2022 Tour Letter

The 2022 Southwest Putting Tour will kick off the 2022 season on March 5th at the Lake Charles Putt-Putt.   

The 2022 SWPT committee is:  

Geoff Mosk, Tour Director, Treasurer 

Mason Spradlin, Tournament Director 

Jeffrey Smith, Rulings Director 

Brice Bergesen, Statistics Coordinator 

Adam Sahmel, Webmaster    

We would like to thank all of the course owners and managers that have allowed us to play at their facilities in the past and again in the upcoming 2022 putting season. Their generosity in allowing us to play on their courses during the year is one of the key components necessary in making our tour a success.

 Membership applications should be completed online at ProPlayers.org. Once your application is approved, your name will be posted on proputters.org. The SWPT can accept membership fees and approve membership applications. If your name is not posted on proputters.org prior to an event you will not be permitted to play unless you pay your membership fees to the Southwest Putting Tour. Please send in membership applications as soon as possible to ensure your playing privileges are approved before the season starts. 

Geoff Mosk or Mason Spradlin will serve as Tournament Directors and decide all rulings during any Southwest Putting Tour event. If both Mr. Mosk and Mr. Spradlin are absent during a Southwest Putting Tour event, another committee member will be named Tournament Director. If no committee member is available to act as Tournament Director, another person will be named to act as Tournament Director. The Tournament Director’s rulings are final. A player may appeal according to the rules stated in The Professional Putters Association 2022 Rule Book.  

If a player encounters a problem or has any concerns regarding the Tour, he or she may address a Tour Committee member verbally or in writing. The Tour Committee or Tour Director may ask for the concern in writing. The Tour Committee or Tour Director will address the concern.  

Please read The Professional Putters Association 2022 Rule Book and make sure you are familiar with the rules. There may be changes from the 2021 Rule Book. Also make sure to read this letter carefully, as there are some changes made from last season.  

Entry fees 

Entry fees for regular qualifying tournaments, either 54 or 72 holes are $48 PPA and $18 APA. Entry fees for major Southwest Putting Tour events are $96 PPA and $36 APA.  

Major events are the Mickey DeLucca Louisiana State Championship and Mike Baldoza Texas Open. There is a $7 per day greens fee- in addition to entry fees due from all players. Please note that entry fees for all Southwest Putting Tour events are due one hour prior to the posted starting time. The Tour Committee and Tournament Director have no obligation to accept late entry fees. If the Tournament Director decides to allow late entry fees there is a $5 late fee for APA participants and a $10 late fee for PPA participants. The Tournament Director may decide to waive the late fee in extenuating circumstances. 

Payout and expense reimbursement schedules have changed from 2021. The payout and expense reimbursement schedules will be posted on our website, swputtingtour.com.  

For 2022 players will have the option to receive cash instead of a plaque noting their 2021 and 2022 tournament victories.  The cash payout will equal what it would have costs the tour to purchase and ship the trophies.  Players must let the tour director know if they wish to receive cash instead of a trophy by August 12th.  Any cash received will count toward annual tour winnings.  Players may not opt out of receiving a trophy for Major tournament victories. 

In an effort to provide more exposure for the tour video will be shot at all or most tour events that will be placed on www.youtube.com and/or Facebook.  If you do not wish for your image or likeness to be posted online, please let the tournament director know before any events.  If no notice is provided then by playing in the event you are providing permission for your name, image, and or likeness to be used to help promote the tour. 

Qualifying for Tour Championship 

We will no longer have qualifying spots that can be earned at each event for the Tour Championship..  Instead a player must pay at least the equivalent of 5 non-major tournament entry fees to be eligible to play in the Tour Championship (play in 5 regular tournaments, 3 regular tournaments and 1 major, or 2 majors and 1 other tournament). Playing in the AL will count as 3 regulation tournaments.  If a player has not met the entry fee minimums, they may pay the difference on the Saturday before the tour championship to compete in the Finals.  Of the players that qualify, the top 2 players in Player of the year points will have the option to choose who they play in their 1st round match or a bye if one is available.  After that the pairings will be done using POY points for seedings (3 play 14, 4 plays 13, ect).  This makes it to the players benefit as the higher seeding they have the more beneficial their 1st round match should be, much like the NCAA Basketball tournament known as March Madness.  

Players of the Year

We have a points system to determine PPA and APA Players of the Year in 22. The points system will be posted at swputtingtour.com. Thanks to Joe Lea for his work on the points system. There is no money paid to this year’s Players of the Year. There will be an award given to the Players of the Year to recognize their excellent play.  

Low Stroke Average

The low stroke average will be kept by the Tour Statistician. A player must complete a minimum of 51% of Southwest Putting Tour competitive stroke play rounds to be eligible to win low stroke average. There is no money paid to the winner of the low stroke average. There will be an award given to the players who earn PPA and APA low stroke averages.   

Southwest Putting Tour Championship 

The Southwest Putting Tour Championship will be contested on Sunday September 25th, 2022 in Dallas Texas. The Tour Champion in the PPA and APA will be decided by match play. All matches will be 36 holes. We will hold an awards ceremony and announce the Brackets in Dallas at the Coit Adventure Landing location. The Awards Ceremony will start Approximately two hours following the conclusion of the Pro-Am event.  

Sportsmanship 

There is a growing concern with sportsmanship in the PPA and APA. Our players have always not had too many issues but remember to display good sportsmanship during practice and tournament play. When a player draws undue attention to himself or herself during a tournament or practice for a tournament due to unsportsmanlike conduct, the Tour Director with assistance from the Tour Committee may levy sanctions and penalties. 

Any player who receives three warnings in 2022 may be fined or suspended by the Tour Committee for a number of SWPT events. When a player draws undue attention to himself or herself due to the use of language that is obscene or derogatory, discriminatory or offensive based upon race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic background or national origin it greatly hurts the integrity of the game and the image of the SWPT and the PPA. Such language is not acceptable during practice or competition or on any facility where the SWPT may hold a scheduled event. First occurrence in 2020 (after three warnings): player may be fined or disqualified for the present tournament (or if in practice, disqualification from the next scheduled tournament). Second occurrence in 2020: player may be disqualified from the present tournament and suspended from the next scheduled SWPT event (or if in practice, disqualification/suspension from the next two scheduled SWPT events).  

Third occurrence in 2022 

The player will be suspended for all remaining SWPT events for the balance of the season, including any year end events the SWPT may be hosting and for which that player may have already qualified. (SWPT Tour Championship, for example). No monies paid for greens fees or entry fees, including prepayment for an event for which the player is subsequently suspended or qualification fees for season’s end events for which the player is subsequently suspended, will be refunded should a suspension occur as described above. These monies will be considered as fines for the occurrence(s). All fines are payable to The Southwest Putting Tour within 5 days following the occurrence. 

Slow Play 

Slow play has become an issue.  Please be ready to play when it is your turn to Putt and be mindful of the groups ahead of and behind you.  We do realize that you can easily fall behind if the group in front of you is playing very quickly and/or not taking many strokes to complete their holes, especially if it is taking your group more strokes to complete theirs.  The rule book has the information below and we would ask that all players follow the rule of not taking more than 20 seconds to address their ball and tee off after the player in front of them has completed the hole.  

10. DELAY IN PLAY During a round, no player/group shall deliberately delay, slow down or cause a delay for any other player/group. All players/groups are directed to play every hole that is open in front of them. If during play, pace is lost with the group ahead, the group or player responsible for the delay may receive a warning. Losing pace is generally defined as falling two or more holes behind the group ahead.  

Once a group finishes the previous hole, the next player then has 20 seconds to address and tee off. If a player is distracted, he may step away and start over with his initial address, but only within the allotted time. However, in no event shall a player stay over a ball in order for the elements (wind or rain) to change. All players must play continuously until they have caught up with the group directly in front of them leaving no open holes between theirs and the next group. The Tournament Director has full authority to assess the penalties as stated below to the player/group for repeated violations of the rule without appeal.  

New for 2022 is that if you will be playing first in your group on a hole, you do not have to wait for your group to complete playing the current hole before you can place your ball on the next holes tee pad, considering that the group in front of you has completed playing the hole.  We encourage players to use this new rule to hep speed up the pace of play.   

Schedule Changes  

Please note that locations for tour events are subject to change. Players are encouraged to verify sites by visiting either swputtingtour.com or proputters.org web sites. All SWPT event sites and dates posted on swputtingtour.com and proputters.org two weeks prior to the scheduled playing dates are considered final sites.  

Closing Remarks 

Please review the tour schedule and make plans to play in as many Southwest Putting Tour events as possible this year. If there are any questions or comments regarding this letter or anything regarding the tour, feel free to contact any member of the SWPT committee. Several contact numbers and email addresses appear below. We all look forward to seeing you again this year!  

Geoff Mosk, 281-202-5413 

Mason Spradlin, 903-617-8131 

Brice Bergesen, putterbrice@gmail.com 713-298-2698 

Jeffrey Smith,  texasputter1@yahoo.com 214-236-5831  

Lee Messinger, leemer@verizon.net 469-544-3688  

Adam Sahmel, asahmel@gmail.com 832-771-8737