LOCAL RULES
Last Updated: 03/04/19

As recommended by our Rules Committee, the following Local Rules have been approved by our Board of Directors. Any future Local Rules approvals will be posted on this website, in the Monthly Bulletin, and on the bulletin board at the 19th Hole.

  • Driving Range Fence
    The margin of OB is marked by the inner edge (fairway side) of the small galvanized pipes which support the fence's baseboard. A ball is deemed out of bounds, when ALL of the ball lies beyond that boundary line. There is no free relief from the large black poles that support the fence, nor their concrete foundations.
  • Greenside Lateral Hazard - Hole #12
    If it is known or virtually certain that a ball has come to rest in the lateral hazard on the hillside to the right of the green on hole #12, a provisional ball can be played under any of the options under Rule 26-1, and if the original ball is found in the lateral hazard, the player may play the original ball as it lies or continue with the provisional ball in play. If the original ball is found outside of the hazard, the player must proceed with the original ball..
  • Stones in bunkers are movable obstructions : An obstruction is a movable obstruction if it may be moved without unreasonable effort, without unduly delaying play and without causing damage. Otherwise, it is an immovable obstruction..
  • A player is entitled to relief without penalty when his ball is embedded in its own pitch-mark in ground other than sand anywhere through the green..
  • USGA approved electronic distance measuring devices may be used in all forms of competition, including tournaments..
  • The boundary of the Lateral Hazard on the right side of hole #12 extends to the Out of Bounds stakes located on holes #13 and #15. A ball determined to have landed beyond that point is deemed to be OB, and the player will be penalized stroke and distance..
  • The cement (concrete) base of all Out of Bounds fences shall be deemed as part of the boundary fence, and therefore no relief is to be taken without incurring a one stroke penalty..
  • Local Rules that have been approved by the Board of Directors travel with the club to away tournaments..
Local Rules that do not conform to USGA policies and have been removed.
  • Tapping down spike marks. (Effective August 1, 2006).

Learning the Rules (Contributed by Rick Wiggins)
Some of you may have noticed that our Rules Committee has stepped up its efforts to raise awareness of the Rules of Golf and how they apply to our play at El Cariso. Our desire is not to take a game of relaxation and make it stressful. On the contrary, the game becomes less stressful when we are all playing by the same rules and have the confidence in each other to “protect the field.”

While the USGA website makes it easy to research the rules and decisions, they also recommend that each player also own a copy of the rule book and learn to use it, so as to make finding applicable information easier and more understandable. To this end, they suggest:

Recognize the difference between MAY (an option), SHOULD (a recommendation), and MUST (a requirement).
For example:

On hole #15, a player may stand out of bounds to play a ball lying within bounds.

When taking a free drop from an angled support pole of the driving range’s fence, the player should use the club with which he would have made his next stroke.

A player must play their provisional ball before he or his partner goes forward to search for the original ball.

Know the Definitions
The USGA also encourages you to know the Definitions and proper terminology, and state that “…a player seeking a ruling for a situation involving 'the pin' or a 'sand trap' is going to have more trouble finding that ruling than the player who recognizes that the correct terms: 'flagstick' and 'bunker' are the ones used in the Rules book and its Contents and Index sections.”

Understand situations that came up during your round
If you encountered a questionable situation while taking a drop from the water on hole #2, you might want to research it while the round is still fresh in your memory. Also, make up scenarios that could very easily happen at our course, like what would the ruling be if your ball, played from the lateral hazard next to the green on hole #12, had come to rest out of bounds? That’s a downhill lie, which makes the possibility of skulling the ball over the green very possible.

The point of all of this, and the efforts of the Rules Committee to heighten our knowledge of the rules, is to help us avoid the frustrations that would arise on the course, if that is the only time we concern ourselves them. Take a little “off-course” time with the Rules of Golf, and you’ll find that “protecting the field” is something we do for each other.

Save a stroke; know the rules!