Local Rules & Rules of Golf

LOCAL RULES JANUARY 2023

Ground Under Repair

• Any area encircled by a white line.

• Any area defined by blue /white stakes.

• Any tree stumps

Immovable Obstructions

• All artificially surfaced paths and bridges

• Wooden sleepers used to construct the 7th green

• All drainage and irrigation equipment.

• Embedded stones in the general area where they interfere with the line of the swing.

• All course furniture including, tee markers, bell stands, marker posts and fixed information signs

• Artificial winter tees

• Stiles in boundary fences

• Metal/concrete gas vents to right of 8th fairway

Distance Measuring Devices

• For all play at this course a player may obtain distance information by using a device that measures distance only.

Out of Bounds

• Over any fence marking the course boundary.

• The confines of the clubhouse and car park defined by white stakes or posts.

• A ball that crosses the public road to the right of the 14th hole and comes to rest beyond that road is out of bounds, even though it may lie on another part of the course.

• The roadway running across the 18th fairway

Penalty areas

• Any pond, ditch or watercourse marked with yellow stakes

• Areas marked with red stakes.

General

• A ball lying in or on a tractor and/ or a vehicle rut through the green may be lifted and dropped without penalty.

• A ball lying on a sheep track in may be lifted and dropped without penalty.

• Animal dung and hoof prints in the general area may be treated as GUR. Relief is restricted to lie and area of intended swing.

Relief does not apply to stance.

• A ball striking the public roadway fencing across the 18th fairway must be played as it lies.

A ball striking the fencing in front of the 14th, 15th and 18th tees must be played as it lies.

• If a sprinkler head within two club-lengths of the putting green and within two club-lengths of the ball intervenes on the line of play between the ball and the hole, a player may lift and drop the ball at nearest point, not nearer the hole.

A player may not take relief under this Local Rule if interference by anything other than the sprinkler head makes the stroke clearly impracticable.

Alternative to stroke and distance for lost ball or ball out of bounds.

In non-competition play only, when a player loses a ball or hits it out of bounds he/she may take alternative relief to stroke and distance relief, in accordance with Model Local Rule E-5

Tree compounds

Tree compounds on hole 1 are no play zones and are to be treated as an abnormal ground condition. Free relief must be taken under Rule 16.I.f

Winter Rules

• A ball played onto a fairway must be lifted and placed in the nearest area of semi rough not nearer the hole.

• In the general area, a ball that is embedded in its own pitch mark, may be lifted without penalty, cleaned, and dropped as near as possible to where it lay but not nearer the hole. (Relief under this rule is not available, when it is clearly unreasonable for the player to make a stroke because of interference from anything other than the condition covered by this rule).

• A ball that comes to rest on a grass tee shall be lifted without penalty, cleaned, and dropped as near as possible to where it lay, but not nearer the hole.

Changes

• These revised rules differ from the previous rules in the following respects:
• No free drop from sheep tracks and tractor marks.
• Alternative action in case of lost ball or ball hit out of bounds in non competitive play
• Introduction of the term ‘general area’ to describe the whole area of the course excluding bunkers, teeing areas, putting greens and penalty areas.(this permits relief from stones in the rough where they interfere with the line of the swing only)
• A ball striking the fencing in front of the 14^th and 15^th tees must be played as it lies.
• A ball striking the fencing in front of the 18th tees must be played as it lies.
• Relief available from sprinkler heads
• Relief to be taken from tree compounds
• Distance measuring devices now allowed.

The R & A rules of golf

Click on the image to access the R & A Rules of Golf