Purpose. A Committee may choose to introduce a Local Rule to provide for no penalty in specific circumstances when a ball is played from outside the relief area after taking back-on-the-line relief.

Under this Local Rule, a player will not be penalized for playing from a wrong place so long as the ball is dropped in the relief area and comes to rest within one club-length of where it first touched the ground.
For example, a ball rolls slightly forward of the reference point after having been dropped in the right way and in the relief area, but is still within one club-length of where it first touched the ground when dropped. In such cases, the player can either proceed under Rule 14.3c(2) or the player can play the ball from where it came to rest.

This Local Rule is for use only in relation to the Back-On-the-Line relief procedure.

2)  Model Local Rule G-9
“Rule 4.1b(3) is modified in this way:

The purpose of this Local Rule is to allow the player to replace a club that is broken or significantly damaged during a round. Without this Local Rule in effect, the player would generally only be permitted to either use the club in its damaged condition or repair it.

If a player’s club is “broken or significantly damaged” during the round by the player or caddie, except in cases of abuse, the player may replace the club with any club under Rule 4.1b(4).

When replacing a club, the player must immediately take the broken or significantly damaged club out of play, using the procedure in Rule 4.1c(1).

For the purposes of this Local Rule:
A club is “broken or significantly damaged” when:

• the shaft breaks into pieces, splinters or is bent (but not when the shaft is only dented)
• the club face impact area is visibly deformed (but not when the club face is only scratched)
• the clubhead is visibly and significantly deformed
• the clubhead is detached or loose from the shaft, or
• the grip is loose.


Exception: A club face or clubhead is not “broken or significantly damaged” solely because it is cracked.