Local Rule for Greenkeeper marks/damage

[woody69]

We had a query at the weekend where a player felt he was entitled to relief because there was a mark on the green apron that his ball was sat in, that looked a little like a rut made by a wheel. It could have been caused by a mower, or a trolley and was a slight indentation that his ball sat up against the lip.

Initially he felt it was abnormal ground condition, but I said it didn't fall under any of the definitions of AGC as specified within 25-1. The area hadn't been classified as GUR and it certainly wasn't caused by an animal, reptile or bird as per the rules. He then felt there was a rule that covered greenkeeper damage, but he was unable to find it.

We have preferred lies in place, but initially he felt the only place he could drop / place, no nearer the hole, would have meant he had to drop back into the 2nd cut/rough and he didn't want to do that as the area was quite boggy. He was going to play 2 balls to cover his options but on double checking his preferred lie choices he was able to find another spot on the apron, although still not great that was out of the worst of the rut and he just proceeded as normal.

The only remotely related decision I could find was 25/16 - rut made by tractor which clearly states no relief.

He has since said he has spoken to a rules official who said the committee could have a local rule to cover greenkeeper marks/damage, but I don't understand how such a carte blanche rule could exist. After all one man's greenkeeper damage is another man's trolley skid!

Is the local rule the rules official is referring to simply marking it as GUR, or is there another special LR that can be implemented specifically for dealing with greenkeeper marks/damage?

 

[Colin L]

You are correct that tyre marks, ruts etc are not automatically ground under repair. The Committee can define any area of the course GUR and so could establish a local rule to the effect that deep ruts are GUR but, as you have realised, there is a difficulty in ensuring consistency in the understanding of what deep means. We had much work going on on our course a year or so ago and I reckoned it was best to go along all the temporary vehicle tracks and mark off the particular areas where the damage was such that it merited being GUR. That way the understanding, whether good or not so good, of how bad the damage had to be was that of one person.


Decision33-2a/3 has some relevance here.

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-33,d33-2a-3

 

[woody69]

Thanks Colin, that's very helpful.

 

[rulefan]

In particular, marks on a green are problematic. Ideally, members will report such 'holes' to the greenstaff who will quickly mark them as GUR or repair them. But unless that happens they are not GUR and no free relief is available.