Missed Tee Time

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Monthly medal.

One of group of three is late arriving at course (traffic) and it is clear he will not be on the tee for our tee off time. Self and other see him drive up and to the car park as we are standing on the tee waiting our slot.

The group in the tee time immediately after us are ready to go. Can we swap order to accommodate our 3rd player - or do we have to tee off at our tee time leaving our #3 behind and DQ'd. Alternatively can we tee off and then if he gets to the tee as we walk up the fairway and before the next group tee off - can he tee off and catch us up?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

This is a club medal not the Open. We play for fun, swap slots with the group behind!

 

[jim8flog]

This really does depend on you own clubs view

The Rule (edited)

a. When to Start Round
A player’s round starts when the player makes a stroke to start his or her first hole (see Rule 6.1a).

• This means that the player must be ready to play at the starting time and starting point set by the Committee.
• A starting time set by the Committee is treated as an exact time (for example, 9 am means 9:00:00 am, not any time until 9:01 am).

Penalty for Breach of Rule 5.3a: Disqualification, except in these three cases:

• Exception 1 – Player Arrives at Starting Point, Ready to Play, No More Than Five Minutes Late: The player gets the general penalty applied to his or her first hole.

Note this one in particular
• Exception 3 – Committee Decides that Exceptional Circumstances Prevented Player from Starting on Time: There is no breach of this Rule and no penalty.

In our own club medals rather than an Open or similar comps it is something we do.

THe R@A guidance on what is exceptional does mean that the player is penalised

Part of Interpretation of Rule 5.3

Examples of circumstances that would not generally be considered exceptional include:

• The player gets lost or his or her car breaks down on the way to the course.
• Heavy traffic or an accident results in the journey to the course taking longer than expected.

 

[Robster59]

I had this situation at a match play game when I was the starter. One bloke was on the tee and ready to go and the other was nowhere to be seen. I went to check the rules and in the end the other bloke got there about half an hour late. We had to disqualify him even though the other person was happy to play. Firstly it was the rule and so it was clear cut. Secondly if we had decided to let him play it would have set a precedent and we would have had the other members on our neck. At the end of the day you are responsible for making sure you get to the tee on time. The one who was late just simply got his times wrong. He said he had been up for ages but just messed it up.

 

[patricks148]

we have a club starter and i'm pretty sure common sense would dictate if he was there, he would send the group behind out.

Only way i could see any action would be if they were very late, as in not there at all

 

[williamalex1]

We are supposed to be there 10 minutes before the time as we usually have a few guys sitting waiting for a no show tee time.

 

[chrisd]

On the odd occasion this has happened I usually confirm what we're doing with the pro shop as, in effect, they are the starters for the comp.

 

[duncan mackie]

All depends on your CoC.

This is why you should have them!

In the absence of anything that enables the starter (pro shop, whatever) to take a common sense decision you have no choice - the rules don't permit competitors to make such decisions.

The new rules are even more specific about that see 1.3

 

[Colin L]

The problem in allowing the Starter to make a "common sense decision" to change a start time because a player is late is, is it not, that you are waiving a Rule of Golf in your Terms of Competition? Not perhaps the best of precedents.

If, as we would at my club, you apply the Rule, be mindful that you should write in a provision for the player who arrives late but who intends requesting that the Committee waive the DQ because he believes he has an acceptable reason for his lateness (heavy traffic not being one of them!). He should be allowed to compete at a later time - if it is possible to slot him in - as there is no point in his perhaps avoiding a DQ if he hadn't been allowed to play. He has to play a 'provisional'.

In the hope of its being helpful, this is what I put in during our revision of our TofC.s:

3.4 Late for start time
In stroke play, a player who is more than 5 minutes late and intends to claim exceptional circumstances to waive disqualification may, if possible and at the discretion of the starter, compete at a later time. He or she must then explain the circumstances to the Committee which will decide whether to waive disqualification. If the player does not intend to make a claim, he or she may play a social game at a later time but may not return a Supplementary Score.

 

[rulefan]

but may not return a Supplementary Score.

Colin
Why not?

 

[Colin L]

At the moment I can't remember. I reasoned it out and then checked with Scottish Golf which confirmed that the player couldn't. I'll look for the email conversation later to remind myself why and let you know.

 

[rulefan]

I can only see clause 21/1 which superficially may be relevant but doesn't seem to apply

 

[Tashyboy]

If you know he is coming, he has phoned, you have seen him , whatever, if the other three are ready to go. I would of asked them if they want to go. I have to drive 30 mins each way to the course, and have more detours in that time. One of those common sense decisions for me. How ever the old saying " common sense aint that common" usually rears its head in situations like this.

 

[duncan mackie]

The problem in allowing the Starter to make a "common sense decision" to change a start time because a player is late is, is it not, that you are waiving a Rule of Golf in your Terms of Competition? Not perhaps the best of precedents.

not necessarily

we authorise the pro shop, or starter, to amend start times because the course couldn't operate without it...this includes everything from fog delays to jogging things around when someone drops out (leaving a single), fog delays, and someone ringing in that they are delayed and being slotted into a later group would be included.

However, someone booked in but simply late to the tee is going to be carrying a penalty - not least because they will have caused avoidable disruption to others.

 

[Colin L]

No disagreement there, Duncan. Matters such as two players in a group not turning up and leaving a player on his own (as has happened to me twice this season) have to be dealt with by the starter, but I meant that simply giving another start time to a player who turns up late would be wrong.

The bar for waiving a DQ for lateness is set very high, but it does avoid any "discussions", for example about the traffic being heavy on the city by-pass - or any other unquantifiable but also common occurrence.

 

[rulefan]

For most of our medal/stableford comps players choose their own times. For honour board events they are set by the committee (taking account of players' preferred time of day).
In both situations, once the draw is officially published, players may change/interchange their times providing no player is left on their own. If that happens the defaulting player is disciplined appropriately. No shows are also subject to club processes but late arrivals are slotted in later if possible, providing a single is not left on his own.

 

[Colin L]

This year, we changed our "major" competitions to online bookings without a draw. We also changed our Championship hole qualifier from 36 holes on one day with a draw to a round on each of two successive Saturdays with online bookings and no draw. The aim was to encourage better number but as both changes have still to be evaluated I can't comment as yet on whether that was realised.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

This is a club medal not the Open. We play for fun, swap slots with the group behind!

Which is just what we did...