Winter Rules All Year?

rulefan

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See my reply to Crazyface, the hope is that we could get our course to such a standard that we could do away with one club length pick and place.
One club length is most unusual.
I can understand permission for all year round but Qualifiers are only permitted with 6".
Raters would have had nothing to do with it.
 

Jigger

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We played play as it lies except for mud balls today as we are preparing for summer conditions, whenever they turn up!

If you want to make golf more casual with pick and place, just play casual golf rather than comps. We occasionally make up our own local rules when playing a round with malice (casual match play pairs), such as rake and drop in bunkers if someone has left a big hoof print in there. A more common occurrence these days.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Back to preferred lies…this afternoon I checked the club Winter Rules for lift, clean and place. And the club rule says that the position of the ball must be marked. Does that supersede the 2019 change that told us we need not mark the original position, or does the 2019 change take precedence over our LR?
 

rulefan

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Back to preferred lies…this afternoon I checked the club Winter Rules for lift, clean and place. And the club rule says that the position of the ball must be marked. Does that supersede the 2019 change that told us we need not mark the original position, or does the 2019 change take precedence over our LR?
They probably haven't been told they are out of date.
8.(1)e e. A Committee must not use a Local Rule to waive or modify a Rule of Golf simply because it might prefer a Rule to be different.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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They probably haven't been told they are out of date.
8.(1)e e. A Committee must not use a Local Rule to waive or modify a Rule of Golf simply because it might prefer a Rule to be different.
I’ll mention it to the golf manager. I wasn’t sure whether the revised LC&P was non-mandatory guidance for clubs or in fact a Rule. Summer comps have started and as Winter Rule still in place I wouldn‘t want someone pulling me up for not marking my ball position.

Checking the Model RLs, it looks like we have a combination of wording from E-2 and E-3, using some words from E-2 (for Cleaning ball) with words from E-3 (for Preferred Lies). Maybe that is how the old LR for Preferred Lies was written, not differentiating between Cleaning of Ball and Preferred Lies.
 
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If we’re going off on a tangent of rules around pick and place….

Am I allowed to move the ball closer to the hole?
Ie. I mark my ball (or okay - maybe I don’t need to) and I notice a nice spot of grass 3 inches closer to the hole. Can I place it there?

Or is it within 6 inches but no closer to the hole? Kind of how nearest point of relief works etc
 

Orikoru

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If we’re going off on a tangent of rules around pick and place….

Am I allowed to move the ball closer to the hole?
Ie. I mark my ball (or okay - maybe I don’t need to) and I notice a nice spot of grass 3 inches closer to the hole. Can I place it there?

Or is it within 6 inches but no closer to the hole? Kind of how nearest point of relief works etc
This is what I always understood it to be.
 

FuzzyDuck

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After the 2018 summer drought, my club was on preferred lies for the whole of 2019 as the fairways took an age to recover. Strangely after last years summer drought the course recovered very quickly.
 

rulefan

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If we’re going off on a tangent of rules around pick and place….

Am I allowed to move the ball closer to the hole?
Ie. I mark my ball (or okay - maybe I don’t need to) and I notice a nice spot of grass 3 inches closer to the hole. Can I place it there?

Or is it within 6 inches but no closer to the hole? Kind of how nearest point of relief works etc
a) Local Rule E-3

the player may take free relief once by placing the original ball or another ball in and playing it from this relief area:
  • Reference Point: Spot of the original ball.
  • Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference Point: [Specify size of relief area, such as one club-length, one scorecard length or 6 inches] from the reference point, but with these limits:
  • Limits on Location of Relief Area:
    • Must not be nearer the hole than the reference point, and
    • Must be in the general area.

b) There is no requirement to mark the position of the original ball
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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…and so…I am advised that the club takes the Model LR for Preferred Lies as guidance (only) and on that basis the club has decided that our LR for Preferred Lies will make marking position prior to lifting mandatory.

I can see how that could easy lead to arguments and significant issues if a player loses a match or misses out in a strokeplay comp as a result of this. I am surprised that the club doesn’t or wishes to just run the risk for the sake of removing a few words.

But what to do. Is the club right in it‘s view on the Model LRs being for guidance only?

Can I be bothered taking the club to task over this if the club‘s thinking is wrong? I’d feel ‘duty bound’ to, but I really don’t want to be considered a ‘bloody nuisance’.
 
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Colin L

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Your Committee is taking a liberty with this modification of MLR E-3 that is not allowable. While it is permitted to adapt the wording of an MLR, to write its own version of the MLR, that does not give it the authority to alter its substance.

A Model Local Rule can either be adopted in its entirety or can serve as an example of how to write a particular type of Local Rule.

That statement allows the adaptation of the way in which the LR is written but most certainly does not sanction altering the substance of it and there can be no doubt that adding in a requirement which if not complied with would lead to a penalty is a substantial change to the MLR itself, not just the way in which it is worded.
 
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