Winter Rules

The course has been in great condition throughout the year and, in order to protect the course as much as we can and to ensure we keep playing through the winter, we are bringing into play the following Winter Rules until further notice. We had hoped to stay off mats until early November, but with the poor recent weather, we are implementing compulsory use of mats from this Saturday.

With effect from Saturday 28th October 2023, the following Winter Rules will come into play:

Mats
- Mats must be used on closely mown areas -THIS IS COMPULSORY
- There isn’t the option to move from the fairway to play from the rough
- Ball to be played as it lies in the rough (unless advised on the day by Greens and Comps)
- Mats are available from the Pro Shop for £5 each

Blue stakes
- there will be blue stakes approx. 10 yards from the green. If you ball lies within these on the closely mown areas, you have the option to play after lift, clean and placing on the grass or use the mat, if preferred.

Roped off areas and course signage
- please adhere to the signs at all times around the course and when areas have been roped off due to poor ground conditions over the winter.

Bunkers
- play it as it lies unless advised on the day by Greens and Comps

White stake in a bunker
- deemed to be GUR so the ball may be dropped outside of the bunker at the nearest point of relief without penalty

Temporary Greens
The temporary greens have been marked. When they are not in play (i.e. when we are using the normal greens) the temporary greens are deemed to be GUR and there is a compulsory drop with the ball played from the nearest point of relief without penalty. This means that you cannot even putt off the temporary green.

Winter Wheels
It is a recommendation that if you have Winter Wheels for your trolley, please switch to them. If you would like to purchase Winter Wheels, Kris can order them in for you and has access to most makes of trolley wheels.

Ride on Buggy
We will try and ensure that ride on buggies remain available for use throughout the winter months. Please check in the Pro shop before playing. Please use the paths and the rough to help protect the fairways.

You will have noticed around the course that we have put new Blue tee markers on each hole. We have recently had the course remeasured to ensure the Blue course counts as a qualifying course for handicap purposes.

Whilst many people will assume it is for juniors, it is actually an “academy” course. New starters to the game may feel more comfortable starting on the shorter blue course before transitioning to the longer red, yellow or white course as their game develops.

Along with the Blue course being measured, we have been allocated a Slope Rating off the blues for both men/boys and women/girls. Whilst doing the slope ratings, we now also have a slope rating for men off the red tees. The revised slope rating board (near the pro Shop) will be amended to include the additional slope ratings as soon as possible, together with a new blue tee scorecard.
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Allied with our existing slope ratings and tees, we are now in a position, particularly in winter, to vary the tees used for competitions. It also gives members the option to play a social round on the shorter courses should time be an issue; perhaps returning to golf from injury or maybe just offering a different challenge to the existing tees.

Whilst being remeasured for the blue tees on the course, you may have noticed the 100 and 150 markers on the course and some white temporary markers near to the distance markers. The 100 and 150 markers have been laser measured now rather than the previously used “clickwheel” (if you remember back to school days!). The new distance markers will be relocated by the greens team shortly.