Local rule to limit the length of tee shot

[KenL]

Can a club have a local rule to limit the length of tee shot you are allowed to play on a par 4?

This is to prevent balls going towards a house/garden.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Can a club have a local rule to limit the length of tee shot you are allowed to play on a par 4?

This is to prevent balls going towards a house/garden.

Thanks.

Dumfries and County is iron only allowed off the 1st tee.

 

[KenL]

Dumfries and County is iron only allowed off the 1st tee.

Is it allowable to penalise you if you don't comply?

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Is it allowable to penalise you if you don't comply?

I can't help you there I'm afraid.

Bound to be some legalities involved as its to protect houses on the corner of the dogleg.

Suspect club could get in deep dog poo if someone was dense enough to hit a wood and maim someone in their garden.

 

[Colin L]

In terms of the Rules of Golf, you cannot dictate what clubs may or may not be used or limit the length of any shot. What you can do is to impose a club rule to limit the length of a shot but there can't be any stroke or loss of hole penalty attached. If anyone transgresses, it is a breach of club rules subject to club discipline. It doesn't make sense to state what club is to be used, golfers being far too varied in distance and ability. A long hitter with a 1 iron in hand is more of a danger to a neighbouring property than many others wielding a driver. This kind of rule has been in place for the 1st hole at Baberton for some years now and as far as I know there has been no problem since quite some time ago. It's routine and you don't really think about it now. The hole has also been reshaped and trees planted to move play away from the boundary. The arrangement was approved by Scottish Golf for qualifying rounds.

Finally, I'd suggest that you allow for the occasional lapse of memory, the rare 100% shot, the baked ground and following wind kind of thing that results in a ball going beyond the limit by making it a breach of the club rule if a player intentionally hits his ball too far. In our case, the distance is a bit over 200 yards and so, as I usually say to visiting seniors, it is more of a challenge to most of us than a limitation.

I'll dig out a copy of the rule and post it in the hope that it is helpful.

 

[rulefan]

Can a club have a local rule to limit the length of tee shot you are allowed to play on a par 4?

This is to prevent balls going towards a house/garden.

Thanks.

There is no rule nor approved local rule prohibiting the use of a conforming club.

 

[DickInShorts]

Had this in place when I played the McDonald club at Ellon on Thursday:
6th hole - no drivers or fairway woods allowed off the tee due to a neighbouring home owner complaining. Apparently he was advised to put a fence up - higher than the existing 3 foot one but declined.
Club have also made about 20 yards short of the boundary OB .

Penalty for ignoring rule is ban from playing in x number of c9mpetitions

 

[rulefan]

Penalty for ignoring rule is ban from playing in x number of c9mpetitions

I wonder what the penalty is when they hold an Open or inter-club match

 

[srixon 1]

Had this in place when I played the McDonald club at Ellon on Thursday:
6th hole - no drivers or fairway woods allowed off the tee due to a neighbouring home owner complaining. Apparently he was advised to put a fence up - higher than the existing 3 foot one but declined.
Club have also made about 20 yards short of the boundary OB .

Penalty for ignoring rule is ban from playing in x number of c9mpetitions

How long is the hole?

 

[Colin L]

I wonder what the penalty is when they hold an Open or inter-club match

The player doesn't get to play there again?

 

[Orikoru]

Dumfries and County is iron only allowed off the 1st tee.

How does that work? One man's longest iron could be a 6 iron while the next man's could be a 2 iron.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

How does that work? One man's longest iron could be a 6 iron while the next man's could be a 2 iron.

Players choice whether to carry irons or them other things ?

7 or 8 iron usually enough anyway otherwise you have to go tight to OB on corner and bailing out left puts you in the trees and blocked out.

Not a good hole but that's what happens with housing close to golf course boundaries....
Rest of the course is fine.

 

[Colin L]

How does that work? One man's longest iron could be a 6 iron while the next man's could be a 2 iron.

It doesn't. That's why, as I said above, you should limit the distance a shot should go. Club selection is down to the player.

 

[DickInShorts]

I wonder what the penalty is when they hold an Open or inter-club match

No idea. We were on 3 rd green and saw 2 guys tee off on 6th (restricted hole) with drivers!
We were playing in a area comp which involves 8 clubs.

 

[DickInShorts]

How long is the hole?

About 350 yards - dogleg right with house in question straight ahead from the tee.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

I wonder what the penalty is when they hold an Open or inter-club match

I don't think there's any way this is enforeceable.

However there's at least one other club in the area with a similar rule, and if you're a club member then you can of course be suspended for ignoring a club rule.

 

[Colin L]

Now if only our NE Buddha didn't have me on ignore, he would know not merely think that the rule is unenforceable under the Rules of Golf. He just doesn't know what he is missing.

 

[salfordlad]

The Rules allow an approach involving golfing penalties, in addition to the admin type approaches referred to above, that could operate to dissuade golfers from hitting into any named/defined area on the course. 1. Define the 'no go' area as NPZ (ACC or PA if you want extra bang). 2. Create a Code of Conduct under 1.2b posted as a local rule that imposes a penalty (eg 1SP or 2SP) for anyone that enters that ground during a competition round to retrieve a ball. Not pretty, but the tools are available if any club wishes to avail themselves. Risking 2 or 3 penalty strokes any time a ball is in the defined area would certainly get the player's attention. And any further admin restrictions could be piled on too.

 

[Colin L]

The Rules allow an approach involving golfing penalties, in addition to the admin type approaches referred to above, that could operate to dissuade golfers from hitting into any named/defined area on the course. 1. Define the 'no go' area as NPZ (ACC or PA if you want extra bang). 2. Create a Code of Conduct under 1.2b posted as a local rule that imposes a penalty (eg 1SP or 2SP) for anyone that enters that ground during a competition round to retrieve a ball. Not pretty, but the tools are available if any club wishes to avail themselves. Risking 2 or 3 penalty strokes any time a ball is in the defined area would certainly get the player's attention. And any further admin restrictions could be piled on too.

I can't quite grasp what you have in mind as the problem, but what you're suggesting just doesn't fit what I assume we are talking about and which I was certainly referring to at my own club. Our 1st hole runs along the east edge of the course, bordering on houses all the way down it. It is 276 yards off the back tee and so drivable by a long hitter. The problem was that all too often an attempt to drive the green would be pushed/sliced out right, frequently wind assisted as the prevailing wind is from the west and end up in one of the neighbouring properties. The solution, which lies outwith the Rules of Golf is to limit under a Club rule the length of a tee shot. That means that the "no-go" area, the area your tee shot is not supposed to end up in is the remainder of the hole, the area into which you are playing your next shot, the area that includes the putting green. That obviously cannot be a No Play Zone. You must be picturing a rather different situation! Here's the set-up on our 1st hole as it is now, re-aligned with an internal boundary, well-placed bunkers and the limitation of tee shots indicated by the dotted red line. It has created a shaped, two-shot to green hole that directs play away from the neighbours' properties. It works.

 

[rulefan]

The Rules allow an approach involving golfing penalties, in addition to the admin type approaches referred to above, that could operate to dissuade golfers from hitting into any named/defined area on the course. 1. Define the 'no go' area as NPZ (ACC or PA if you want extra bang). 2. Create a Code of Conduct under 1.2b posted as a local rule that imposes a penalty (eg 1SP or 2SP) for anyone that enters that ground during a competition round to retrieve a ball. Not pretty, but the tools are available if any club wishes to avail themselves. Risking 2 or 3 penalty strokes any time a ball is in the defined area would certainly get the player's attention. And any further admin restrictions could be piled on too.

Are you suggesting that the area to the right in Colin's picture (ie the OOB) is 1) declared a NPZ PA with 2) the consequential penalties?