Ensuring the course provides a fair test for golfers is a key part of a club committee’s responsibility. So how should they approach it? Here is what the Rules of Golf advise
Whether it’s a bare lie, or a rutted track, golfers aren’t shy in letting clubs know when they think an area of the course should be ground under repair.
But while the Rules of Golf allow club committees to define any area of the course they see fit as such, deciding which areas to mark can be trickier.
It requires coordination between teams – as matches and competitions and greens committees will often need to liaise to decide where and how areas of the course are marked.
But luckily, those same Rules provide some clear guidance for clubs on when an area should be identified as GUR and marked.
They are found in the Committee Procedures, part of The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf and a very valuable resource for anyone who has a role in implementing the rules and administering competitions.
So what should they bear in mind?
What areas should we mark as GUR?
While committees aren’t obliged to clearly mark ground under repair – especially if it covers a huge area – it is recommended that they do so.
Section 2F of the Committee Procedures, covering Abnormal Course Conditions, says that in general “when ground conditions are abnormal to the course or it is unreasonable to require a player to play from a specific area, it should be marked as ground under repair”.
But did you know this? Those same procedures advise that before marking such areas, a committee should walk the whole course. The reason is to assess “what types of areas are abnormal to the course in its current condition”.
When considering marking ground under repair, it’s also all about location, location, location.
If it’s in or near a fairway and damage to the area is considered to be abnormal then it would be marked.
The further away from the fairway, though, “the less appropriate it is that it should be marked as ground under repair”. The committee procedures advise that areas that are well away from fairways, or well short of a landing area, “should only be marked when the damage is very severe”.
Back to fairways. What if there are lots of areas of bare ground? Do all need to be marked or everywhere defined as ground under repair?
The procedures say: “It would make sense not to mark or otherwise define them all to be ground under repair, but only mark the areas where a player may have difficulty being able to make a stroke at the ball”.
Such areas would include a heavily damaged or rutted area.
Often numerous patches of ground under repair will be close enough to each other where taking relief from one area might bring interference from another.
If that’s a possibility, committees are advised to “mark a single area of ground under repair”.
How should we mark areas of ground under repair?
Everyone knows paint can be used – and most golf clubs will. But stakes will also suffice or any other “clear” way of defining it. The point, as the Committee Procedures reveal, is to ensure there is “no doubt as to where the edge of the area is”.
Did you know there is no specific colour to be used? Most clubs will employ white or blue lines, but the only ones that shouldn’t be utilised are red and yellow – because they’re used for penalty areas.
Whatever way committees mark GUR, how that is done should be clearly communicated to golfers and stated in the club Local Rules.
Sometimes ground under repair can be close to an immovable obstruction. What to do here? Tie the two conditions together, so golfers can take relief from them in one go.
