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GUR As many of you will have noticed, remedial work is being carried out on the bunkers in front of the green on the 10th. This gave rise to a discussion in the club house as to how to proceed if you put your ball in one of these bunker. According to the R & A :- If a bunker is being renovated and the Committee defines the ENTIRE bunker as ground under repair, the bunker loses its status as a hazard and is automatically classified as "through the green". Therefore, unless a Committee specifically states otherwise, Rule 25-1b(i) applies and not Rule 25-1b(ii).
So what does this mean ? If there is a drop zone, then the player can drop the ball in this and continue to play. However, if there is no drop zone or the player does not wish to use the drop zone, the player must determine the nearest point of full relief from the obstuction based on where the ball has come to rest.
The nearest point of relief must fulfill the following criteria.
If the spot you have chosen meets all these criteria, this becomes your nearest point of relief. You can then drop the ball, Without penalty, within 1 club length of this spot as long as this spot meets the above criteria. Note that prior to dropping the ball, you may clean it. If you're not sure of the rules governing how to drop a ball, you can find a detailed explaination here Ball Drop RulesClick here You should note that this procedure applies to all situations where the ball comes to rest in abnormal conditions. Such situations would include casual water, mole hills or other animal scrappings, the ball embedded in it's own pitch mark on the fairway or interference from any man made construction such as paths, signs, bins, benchs, telegraph poles, etc. New Rule Interpretations As we're looking at the rules, I thought I'd bring to your attention 2 rule interpretation that the R & A brought into effect on 1st January 2012.
The first is Rule 13-4. Ball in Hazard; Prohibited Actions Exception 2 to Rule 13-4 is amended to permit a player to smooth sand or soil in a hazard at any time, including before playing from that hazard, provided it is for the sole purpose of caring for the course and Rule 13-2 is not breached. Basically, what this means is that the player can rake a bunker at any time, even prior to his shot from the same bunker, provided it is for the sole purpose of maintaining the condition of the bunker. An example would be where the player picks up a rake and walks across the bunker to his ball. While he is walking to his ball, he rakes the bunker to remove the footprints that he creates in walking to his ball. Another example would be where a player rakes the bunker to get rid of existing footprints while he waits to play his shot. The second rule is Rule 18-2b. Ball Moving After Address A new Exception is added that exonerates the player from penalty if his ball moves after it has been addressed when it is known or virtually certain that he did not cause the ball to move. For example, if it is a gust of wind that moves the ball after it has been addressed, there is no penalty and the ball is played from its new position. Penfold League Following Braeside's 3-0 defeat at Orpington (Cray Valley) and High Elms 3-0 win against Deangate on Sunday, High Elms are this year's Penfold league champions with a game to spare. Congratulations to the 13 players who all contributed to the title victory. The team's away form has been average but, this year, they have been invincible at home, halving 4 of their matches and winning the other 14 thus bringing in 16 of their 21 ½ points. This would suggest that High Elms is a difficult little course and "local knowledge" played a big part in claiming the title. So next time you're out there and having problems on the course, think how much harder it is for those that don't know their way round that well and let's not even start on the "tricky" greens. All the results and the current table can be accessed from the Men's Results Page or Course Maintenance Please check out the Course News link in the menu to the left to get the latest on course maintenance from Michael Weekes JUNIOR SECTION AT HIGH ELMS GOLF CLUB HELP
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