The rain has unfortunately continued and all the local current rules will remain in place, with all bunkers GUR.
Carts will be unavailable for the rest of this week and a review done on Friday for the weekend.
The scheduled Mid-Week Championship will now be moved to Wednesday 11th May when hopefully we can have carts back on and a Black course won’t be so arduous as it would be currently.
Conditions at the Course continue to be difficult requiring the application of preferred lies through the green currently and relief from abnormal course conditions which now includes old term of casual water and GUR.
May I remind you that GUR on the fairways is for brown patches of dead turf only, and these are not marked with white lines because of the vast amount of turf damage present.
GUR in the rough is however marked by white lines, and relief can only be taken from those marked areas within the rough. No white line, no relief from GUR.
Currently in the general area (rough and Fairway) preferred lies 15cm apply and the option for relief from casual water still applies.
1) I would like to clarify the procedure to follow when the ball in play enters the rough or a dead patch on the fairway and is subsequently not found within 3 minutes. Refer to rule 18 for more extensive explanation.
If your ball enters the rough and you cannot see it, please consider playing a provisional ball.
This is not compulsory, but under current conditions of the course, it is difficult to be 95% sure and certain that you know where you ball finished.
Exception: After playing the ball, before you move on, if you and your playing partners agree that the ball landed in GUR in the rough (or dead patch on the fairway for that matter), with 95% certainty, the provisional may not be required. I actually had this situation on Saturday on the right-hand side of the 13th corner.
After playing my tee shot, and seeing it land in a large area of marked GUR, I consulted with my playing partners who witnessed the ball landing in said area. (95% certain situation) from which relief was permitted, even though the ball was subsequently not found.
Otherwise, if the final position of the ball is not known with 95% certainty after playing your shot, and subsequently your ball is not found, you cannot assume that it was lost in GUR and claim relief. After a 3-minute search, in this instance you would have to return to where you played your last shot under penalty of stroke and distance.
2) Another situation which should not occur during competition, is the giving of advice.
Please see definitions section of the rule book for clarification of what constitutes advice.
Advice is for practice rounds not competition, unless given by your caddie.
3) in stroke play competition players should refrain from conceding putts i.e., no Gimmies.
Putts may be conceded in match play events only.
Please consider the above to ensure equity for all members in the competition field.
Graeme MacDougal
Club Captain MVGC
