This will allow you to limit the number of awarded points to count to limit the advantage of very active players. This is useful when players with high participation are always awarded points, even when they have a poor finish.
Eligibility Criteria: If using Eligibility Criteria for your players, you can distribute points to only players who meet specific criteria.
For instance, we create a Senior Player of the Year point standings category in the example above. Therefore, only players of age 55 or older are eligible to earn points for this category.
You can also distribute points to players "By Other Custom Field." For instance, if your members can earn season points in member-guest events, but guests cannot, you can create a "Member" custom field and select that only members can earn season points in this category.Fields Displayed in Standings: The season point standings can be embedded onto a website or viewed from a portal. Besides the player name and their point totals, you can add other player information to the standings if desired.
Once you are finished selecting the settings for the point category, click "Save." Repeat these steps for any other season point categories that need to be created for the season.
Setting Up Point Allocation Tables:
After creating the season point categories, you can set up the point allocation tables. The point allocation tables determine the payout structure of the points.
The example above shows four different point allocation tables. There is a "Majors," "Mids," "Tour," and "Match" allocation table. The "Majors" table awards a more significant number of points because of its significance. The allocation table for "match" is used for bracket tournaments, where points are determined by how far a player advances in the bracket.
Once an allocation table is set up, it can be used for multiple tournaments throughout the season. As you can see above, in many cases, multiple allocation tables are needed.
To set up a Point Allocation table, go to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points > Point Allocation Tables > New Point Allocation Table.
Many options need to be defined when creating a new allocation table, as described in detail below:
Name: Give the table a name that will distinguish it from others (e.g., Major Tournament, Minor Tournament, Match Play Tournament).
Scoring Type: Match Play or Stroke Play? This determines how the point table is laid out below.
Point Table: Enter the point structure for the allocation table. For Match Play, select the round in the bracket where players will start earning points. For example, in the setup below, players losing in the round of 32 will be the first to receive points. Is there a consolation match for 3rd place? If so, select that option to enter the point earnings for 3rd and 4th place. Otherwise, 3rd and 4th place point earnings will be the same.
There are two different allocation options for Stroke Play:
Fixed Number of Award Positions: Select the number of positions receiving points. Enter the points in the available positions below.
Number of Awarded Positions Based on Flight/Division Size: If players are separated by division or flight in the tournament, you can use different point allocation tables depending on the number of players in each flight/division.
Look at the example above. For flights up to 29 participants, award ten positions. For flights between 30-50 participants, award 15 positions.
Bonus Points: For Stroke Play tournaments, you can additionally award bonus points for participation (participation is defined as not being disqualified, withdrawn, etc.), making the cut (if any), and winning a round (18-Hole event). If multiple players tie to win the round, they will all be awarded full points. For instance, if the round winner is set to win 75 points (see screenshot below), and two players tie to win the round, they both receive 75 points.
For match play tournaments, participants can earn bonus points as long as they were not disqualified, withdrawn, etc.
Ineligible Positions: If eligibility criteria are used for the Season Points category, how are the points distributed if an ineligible player is in a point-earning position?
For instance, if the 1st place player is ineligible, does the 2nd place player earn the 1st place points, or are the 1st place points skipped, therefore awarding the 2nd place points to the 2nd place player.
Ties: If using Stroke Play, how should points be distributed if there are ties?
If you have eligibility criteria to win season points and wish to have the points divided among eligible players in the case of a tie, choose the third option. Ineligible players will be ignored for this option. For more details about using eligibility criteria, Click Here.
Once the settings for the point allocation table are selected, save the table. Create any other tables that need to be created.
Setting Up the Tournaments to Award Season Points:
After setting up the Season Point categories and Season Point Allocation tables, the next step is to set up the tournaments (within the events) to award the season points. You award season points through all types of tournaments (Single Round, Multi-Round, Bracket, Linked)
Setting up Season Points for Single-Round and Multi-Round Tournaments: When setting up a tournament, there will be a Season Points section (as shown below).
Click on "New Award" (as shown below).
Select the division to be used (if the tournament uses multiple divisions), the Allocation Table to be used, and the Point Categories receiving the points. In the example above, season points are awarded to the Flight 1 division players in this tournament using the Major Championship Allocation Table. The points are distributed to the Amateur Player of the Year category and Player of the Year category. Click "Save" to save the award setup. Suppose tournament points (points entered within the tournament setup) have been set up for the tournament. In that case, you can alternatively have those points awarded to the season points instead of using a Point Allocation Table. If flights are used in the tournament, you will also be asked what flights should be awarded points and how they should be awarded.
Does each flight earn season points independently of the others? Or, are the season points stacked by flight order (e.g., the lowest-ranked player in flight 1 is considered better than the highest-ranked player in flight 2).
You can enter multiple season point awards for one tournament (see below).
Setting up Season Points for Bracket Tournaments: There will be a season points section when setting up a bracket tournament.
Only Point Allocation Tables using the match play scoring format can be selected when adding a new award.
Setting up Season Points for Linked Tournaments: There will be a season points section in the Advanced Settings tab when setting up a linked tournament.
Awarding Season Points:
There are several ways to award season points:
Awarding Season Points via Tournament
Quick Award Season Points to Individual Players
Manually Award Season Points to Multiple Players
Awarding Season Points via Spreadsheet
In the following section, we will discuss each of these options.
Awarding Season Points via Tournament:
Once a tournament is complete, you can start the process of awarding points for a tournament. First, go to the Rounds Menu and make sure the round status is moved to "Completed." Then, go to Rounds > Display Leaderboard > Award Season Points.
The award summary page will show the proposed point earnings based on the tournament results and defined Point Allocation Table.
You can override any of the proposed points from here. Once the proposed season points are reviewed and confirmed, click "Save" to award points to the season standings.
Eligibility Criteria Implications:
If players on the leaderboard do not meet the eligibility criteria (if any), they will not initially earn points. You can hover over their name to see why they do not meet the criteria.
You can always manually enter points for the ineligible players if needed.
Awarding Points to Team-Based Tournaments:
Season points can also be awarded for team-based tournaments. When viewing the proposed points, teammates will be listed separately to show each player's exact amount of points.
Awarding Points to Bracket Tournaments:
For bracket tournaments, the proposed points summary will list the winning player at the top, followed by the runner-up, and so on.
Quick Award Season Points to Individual Players:
You can also award points manually to individual players. For instance, this may need to be done if a player earns points outside an event you manage (e.g., US Open, etc.). To do this, follow these instructions:
Go to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points.
Select "Standings" in the Actions dropdown menu on the right for the desired Season Points Category.
Click on a player and select "Adjust Points" (as shown below).
Enter the points, effective date (the date the points were earned), the name of the event, and the description, which is often the place the player finished in (as shown below).
Note: There may be cases where you need to manually award points to a player who is not yet on the standings. This will be discussed in the next section.
Manually Award Season Points to Multiple Players:
There may be cases where you need to manually award points to a player who is not yet on the standings or award points to multiple players at once. To do this, follow these directions:
Go to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points.
Select "Standings" in the Actions dropdown menu on the right for the desired Season Points Category.
Select the option "Award Manually."
If using a Best of (Number of Season Points), check the option "Count these awards towards the 'Use Best all' point awards" if these points should be considered under the best of "x."
Select the Player and add the Event name, tournament description, effective date, position, and number of points to award to that player.
Add additional rows and repeat step 5 if necessary for other players.
Click "Save" (as shown below).
Note: If you have multiple players with the same name, you can use master roster disambiguation to differentiate the players. When using master roster disambiguation, the fields chosen will be displayed under the player's name when selected. For more details about master roster disambiguation, Click Here.
Awarding Season Points via Spreadsheet:
If you need to manually award season points to players from an external event/league, this can also be done via spreadsheet upload. When awarding season points from a spreadsheet, you will want to ensure you have the following fields on the spreadsheet:
Player Name (Handle)
Event Name
Tournament Description
Effective Date of the points
The Players Position
The total point to be awarded
Unique Player Identifier: This column uniquely identifies the player based on their master roster information. The following options can be used as the identifier:
Handle
Email
Member Number
Handicap Network ID (e.g., GHIN, GolfNet, etc.)
Below is an example of what the spreadsheet upload should look like.
Note: A Template can be downloaded from the left-hand side when going to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points > Standing > Upload Spreadsheet.
To upload your spreadsheet, follow these instructions:
Go to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points.
Select "Standings" in the Actions dropdown menu on the right for the desired Season Points Category.
Select the option "Upload Spreadsheet."
Press the "Choose File" button and navigate to or drag the file to the pop-up window.
Match the upload with the available question (as shown below).
Press "Import Points."
If using a Best of (Number of Season Points), check the option "Count these awards towards the 'Use Best all' point awards" if these points should be considered under the best of "x."
Verify the uploaded content and make additional adjustments as necessary.
Click "Save."
If a player were not matched based on the unique identifier, that would be noted in the notification area at the top of the screen. You will also be given the option to match the player to complete the upload (as shown below). In the example below, we uploaded 9 players. However, 1 player did not match. .
Note: If you have multiple players with the same name, you can use master roster disambiguation to help further differentiate the players. When using master roster disambiguation, the fields chosen will be displayed under the player's name when selected. For more details about master roster disambiguation, Click Here.
Viewing the Season Point Standings:
You and the players can view season point standings in many different ways.
Within an Event/League: As the manager, you can view the updated season points for all categories used in an event/league by going to Rounds > Display Leaderboard.
The standings will show how many events the player has participated in, event wins, points earned in the current round, total points earned to date, and the number of points behind the leader. You can click on a player to see specific point-earning detail for that player.
From the Customer Center: You can also view season standings by going to Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points, then clicking on "Standings" in the Actions dropdown menu on the right. When viewing the standings, you can optionally select a past effective date (as shown below). When doing so, the standings will be updated to reflect the standings as of the specified effective date.
Further, use the search feature in the upper left-hand corner to find player a player quicker.On the Portal: Players and other viewers can also view the updated season points on the portal (as shown below).
The standings can be filtered by category, season, effective date, and tour (if applicable). Click Here for more details.On the TV Display: After awarding season points for the round, you can also display the updated season points on the TV Display leaderboard. To do this, enable the option in the TV Display settings.
Embedded on another website: You can embed the Season Points Portal Page onto another website outside our system. For instance, golf associations may want to embed the season points on their association website.
Exporting Season Point Category:
If you would like to export a Season Point Category, you can download it to Excel file (as shown below).
You can download the category using one of the following methods:
Season Points Page: From the Season Points page (Customer Center > Season Management > Season Points). Use the action dropdown for the category of points you wish to export and click "Export" (as shown below). Note: This export will always use the current date as the Effective Date.