From checking their visibility to planning, Steve Carroll outlines some easy steps to ensure your club is on top of any Rules issues.
How often do you look at your Local Rules? Are they front and centre of your competition preparations or gathering dust in a corner of a clubhouse?
A Local Rule is a modification of a Rule of Golf, or an additional rule a committee can adopt for general play or competition rounds.
When it’s brought in, it has the same status as a Rule of Golf – so it’s important golfers know it if they’re going to avoid unnecessary penalties.
But adopting Local Rules is one thing. Keeping on top of them is another. Clubs should regularly review them to ensure they remain up to date and relevant.
If your club is carrying out such an examination, here are a few things to consider…
Make sure they’re visible
There’s no point in spending time crafting Local Rules specific to your golf course if the people playing don’t know what, or where, they are.
The easiest place to advertise them is on your scorecard but space soon becomes a problem. There is only so much you can fit in.
You can include shorthand versions of the Local Rules on the back of a scorecard, and then ensure the full text is available somewhere else.
Some clubs see the scorecard as a souvenir of the overall playing experience and won’t always include Local Rules on it.
If that’s the case, where are they displayed? Are they in an easily accessible part of the clubhouse, or are you making members walk through a series of doors to try and find them?
Clubs can always put scorecards and Local Rules on their websites – and point members and visitors in their direction. They’re not bound by space issues, and a web link is easily passed on through digital and web communications.
With phones ubiquitous, it can also provide an easy reference for golfers out on the course.
How important is visibility? If you have a Rules issue in a competition and the answer is in a Local Rule, but you haven’t made it easy for golfers to find it, you’re going to make affected members incredibly cross over something that could have been resolved with a click or access to a noticeboard.
Review the wording
I try to do this at least twice a year – before the onset of winter and before the start of the new season the following spring. I’ve been writing Local Rules for years and even I’m surprised by some of the minor inconsistencies I’ve found in rules I had checked and double-checked at the time.
A regular review of text, ensuring it still complies with the Rules of Golf, can prevent headaches down the line.
Are any redundant?
Local Rules can be both temporary and permanent. Preferred lies may only be in place for a few months; a patch of ground under repair might only last a few weeks. By contrast, a Local Rule establishing integral objects, paths, or boundaries might be set in stone for years.
But things change. With many clubs carrying out regular course changes and renovations, it’s worth looking at each Local Rule individually. Are they still relevant? Has the situation changed?
What’s coming up – being ahead of time is important
Careful planning also means you can avoid being caught on the hop. There are certain situations we can predict might happen throughout a year, particularly those that are weather related.
A set of Local Rules covering common situations on your course – flooded bunkers, cracks in the ground, preferred lies and so on – can be introduced and withdrawn as circumstances dictate and without causing a committee panic.
Don’t guess – check what’s at your disposal
While Local Rules have the same status as a Rule of Golf for your course, or competition, that doesn’t give managers or club committees carte blanche to do what they like.
You can’t waive or modify a Rule because your club might want it to be different – we see that particularly regarding issuing penalties. You can’t change the Rules because it might suit your circumstances.
If you’re stuck with an issue on your course and want to bring in a Local Rule to deal with it, don’t guess what the Rules might say.
In the back of the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, and available on The R&A website, is a list of Local Rules clubs can utilise for all manner of situations.
From defining penalty areas to relief from electric fences, and even declaring the status of mushrooms on a putting green, there isn’t much they don’t cover.
And in the unlikely event you can’t find a solution that meets your requirements, you can always ask rules chiefs at The R&A.
Key takeaways
- Make Local Rules easy to find: Players must know they exist and be able to easily access them. Scorecards, clubhouse notices and the website are all communication channels.
- Treat Local Rules as living documents: Courses and conditions change. Regularly review Local Rules rather than waiting for a dispute to expose an obsolete or inconsistent rule.
- Don’t invent rules – check first: Before introducing or changing a Local Rule, check the guidance and – if necessary – seek expert advice.
