MODIFICATION OF COURSES
General
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Clubs must always inform the County of any significant course alterations whether permanent or temporary, particularly length changes and introduction or removal of penalty areas. It is important to recognise that changes such as these will affect issued Course Ratings and Slope Ratings and are likely to trigger a re-rating of the course.
Detailed advice and guidance on all such matters - on a situation-by-situation basis - is available to clubs from the County Course Rating Assessor.
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Sometimes it is best to seek that advice whilst plans are in their infancy rather than waiting until after the work is complete as a re-rating could potentially affect the Handicap Indices of all Club members, render obsolete the Course Handicap Lookup Tables and necessitate the reprinting of scorecards.
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Decisions on whether a re-rating is required will be assessed on a case by case basis.
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Temporary Changes to Courses
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There are circumstances in the management of a course where a holes length may be affected – to avoid unnecessary wear and tear on teeing grounds for example and other such issues – and under these circumstances, there are rules which permit adjustments to a holes length. These can be found within the WHS Rules of Handicapping, Appendix G on the Congu website but essentially are:
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The 100 Yards Rule – This recognises that it may not always be possible to position the tee blocks so there is an exact balance between those forward and those back, so an overall difference of up to 100 yards (plus or minus) between the length of the course as presented on the day and the ‘measured length’ is permitted.
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The 300 Yards Rule – This recognises that situations may sometimes occur (e.g. essential repair work or flooding) which necessitates the shortening or lengthening one or more holes by a total of more than 100 yards but less than 300 yards on a ‘temporary’ basis. WHS provides a mechanism whereby a ‘Temporary Rating’ may be provided which will permit qualifying scores to continue to be returned for up to a year. However, the Course Rating Assessor must be consulted first under these circumstances.
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Changes greater than 300 Yards and New Tees - Where length changes are in excess of 300 yards – or where a new set of unrated tees are introduced (e.g. for winter play purposes) a ‘Provisional Rating’ may be provided thus permitting qualifying scores to be returned from those tees while waiting for the course to be physically rated. Again, the Course Rating Assessor must be consulted first under these circumstances.
