Preferred lies.

[rulefan]

Can you remove loose impediments in the relief area before you drop or place the ball ? (I thought a player could)

8.1 includes:
It does not apply to: The removal of loose impediments or movable obstructions, which is allowed to the extent provided in Rule 15,

Note the difference between placing and replacing

 

[Rlburnside]

Have you had authorisation from the county. That is strictly against CONGU rules for Qualifiers.

I assume we must have it’s been the same since the course first opened in 1975

 

[jim8flog]

I assume we must have it’s been the same since the course first opened in 1975

As I have said on many a thread just because the club has always done it like does not make it right.

I totally agree with Rulesfan you would need County Authorisation and I can only see them giving it in exceptional circumstances for some well define areas.

This requirement for 6" continues with the WHS

GH/1 Preferred Lies

Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference Point: 6 inches from the reference point,

Note: In GB&I Acceptable Scores may be returned only when the specified area is within six inches (15cms).

 

[Rlburnside]

As I have said on many a thread just because the club has always done it like does not make it right.

I totally agree with Rulesfan you would need County Authorisation and I can only see them giving it in exceptional circumstances for some well define areas.

This requirement for 6" continues with the WHS

GH/1 Preferred Lies

Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference Point: 6 inches from the reference point,

Note: In GB&I Acceptable Scores may be returned only when the specified area is within six inches (15cms).

I think that knowing the people personally that run our club it’s highly unlikely that we haven’t got authorization to have 1 club length preferred lies

But I will ask the question to find out.

 

[CliveW]

I assume we must have it’s been the same since the course first opened in 1975

If it's taken 45 years to get to the stage where you are still having preferred lies of one club length, how long until there are no preferred lies?

 

[Foxholer]

My initial response to, but what prevents it?

Where in the phrase 'Mark, lift, clean and place' are the words 'create a tee like structure'? If there happens to be one (within the 6 inches' then fine, otherwise it's not on!

 

[Swango1980]

We have 1club length preferred lies all year round and are qualifiers, I suppose our course is unique in a way in that our course is built on peat land and our fairways are not pristine, but they are getting better year on year, up until a few years ago it was 2 club lengths

Our fairways are shocking in the winter. I mean, truly shocking quagmires. Hard to find a bit of grass. However, we have 6" preferred lies so that qualifiers can be played, and I'm pretty sure the county golf union would not allow us to have 1 club length preferred lies for qualifiers (which I'd happily accept)

I'm siding with jim8flog, and your thoughts, that the club have simply got into that routine and either are unaware that they shouldn't be doing it, or have decided to overlook it for whatever reason.

 

[DickInShorts]

Our fairways are shocking in the winter. I mean, truly shocking quagmires. Hard to find a bit of grass. However, we have 6" preferred lies so that qualifiers can be played, and I'm pretty sure the county golf union would not allow us to have 1 club length preferred lies for qualifiers (which I'd happily accept)

I'm siding with jim8flog, and your thoughts, that the club have simply got into that routine and either are unaware that they shouldn't be doing it, or have decided to overlook it for whatever reason.

So why don’t you use mats in winter?

 

[rulefan]

Our fairways are shocking in the winter. I mean, truly shocking quagmires. Hard to find a bit of grass. However, we have 6" preferred lies so that qualifiers can be played, and I'm pretty sure the county golf union would not allow us to have 1 club length preferred lies for qualifiers (which I'd happily accept)

I'm siding with jim8flog, and your thoughts, that the club have simply got into that routine and either are unaware that they shouldn't be doing it, or have decided to overlook it for whatever reason.

In fact the County hasn't got the authority to permit 1cl. The only freedom they have is to authorise PL outside the time permitted by CONGU. CONGU introduced a new system in 1983 so it is probable that Riburnside's club has never read them

 

[jim8flog]

So why don’t you use mats in winter?

I do not know where in the country he is but using fairways mats is something I have never seen in the south.

Several years of exceedingly dry summers has meant our fairways are pretty sparse in places not sure that fairway mats would go down well with the members though.

 

[Swango1980]

So why don’t you use mats in winter?

They'd get muddy

Personally, I'm fine with it. Muddy fairways, sometimes terrible temp greens, etc. I just accept it is a different game during winter and take it for what it is.

 

[rulefan]

We have compulsory winter mats in the defined areas where players are taking divots when playing their approach shots. We leave it to the head greenkeeper to define the zones with two white lines across the particular fairways. It took couple of winters for all members to appreciate the difference it made to the quality of the fairways in early spring but now everone is on board.

 

[Rlburnside]

In fact the County hasn't got the authority to permit 1cl. The only freedom they have is to authorise PL outside the time permitted by CONGU. CONGU introduced a new system in 1983 so it is probable that Riburnside's club has never read them

We had someone come and walk our course and we got our SS reduced by one certainly well after 1983, I don’t know where he was from but it was official, at that time he would have been aware of the one club length rule.

Interesting and I will find out more this weekend and update

 

[Rlburnside]

If it's taken 45 years to get to the stage where you are still having preferred lies of one club length, how long until there are no preferred lies?

I think we would struggle to get the stage where there are no preferred lies, certainly most of the time it’s not needed but as our course has basically been built on peat hills there are too many areas on the fairway that preferred lies are needed.

 

[upsidedown]

We have compulsory winter mats in the defined areas where players are taking divots when playing their approach shots. We leave it to the head greenkeeper to define the zones with two white lines across the particular fairways. It took couple of winters for all members to appreciate the difference it made to the quality of the fairways in early spring but now everone is on board.

We did that last year on 3 holes and it made a huge difference, how are you planning to do it this year with Covid as you can't have multiple mats out?

 

[rulefan]

We had someone come and walk our course and we got our SS reduced by one certainly well after 1983, I don’t know where he was from but it was official, at that time he would have been aware of the one club length rule.

Interesting and I will find out more this weekend and update

He would be from the county and would have been rating the course under the old EGU system. He wouldn't have needed to know anything about your local rule(s). Why would he have known? It makes no difference to the rating. Raters would assume that the club always play by the official rules.

 

[rulefan]

We did that last year on 3 holes and it made a huge difference, how are you planning to do it this year with Covid as you can't have multiple mats out?

We all have our own matts or are borrowed from a bin by the 1st tee. The used ones are put in a different bin. I assume they will simply sanitize them overnight.

 

[Rlburnside]

He would be from the county and would have been rating the course under the old EGU system. He wouldn't have needed to know anything about your local rule(s). Why would he have known? It makes no difference to the rating. Raters would assume that the club always play by the official rules.

Ok my course is in Scotland btw

 

[rulefan]

Ok my course is in Scotland btw

The rating comments would still apply but so does the 6" CONGU rule of recent years.

 

[backwoodsman]

Ok my course is in Scotland btw

But only just ... ??