Advice required on the course

[needmoreclub]

Hoping someone may have come across this before, bit long winded but here goes. three of our holes run alongside each other, separating all 3 of them is 2 ditches approx a foot wide and 1 foot deep. these have always had 'blue stakes' as in free drop. The only background i can find out about them is that they were opened years ago to try help the drainage of the 3 fairways, but the only thing that gathers in them is rain water which drains away quickly. Should the blue stakes remain in place? or should they be replaced by red stakes? What's your thoughts folks? It's something that's cropped up recently and subject of much debate.

 

[Old Skier]

Not sure why there were blue stakes anyway.

 

[rulefan]

Insofar as the Rules Definition is concerned, it is a ditch, it open but is it a watercourse?

A watercourse may be defined as any channel through which water flows.
Watercourses serve to drain the land. They receive and take away water run off from buildings, roads, fields and parks.
However not all watercourses will transport water, some act purely for storage to prevent water from collecting elsewhere and seasonal flows may also make watercourses appear dry. In times of heavy rainfall these play a role in accommodating flood water.

If those criteria are met, it is a (Lateral) Water Hazard and should be marked as such.

 

[clubchamp98]

Not sure why there were blue stakes anyway.

At my course blue stakes denote GUR with a blue line on the ground.

 

[Old Skier]

At my course blue stakes denote GUR with a blue line on the ground.

Appreciate that, but these appear to be long term ditches and I would have thought, should have been marked as hazards from the get go.

 

[patricks148]

they dug a ditch across the middle of the 18th fairway at Tain last year, its marked with yellow stakes. it was dug to help drainage.

 

[guest100718]

Insofar as the Rules Definition is concerned, it is a ditch, it open but is it a watercourse?

A watercourse may be defined as any channel through which water flows.
Watercourses serve to drain the land. They receive and take away water run off from buildings, roads, fields and parks.
However not all watercourses will transport water, some act purely for storage to prevent water from collecting elsewhere and seasonal flows may also make watercourses appear dry. In times of heavy rainfall these play a role in accommodating flood water.

If those criteria are met, it is a (Lateral) Water Hazard and should be marked as such.

if It looks like a duck.....

 

[rulefan]

It might be a platypus