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AMENDMENTS TO DECISIONS ON THE RULES OF GOLF

Effective 1 January 2006 (the below story appears in the January 2006 edition of the Australian Golf Journal) Whilst the international governing authority for the Rules of Golf, The R&A, will not make any revisions to the Rules themselves until the next version takes effect on 1 January 2008, 111 revisions have been made to the Decisions on the Rules of Golf. These include 37 new and 66 revised Decisions, while eight have been withdrawn. This review is part of the normal biennial process, conducted in conjunction with the United States Golf Association, which sees a new edition of the Decisions on the Rules of Golf published every two years. Each year The R&A and the USGA receive thousands of requests to clarify the Rules for incidents that have occurred throughout the world at all levels of the game. With changes to the Rules of Golf established on a four-year rolling cycle, the facility to publish official interpretations of the Rules in the Decisions book every two years, in response to events, is helpful to the game. The book contains over 1200 individual Decisions, which are set out in question and answer format. Key new interpretations of the Rules of Golf will allow the use of distance measuring devices by Local Rule and also empower committees to accept, as an “administrative error”, cards where the correct score has been entered on the wrong card. Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik were disqualified at the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George&aposs for entering their correct scores on the wrong score cards. In the future, committees will be allowed to correct such an error without penalty. Revised Decision 6-6d/4 gives a committee the power to strike the wrong name from an otherwise correctly completed score card and add the correct name, without limit of time. Another major change is the governing bodies sanction of the use of distance measuring devices, including GPS based systems and laser rangefinders. New Decision 14-3/0.5 allows a committee to permit the use of distance measuring devices by Local Rule. Contrary to some reports in the media, this applies to devices that measure distance only, and not any other conditions that might affect a players game such as wind or gradient. It is important to note that in the absence of such a Local Rule, the use of a distance measuring device remains contrary to the Rules. Another New Decision (16-1e/2) helps the player who inadvertently makes a putting stroke with both feet square on to the hole, often to avoid taking a stance on another players line of putt. In this instance the player will not be penalised under Rule 16-1e, which was framed to prevent croquet style putting. A significant revision to Decision 4-3/1 has also been made. A change in the interpretation of what is considered to be the normal course of play will allow the repair or replacement of a damaged club, provided that the club was not abused. For further information on the new Decisions please contact either Golf Australia or your state association. The 2006-2007 Decisions on the Rules of Golf, priced at $36.30 (plus postage & handling), may be ordered from Golf Australia. Phone Golf Australia on (03) 9626 5050 to purchase a copy.