Ground under repair

[Dale_McCallon]

My home course is hosting the Ky Womens Am this week.  I played the course Saturday and was shocked by the number of places that had been marked as GUR.  Patches of eroded soil (which I could understand), places where bunker sand may have reached over into the green surrounds, even small patches of hardpan around the green.  Basically it seemed any imperfection had been marked.

The course was allowed to mark the course as they wanted (no state official came in).  Should these areas all have been marked--could it be to speed up play.  The roster of players ranged from a +1 to a 30 (most were in 8-12 range).

It just seemed that some of the bad breaks of golf had been taken out of the equation.  Of course, there have been times I've hit into these spots and wished they were marked for everyday play.

[Dan Herrmann]

Just being facetious - Did they mark each sand-filled divot too?

Actually -  Rule 2 and Rule 33 set it all out.  The committee is, to a certain extent, free to do what they see fit.

We've all see times where places we play from daily are marked GUR for a big event.  I've also seen an AJGA rules official give a player relief from a bare spot in the fairway that wasn't marked.

[TEPaul]

Our policy (Pa Golf Assoc and GAP) with GUR is to mark areas that are in/on or very close to legitimate areas of play. If it's removed from that though we generally don't touch them.

[Chris Cupit]

FWIW at a Rules Seminar I remember a great quote from the USGA's Jeff Hall, "An unfortunate ground condition is NOT an Abnormal Ground Condition"

Put the damn paint away and play golf!!  (OK, that is my quote)