Local rule?

[chrisd]

I'm playing an away course today and was looking on their web site and saw that they had temporary local rules posted up this was one of the first I read

Deep ruts caused by tyre tracks may be regarded as abnormal ground conditions and relief may be taken without penalty. Rule 25-1b(i). This does not apply to shallow indentations caused by greenkeeping equipment or trollies.


I bet that causes some different interpretations during competitions, what point does deep become shallow and how does anyone know what caused the ruts/ indentations? Don't get me wrong, at the ends of the scale I can see it's easy to define but it blurs to me somewhere along the line and, don't some of the green keeping equipment have tyres.?

 

[Fyldewhite]

Probably a good example of how difficult it is to word rules sometimes. I'm sure we all have an idea of what they mean but like you say, there is a blurred area which will lead to different interpretations which is unfair.

Personally, I'd go with any tyre marks being GUR. They are all quite easy to distinguish and all shouldn't be there under normal conditions.

 

[Colin L]

Decision 25/16 applies here. It makes it quite clear that the Committee would not be justified in making shallow indentations made by green keeping equipment GUR.

If it is possible, deep ruts should be marked as GUR and then there is no variety of interpretations amongst players. If that can't be done, what defines a deep rut? As a starter, I suggest a deep rut shows a fracturing of the ground as opposed just a pressing down of the surface. It is deep in terms of a Local Rule if a ball lying in it has so much below the normal surface that it is impossible to play it with a normal stroke as opposed to a manufactured near vertical chop.

 

[Foxholer]

Decision 25/16 applies here. It makes it quite clear that the Committee would not be justified in making shallow indentations made by green keeping equipment GUR.

If it is possible, deep ruts should be marked as GUR and then there is no variety of interpretations amongst players. If that can't be done, what defines a deep rut? As a starter, I suggest a deep rut shows a fracturing of the ground as opposed just a pressing down of the surface. It is deep in terms of a Local Rule if a ball lying in it has so much below the normal surface that it is impossible to play it with a normal stroke as opposed to a manufactured near vertical chop.

I'd consider any rut/track that is deep enough for a ball leaning against either edge to have an effect on a player's shot (not simply his thoughts about the shot) to be 'sufficiently deep' to allow relief - if there's an LR in place. Anything less is merely a mark on the ground and no different from any other non-ideal lie imo.

As for the wordingin the quoted LR...that's simply a reminder of what D25/16 states.

 

[guest100718]

I played a course where there were some very obvious deep tractor ruts (JCB tyre treads etc), are these only a drop if they are marked GUR? I landed in one and just played it as it lies but an FC reckoned it was a free drop. It made no difference to my round but I am curious

 

[Foxholer]

I played a course where there were some very obvious deep tractor ruts (JCB tyre treads etc), are these only a drop if they are marked GUR? I landed in one and just played it as it lies but an FC reckoned it was a free drop. It made no difference to my round but I am curious

Would need a similar LR to the one in the OP if not marked as GUR.

 

[Fyldewhite]

We gave this local rule printed on card.....and have had as long as I can remember.....

GROUND UNDER REPAIR (Rule 25-1)
All tractor marks through the green are ground under repair.

Course is a bog in winter and during spring maintenance there can be tractor marks which, if we get a dry summer can be there for the duration! As tractor tyres are quite distinctive and can result in deep ruts, the rule causes few problems.

 

[chrisd]

Well, I played today and didn't see a tyre mark let alone land on one. Saw plenty of rain for the back 9 though - there should be a rule against it!

 

[rulefan]

We gave this local rule printed on card.....and have had as long as I can remember.....

GROUND UNDER REPAIR (Rule 25-1)
All tractor marks through the green are ground under repair.

Course is a bog in winter and during spring maintenance there can be tractor marks which, if we get a dry summer can be there for the duration! As tractor tyres are quite distinctive and can result in deep ruts, the rule causes few problems.

Well that doesn't satisfy the requirement of the decision.

The Committee would be justified in declaring a deep rut to be ground under repair, but not a shallow indentation made by greenkeeping equipment.

The implication is of course, that the committee identify the ruts involved.

 

[delc]

We had this temporary local rule last Winter, when it was admittedly very wet. The main problem was 'how deep does a rut have to be to be classed as deep?'

 

[williamalex1]

We gave this local rule printed on card.....and have had as long as I can remember.....

GROUND UNDER REPAIR (Rule 25-1)
All tractor marks through the green are ground under repair.

Course is a bog in winter and during spring maintenance there can be tractor marks which, if we get a dry summer can be there for the duration! As tractor tyres are quite distinctive and can result in deep ruts, the rule causes few problems.

We had the same rule in place , not sure if its still on the card though, I'll check and report back .

 

[Fyldewhite]

Well that doesn't satisfy the requirement of the decision.

The Committee would be justified in declaring a deep rut to be ground under repair, but not a shallow indentation made by greenkeeping equipment.

The implication is of course, that the committee identify the ruts involved.

Yes, I do think the implication of the decision is in marking the areas. Ignoring the first part (which is obvious!) I think the question is asking "Should the committee therefore mark such ruts?". The answer is then saying "Yes, they are justified but only the deep ones". I'm not necessarily convinced that this means a completely separate local rule couldn't be in place if the conditions of the course justified it.

 

[mashleyR7]

Thye have a similar local rule at Hanbury, the starter annouced that any tyre tracks gave a free drop with no definiation of the size of them or what caused them.