The Division I Men's Golf Committee has developed a revised regional allocation plan for championship berths beginning in 2006.

At the committee's annual meeting June 28-July 1 in Boston, members agreed to ask the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet to consider a change in the allocations to each region in an effort to compose the best possible field.

The current alignment in Division I men's golf includes three regions, each with a different number of subregions (four in the East, three in the Central and two in the West). Those nine subregions are assigned a certain number of berths to regional competition, but the committee believes the current allocations do not necessarily reflect competitive balance among geographic regions.

To address the issue, committee members are recommending that the New England and Mid-Atlantic subregions in the East be combined to a new Northeast subregion with four berths (as opposed to the current three for the New England subregion and four for the Mid-Atlantic). The committee noted reduced sponsorship, particularly in the New England subregion (down to 18 teams), as a factor in its recommendation.

Members also are recommending a reduction of one berth in the Central subregion and another in the Southwest (see the accompanying list).

Committee Chair Mike Hermann said the group talked at length about regional allocations in light of the automatic-qualification system currently in place for Division I men's golf.

"In the end we felt there was some merit to regional allocation, but at the same time, there were years in which we were selecting teams from regions that were pretty far down in the power rankings in lieu of more deserving teams from other subregions," said Hermann, the athletics director at Niagara University. "While we've always tried to select a representative national field, we also -- by retaining the regional allocations -- have shown some understanding of the challenges of golf in different climates. We think we have come up with a solution that suits the full college golf membership."

The committee also recommended a change in the way teams are seeded at the finals. Currently, teams earn their final seed based on their finish at the regional, but coaches and committee members alike believe that places too much value on a team's performance at one tournament.

The committee agreed to place the top 15 seeded teams that advance to the final in one wave, with tee times determined within the wave by the regional finish. The remaining 15 teams would be placed in the opposite wave, again with the tee times determined by the regional finish.

The new policy still places a premium on performance at the regional, since not only do teams still need to finish in the top 10 to advance, but a top finish at the regionals also translates into better tee times at nationals. Conversely, a team that had been ranked highly throughout the year but finishes eighth or ninth at the regional likely would still be seeded among the top 15 teams but may not receive the most favorable tee times.

Adding a regional

Another committee recommendation would have a dramatic effect on regional play in the future. The group is asking the Championships/Competition Cabinet to consider expanding the number of regionals to four from the current three, with 20 teams at each regional rather than the current 27.

Hermann said the committee's proposal provides for a more efficient regional format without increasing the number of participating teams. In fact, under the committee's plan, the total number of regional participants would actually decrease by one. The plan also reduces the championship field by two teams since the top seven would advance from the four regionals (instead of the top 10 from three, as is the current policy).

Hermann said the four-regional format would provide a better championship experience in a number of ways. First, he said a reduced field increases the chances of getting teams through the course for all 54 holes. Hermann said there are other alternatives, such as an administrative cut, but committee members want to do everything possible to retain the 54-hole format.

He also said the reduced field would allow for a more challenging course setup.

"When you have 27 teams, you tend to set up the course in a way that facilitates getting those 27 teams through instead of making the course as challenging as you could. Getting the teams around thus becomes the overriding concern," he said. "By reducing the field to 20, we believe we could set up a more challenging course that would in turn do a better job of determining the top teams."

While the additional regional would have budgetary ramifications, Hermann said they would be mitigated by being able to put teams closer to home and thus reduce travel expenses. Currently, teams are required to pay their own transportation to the regionals, but the golf committee is recommending to the Championships/Competition Cabinet that those expenses be included in the championship budget.

The committee also agreed to implement "timing stations" to better enforce pace of play during practice rounds at regional and championship sites beginning next year.

With 27 teams at each regional and 30 teams at the final, providing equitable practice time is a priority for the committee. But pace of play has been a problem in recent years as some teams have taken more than five hours to complete their rounds, which compromises teams practicing later in the day.

Currently, teams are allotted 15 minutes per hole. Under the new policy, if a team does not arrive at the timing station on the fifth hole, for example, within its allotted 75 minutes, it will be assessed a warning. If that team does not recoup its pace of play by a timing station on the ninth hole, officials will move that team to the 10th tee.

Hermann said he doesn't expect that to happen much with the timing stations in place.

"Currently, pace of play is monitored by committee members, and regulation is hit or miss depending on where we happen to be on the course," he said. "As opposed to leaving it to happenstance, we've put a plan in place to measure each team on a regular interval during the practice round. We expect with those regular measurements and the warning at the fifth hole not to have many problems. We think coaches will take responsibility and will work to meet requirements."

Also regarding place of play, the committee is recommending that tee times for competition at regional and finals sites be staggered nine and 10 minutes apart. The current interval is nine minutes for NCAA competition, but that has squeezed the field in some cases, particularly at par-3 holes, which typically take 12 or 13 minutes to complete. The committee considered a recommendation to expand the interval to 10 minutes, but members thought the alternating nine- and 10-minute intervals was an appropriate first step.

"Whenever you lengthen the amount of time it takes for teams to tee off, you run the risk of not completing the round due to weather, or simply running out of daylight," Hermann said. "We think the alternating interval is a good intermediate step for us to take, and we'll monitor how that works before reconsidering a uniform 10-minute span."

Hermann said the committee also asked the cabinet for permission to adjust tee times at regionals based on sunrise at various sites. For example, this year at the Central regional at the University of Notre Dame, the previously scheduled 7 a.m. tee times could have moved up by at least 30 minutes due to the early sunrise in the Midwest at that time of year.

Regional allocations

Current (total of nine subregions)

East regional

New England 3

Mid-Atlantic 4

South 8

Southeast 8

Central regional

Midwest 6

Central 7

South Central 8

West regional

Southwest 6

Pacific 12

Proposed (total of eight subregions)

East regional

Northeast 4

South 8

Southeast 8

Central regional

Midwest 6

Central 6

South Central 8

West regional

Southwest 5

Pacific 12

Other highlights

Division I Men's Golf Committee
June 28-July 1/Boston

• Voted to move the championship banquet from Tuesday (the second of two practice days) to Monday. Coaches have expressed some concern that the current Tuesday banquet may disadvantage those participants with early tee times for Wednesday's first round.

• Agreed to allow a maximum of two representatives from any equipment manufacturer to be with teams on the driving range and to assist in the case of an equipment issue (for example, adjusting new clubs to replace those that were damaged in transit). Current rules preclude manufacturers other than Titlist from assisting.

• Recommended to the Playing Rules Oversight Panel that two coaches be allowed to give advice during play. The current advice rule provides for just one coach, but the committee noted that most Division I golf programs now employ two coaches.

• Agreed that during practice rounds players be allowed to chip multiple balls upon reaching the green. The current rule requiring players to play the same ball from tee to green has been problematic in that coaches often toss chip shots back to the players for additional work, which slows play near the greens. Committee members believe allowing players to drop several balls at greenside and chip from same spot will be more efficient.

• Heard presentations from prospective hosts of regional sites in 2007. The committee forwarded recommendations to the Championships/Competition Cabinet for approval in September.

• Praised the Golf Channel's television coverage of the final three rounds of the 2005 tournament and indicated a desire for the network to cover future championships.