Chulligans, Recalls, Icing, and every other rule the group has argued about, refined, and written down over thirty years. If you're new, read this first.
How a round actually counts.
A won match is worth 1 point for your team, a tie is worth 0.5, and a loss is worth 0. Add up every Monday/Tuesday match and whichever team (GS or UV) has more points wins the Malone Fall Classic and the trophy for the year.
When the numbers don't divide evenly and a team has to play a three-man group instead of two, that group gets a rotating extra shot per hole (or an extra putt, in scrambles) to offset the disadvantage -- it rotates between the three players rather than always falling to the same person. Some years, threesome matches are scored as stroke play against the field instead of head-to-head match play.
If the roster doesn't split evenly between GS and UV for a given match, one player plays a "flex" role -- front nine holes for one team, back nine for the other -- then sticks with whichever team is trailing for the rest of the match. John played this role in 2024.
Occasionally recorded when a match wasn't fully played out -- a win awarded without a complete round, distinct from an ordinary win, tie, or loss. Two 2017 matches were decided this way.
From 2015 through 2018, the Friendly Finn was scored as a GS-vs-UV team scramble that counted toward the season standings, same as any other match. Starting in 2019, it became what it is today: a separate, non-scored stroke-play event with its own trophy, played in memory of Leo Siltanen. See the Friendly Finn page for the full history.
Players 60 and up play the front tees; everyone else plays the back tees. As of 2025, Odie was the only one on the front-tee list -- make of that what you will.
The stuff you negotiate on the first tee.
A "Chulligan" is a mulligan -- a do-over shot -- but it comes with a price. To take one, a player has to declare "Chulligan," get down on one knee, chug a beer end to end, then hit the mulligan shot within 30 seconds of finishing the beer. Allowed once per player per nine holes.
A "Recall" lets a team make an opponent replay a shot. Unlike Chulligans, Recalls are off by default -- they only come into play if both teams agree to turn them on before the match, and even then they're typically more restricted (once per team, per nine, no putts).
The parts that never make it onto a scorecard.
An ambush drinking tradition dating back to the mid-2000s, when the next generation started showing up alongside their fathers. To count, the ambush has to be sneaky and discreet -- no warning, no ceremony. New guys have historically been welcomed to the trip with false teeth dropped in their drink at the bar, a bit credited to Billy Ashton.
Everyone chips in cash before the Monday/Tuesday matches start -- historically $20 USD per player. The winning team splits the pot at the end of the trip; if the season ends in a tie, no money changes hands.
An optional extra day added in more recent years for early arrivals -- a randomly-drawn 2-man scramble played the day before the Friendly Finn, with no real prize on the line beyond an entrance fee the organizer keeps.
The two standing teams, abbreviated GS and UV everywhere on this site, have carried these names since at least 2013.