2023 Smuggler’s Glen Rules – Senior Mens Invitational
Please note:
A round should not take more then 4.5 hours. Please be ready to play when it is your turn, please keep pace with the group in front of you
If there is a possibility that your ball may be lost or out of bounds, hit a provisional (#7 left is OB)
The majority of the course has been red staked. There is an area off the tee on #1 and the right side of #17 that has Red stakes with white caps. You may not play your ball from this area due to private property or safety risk. Treat it as a red staked hazard when dropping your ball in play, outside of the hazard.
Drop areas:
#1 If hit into the red staked area of the ravine, please proceed to drop area
#6 if ball enters the red staked on the right side of 6 you have two options:
- Take Relief according to point of entry
- Use the drop zone located in the marked area just short of the fairway
#18 If your ball enters the red staked hazard on the far side of the cart path behind the green, please proceed to the drop zone located by the Flagstick Scoreboard.
OB is located along the left side of #7 off the tee to approx. 100 yards short of the green.
Rules and Procedures
- RCGA Rules will govern all play
- Play as it lies – Summer Rules (unless announced otherwise)
- Casual water: Take relief at nearest point, no closer to the hole
- Ground under repair: Please ask your playing partners for approval if you think you are in ground under repair and are entitled to relief. (right side of #1 is not considered to be ground under repair) – New drainage is ground under repair
- Red staked areas, make sure your ball has crossed in the hazard area and take relief according to the point of entry.
- Hazard lines are determined by the cut line. If there is not a cut line then the line is from stake to stake.
Out of bounds
If your ball is lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds you must play another ball from the spot where the last shot was played, under penalty of one stroke, i.e. stroke and distance. -
You are allowed 3 minutes to search for a ball. If it is not found within 3 minutes it is lost.
If, after playing a shot, you think your ball may be lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds you should play a provisional ball. You must announce that it is a provisional ball and play it before you go forward to search for the original ball.
If the original ball is lost (other than in a water hazard) or out of bounds, you must continue with the provisional ball, under penalty of one stroke. If the original ball is found in bounds within 3 minutes, you must continue play of the hole with it, and must stop playing the provisional ball.
Plugged Ball
You are allowed to take relief without penalty all over the course in “The general area”.
14.2. Procedure.
Drop the ball within 1 club length, not closer to the hole.
Unplayable lie
The penalty for doing so is one stroke. Your three options include going back to the point where you played your previous stroke, taking a drop within two club lengths, or moving straight back anywhere along an extension of a line between the flagstick and where your ball originally came to rest.
Cart Path relief
Under Rule 24-2b Immovable Obstruction – If your ball lies on or near the cart path or when the obstruction interferes with your stance or the area of intended swing you may take free relief – you must determine the nearest point of relief no closer to the hole with in one club length and the ball must be dropped.
- Hazard lines are determined by the cut line. If there is not a cut line then the line is from stake to stake.
Yellow Stakes Water Hazards Marked with Yellow Stakes –You can play it where it lies or take a drop and one-shot penalty.
To take a drop, identify the spot where your ball last crossed the yellow stakes and you make take back-on-the-line relief by dropping in a relief area based on a reference line going straight back from the hole through the entry point. There is no limit on how far back on the line the reference point may be (Remember it’s not where your shot ended up in the hazard, it’s where it last crossed). You may also drop from where you originally hit the previous shot, stroke and distance.
Red Stakes Water Hazards Marked with Red Stakes – These are referred to as lateral hazards and the rules for dropping are a bit different. The same one-shot penalty must be added to your score. You may play the ball where it is or:
Option1 : Play it where it lies. Option 2: Similar to a yellow staked hazard, you must identify the point where your ball crossed into the water, (no closer to the hole). You can go back on a straight line away from the pin as far as you like. Option 3: Drop within 2 club lengths of where the ball crossed the hazard no closer to the hole. Option 4:Hit again from where you hit your previous shot.
Ground under repair is an area on the golf course considered unfit for play.
Casual water must be identifiable before or after a player has taken his stance. Ground that is merely wet, spongy, mushy or muddy is not casual water. There must be an accumulation of water above ground that is visible.
If a golfer takes his stance where water is not visible, however, but taking the stances causes water to push up onto the surface where it becomes visible, that does qualify as casual water. "If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief,"
Water in a bunker – relief is permitted but not closer to the hole. If you are unable to get relief, you can either play your ball as it lies or take a 1 stroke penalty and remove it from the bunker.
Tiebreaking for placement – USGA tiebreaker procedure (last 9,6,3,1)
Only overall low gross will go to a playoff – starting at hole #10 then 11 then 9. If still tied at this point, the next hole will determine the winner by a closest to the pin on hole #10.