Pre-round practice 'on the course'

denishurley · 23-05-2015 10:31pm #1

Obviously, the Rules of Golf prohibit practising on the course before your round. In my club, though, there is something of a grey area so just seeking opinions.

The course was re-designed about 15 years ago and two of the greens of now-obsolete holes can used for practice chipping and putting.

The only thing is that these are adjacent to active holes and if, during a round, you ended up on them, you wouldn't be classed as being out of bounds. Does that mean that they count as being 'on the course' as laid down in TROG?

Rikand · 23-05-2015 11:16pm

If they are labelled as practice greens, then they are not subject to the rules of the course. we have a practice chipping green to the right of the first. If you finish on it, you just drop off it and play on

denishurley · 23-05-2015 11:22pm

Cheers, that's what I was thinking - was just having nightmare visions of practising before a big event and mentioning it to someone who'd be only delighted to report you!

princess poppy · 24-05-2015 8:35pm

denishurley wrote: »

Obviously, the Rules of Golf prohibit practising on the course before your round. In my club, though, there is something of a grey area so just seeking opinions.

The course was re-designed about 15 years ago and two of the greens of now-obsolete holes can used for practice chipping and putting.

The only thing is that these are adjacent to active holes and if, during a round, you ended up on them, you wouldn't be classed as being out of bounds. Does that mean that they count as being 'on the course' as laid down in TROG?

Practicing the course is only prohibited before a stroke play competition, not stableford.

Deep Thought · 24-05-2015 8:40pm

but you can do in match play, if a Club’s practice ground is situated within the boundary of the course it would be necessary to specifically permit practice on this area on the day of a stroke play competition by condition.