LGC LOCAL RULES

Decisions
During play, it is the players responsibility to know the rules of golf, Londoner Local rules and local rules of the course and apply them accordingly in a fair manner. If as a player you are unsure about a situation or are in a position where you need to invoke a rule of golf, such as drop after OB or hazard or one of the local rules, always inform the marker of your card of your intention before play to ensure there is no dispute. Decisions are the responsibility of the player and his marker by following the rules of golf and local rules. No undue pressure should be placed on a marker or player and if any uncertainty arises play two balls, one from where the player thinks and one from the other. Then before signing cards, refer to the committee for a ruling. Both players then sign the card to confirm the correct procedure and score is entered. If there is still a dispute, the committee will make a final decision by application of the rules of golf and local rulings.

Wet Weather

At the discretion of the organising committee, if conditions are considered too wet to be reasonable for normal play, they may declare and tell players to "lift, clean and place, through the green". Through The Green Definition: A description of the whole hole, excluding the teeing ground and putting green, and all hazards. This means you can mark, pick up and clean, replacing within 6 inches of the original mark, with no penalty, whether in fairway or rough. You may also be advised "closely mown areas only". This means the ruling is restricted to fairways and the first cut of rough only, including around the greens.

Embedded Ball

Rules of golf state for a ball to be embedded on the fairway it must be in it's own pitch-mark with part of the ball below the level of the ground.  However, the ball does not necessarily have to touch the soil to be considered embedded, e.g. grass or loose impediments may intervene between the ball and the soil.  Relief is extended to through the green.  A ball that is embedded in it's own pitch-mark may be cleaned and dropped as near to the spot where the ball originally lay, but no nearer the hole.

Stones in bunkers

Stones in bunkers are movable obstructions and may be removed without penalty as long as it does not change the lie of the ball.

Dangerous situations

It is not felt there as a rule there are any usual situations at our current home courses, Muang Kaew or Bangpakong, but may be encountered as an exception or at other courses. A player's ball comes to rest in a situation dangerous to the player, e.g., near a live snake or a bees nest' or Red Ants nest (i.e. not a single ant).

It is unreasonable to expect the player to play from such a dangerous situation and unfair to require the player to incur a penalty under Rule 26 (Water Hazards) or Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable).

If the ball lay in a hazard, the player may drop a ball, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous. If possible, the ball must be dropped in the same hazard and, if not possible, in a similar nearby hazard, but in either case  not nearer the hole. If it is not possible for the player to drop the ball in a hazard, he may drop it, under penalty of one stroke, outside the hazard, keeping the point where the original ball lay between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped.

If the ball lay on the putting green, the player may, without penalty, place a ball at the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous and that is not in a hazard.

If interference by anything other than the dangerous situation makes the stroke clearly impracticable or if the situation would be dangerous only through the use of a clearly unreasonable stroke or an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing, or direction of play, the player may not take relief as prescribed above, but he is not precluded from proceeding under Rule 26or 28 if applicable.

Caddy Rule

If caddies err on one occasion do not penalise but WARN the caddy, a repeat infringement will incur penalty.Reference by Captain to members, Pre-warn before game commences. We all know the caddy is there to carry your bag and they will err on some occasion, so please use this ruling with common sense and if in doubt play a second ball and seek a ruling in the club house from the captain.

Handicaps

New Handicap

The society uses theinternationally recognised CONGU handicap system. As such we will accept a CONGU handicap certificate from a recognised club or society which is not more than 6 months old and can be verified. This would include handicaps from both Bangkok Wanderers and the British Club. Once recognised, we require one qualifying game before you can participate in events. If you do not have a CONGU handicap, your first 3 qualifying cards will be used to determine your new handicap under CONGU rules. Once awarded you can then participate in events. Such cards will then count towards annual eclectic competitions.

Lapsing of and reinstatement of lapsed handicaps

Any member who has not competed in a Londoner event for a continuous six month period will have his/her handicap suspended. The handicap will be reinstated when the member competes in a qualifying event. The scores from the event in which the player has his/her handicap reinstated will be taken into account for the eclectic competition. We will also accept a returning members handicap if they have completed in a qualifying event having a current active handicap with the Bangkok Wanderers Golf club or British Club, except for majors.

Changes to handicap

As established international rules indicate, handicap changes are immediate following a handicap qualifying competition. It is the players responsibility to ensure such charges are known and declared at the next event. If you are playing within a day or two of the last competition please ask after the event for your new handicap. Otherwise, updates are available at the handicaps page of this site within a day or so. The only exception to this is where you play a competition over more than one day. The handicap change does not then take effect until the end of the competitions final day.

Measuring Device

As recommended by the R & A therefore for all Londoner Golf Club events then the ruling as written…..

A player may obtain distance information by using a device that measures distance only.If, during a stipulated round a player uses a distance-measuring device that is designed to gauge or measure other conditions that might affect his play(e.g. gradient, windspeed, temperature etc.), the player is in breach of rule14-3 for which the penalty is disqualification, regardless of whether such additional function is actually used”

So…..

“Distance measuring devices may be used for the 2010 season and the sharing of any information relating exclusively to the distance obtained from such devises is permissible.However, we do not encourage, indeed, we actively discourage, the sharing of such devices as we believe this will hold up play; therefore, if you wish to try such a device,we urge you to be most considerate of others when so doing”.

Match Play

As always competitors should agree at the commencement of a match their preference to complete the match in the event of a draw. You may consider;

Replay the game if time permits, or replay the 1st hole you started on and continue from there using the same stroke index for handicaps that you used for the match, or best number of putts on the putting green, or spin a coin.