Golf Rules Golf Rule 33 The Committee (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Rules Golf Rule 33 The Committee (Video) - by Pete Styles

So rule 33 covers the committee. Now the committee are generally the people that are going to organize the competition. I think it's quite important that every organization be it a golf club, be it a golf tournament whatever have a committee that make decisions in terms of how the golf courses actually operate and how the competition is operated. And by having a committee just means everything can be done a little bit more fairly. There's no bias. There's no persuasion either way. Now again I'm not a massive reader of the committee pages of the rule book. So let's get the app out. Let's have a quick look through here and see what the committee are responsible for during the game of golf.

So the committee rule 33.1 are responsible for the waiving of any rules that need to be waived when the tournament is on. Now they are not actually allowed to waive the rules of golf. They are set. But let's suggest that there's an out of bounds fence. There's an out of bounds fence on the golf course, but there's a big pond on the left-hand side and the pond has burst its banks. The pond has burst its banks and it’s filled the whole of the fairway, meaning that the entire hole is either lake or out of bounds. So what the committee could do there is say well that out of bounds fence for today that out of bounds fence doesn't apply. We'll put a temporary local rule in that says you are allowed to play down the fairway which would only be out of bounds for safety reasons. But now you can play down the other fairway just so we can get the game done. And that's an example of the local rules, the committee might put in. There’s other things that the committee might put in, things like you know I've played golf courses where they've got dear on the golf courses. But at certain times of year it's not safe to go near the deer for obvious reasons if you know what I'm saying. So if your ball lands near the deer and you don't want to go get too friendly with the deer, the committee say you are allowed to take a free drop away from that. And that's not covered in the rules of golf, that's covered in the local rules that committee put in to make sure that everyone is safe and keeps the golf course open and keeps the golf course playable. That's the power that committee have. But they can't change or waive the rules of golf, the actual rules. Now the committee can also setup the golf course. They can decide on where the team markers go, where the flags go. They could also decide on the power of the golf course. If they want to bring the tees forward on a particular day for any reason, they could then change the par of that hole, and change the standard scratch effectively with that. They also determine the starting time, so the times the groups go out and play. So they can bring the starting times forward. If there’s going to be thunder and lightning in the afternoon you sometimes see that on the PGA Tour. They see a storm coming and they think to get this game finished, let's bring the starting times forward. Let's even do a two tee start and sometimes in extreme cases let's place three balls. Three balls, two tee start, tee off at 9 o’clock in the morning, compositional, but done in the afternoon. We won't have to bother about the thunderstorm that's coming in, in the evening. Again the committee make those decisions. They can also look at the scorecard, so before you round they'll fill out the scorecard for you sometimes determining the order of play, the handicap you are teeing off. And then at the end of the round, I'll take the score cards back in. They will officiate the scorecards, work out if everything's been signed correctly, all the scores add up correctly. Well then probably present the prize giving or say to the people that are giving the prize, giving right there is your order. There’s your top three. He's won the back nine. He's done this. He's done that. That's how they're going to do things. We’ve then got the decisions about the ties. So if there's a tie, the committee could decide on the type of playoff that's going to happen or the system they're going to award for the winner. So they might do a playoff. They might do a count back scenario where they say, well this person won on the back nine. This person won on the back six or even this person won on the back three. And it's looking at who had the best back nine, back three or back six holes. The committee will also decide on any disqualifications. If someone's been disqualified for any reason they would officiate that. They could also look at like I just talked about before, any of the temporary local rules for certain areas. Maybe there's ground under repair on the golf course. They would go and officiate that and draw that out there. So the committee when you organizing a competition, quite important and hopefully they're communicating those rules and regulations quite quickly to the golfers particularly in the case of any temporary local rules coming in. But the organizing committee of a competition, they have their own page in the rulebook to dictate what they can and can't tell us as golfers. 2015-07-23

So rule 33 covers the committee. Now the committee are generally the people that are going to organize the competition. I think it's quite important that every organization be it a golf club, be it a golf tournament whatever have a committee that make decisions in terms of how the golf courses actually operate and how the competition is operated. And by having a committee just means everything can be done a little bit more fairly. There's no bias. There's no persuasion either way. Now again I'm not a massive reader of the committee pages of the rule book. So let's get the app out. Let's have a quick look through here and see what the committee are responsible for during the game of golf.

So the committee rule 33.1 are responsible for the waiving of any rules that need to be waived when the tournament is on. Now they are not actually allowed to waive the rules of golf. They are set. But let's suggest that there's an out of bounds fence. There's an out of bounds fence on the golf course, but there's a big pond on the left-hand side and the pond has burst its banks. The pond has burst its banks and it’s filled the whole of the fairway, meaning that the entire hole is either lake or out of bounds. So what the committee could do there is say well that out of bounds fence for today that out of bounds fence doesn't apply.

We'll put a temporary local rule in that says you are allowed to play down the fairway which would only be out of bounds for safety reasons. But now you can play down the other fairway just so we can get the game done. And that's an example of the local rules, the committee might put in. There’s other things that the committee might put in, things like you know I've played golf courses where they've got dear on the golf courses. But at certain times of year it's not safe to go near the deer for obvious reasons if you know what I'm saying.

So if your ball lands near the deer and you don't want to go get too friendly with the deer, the committee say you are allowed to take a free drop away from that. And that's not covered in the rules of golf, that's covered in the local rules that committee put in to make sure that everyone is safe and keeps the golf course open and keeps the golf course playable. That's the power that committee have. But they can't change or waive the rules of golf, the actual rules. Now the committee can also setup the golf course. They can decide on where the team markers go, where the flags go.

They could also decide on the power of the golf course. If they want to bring the tees forward on a particular day for any reason, they could then change the par of that hole, and change the standard scratch effectively with that. They also determine the starting time, so the times the groups go out and play. So they can bring the starting times forward. If there’s going to be thunder and lightning in the afternoon you sometimes see that on the PGA Tour. They see a storm coming and they think to get this game finished, let's bring the starting times forward.

Let's even do a two tee start and sometimes in extreme cases let's place three balls. Three balls, two tee start, tee off at 9 o’clock in the morning, compositional, but done in the afternoon. We won't have to bother about the thunderstorm that's coming in, in the evening. Again the committee make those decisions. They can also look at the scorecard, so before you round they'll fill out the scorecard for you sometimes determining the order of play, the handicap you are teeing off. And then at the end of the round, I'll take the score cards back in. They will officiate the scorecards, work out if everything's been signed correctly, all the scores add up correctly.

Well then probably present the prize giving or say to the people that are giving the prize, giving right there is your order. There’s your top three. He's won the back nine. He's done this. He's done that. That's how they're going to do things. We’ve then got the decisions about the ties. So if there's a tie, the committee could decide on the type of playoff that's going to happen or the system they're going to award for the winner. So they might do a playoff. They might do a count back scenario where they say, well this person won on the back nine. This person won on the back six or even this person won on the back three. And it's looking at who had the best back nine, back three or back six holes.

The committee will also decide on any disqualifications. If someone's been disqualified for any reason they would officiate that. They could also look at like I just talked about before, any of the temporary local rules for certain areas. Maybe there's ground under repair on the golf course. They would go and officiate that and draw that out there. So the committee when you organizing a competition, quite important and hopefully they're communicating those rules and regulations quite quickly to the golfers particularly in the case of any temporary local rules coming in. But the organizing committee of a competition, they have their own page in the rulebook to dictate what they can and can't tell us as golfers.