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Local Club Rules
PENALTY AREAS
are bodies of water or other areas defined by the Committee where a ball is often lost or unplayable. For one penalty stroke, you may use specific relief options to play a ball from outside the penalty area. All penalty areas are defined as either red or yellow. This affects your relief options, see Rule 17.1d. Painted lines take precedence over stakes. In the absence of lines please use the crescent of the hill adjacent to the penalty area. The inside edge of a rock wall or bulkhead defines the margin between the penalty area and the bunker. Players may play a ball as it lies in the penalty area rather than take relief. If a player chooses to take relief, he must be certain that the ball lies in the penalty area.
OUT OF BOUNDS
are defined by the inside points, at ground level, of white stakes and fence posts, see Rule 18. In addition to white stakes and all fences, any ball coming to rest above the water’s edge on the private property side of a penalty area is out of bounds. Inside edge of all perimeter roadways, including tunnels under perimeter roadways, are out of bounds.
STROKE & DISTANCE
local rule may be used when a players ball has not been found or is known or virtually certain to be out of bounds, the player may proceed as follows rather than proceeding under stroke and distance: For two penalty strokes, the player may take relief by dropping a ball in the relief area near the edge of the fairway, within two club lengths, no nearer the hole.
ABNORMAL COURSE CONDITIONS
include areas encircled by a white line, sod seams, mole cricket damage, and flower beds under cultivation (flowering) , even if not marked. No relief is given for mulched areas around trees. If a ball is at rest in casual water in a bunker, you may, without penalty, drop the ball in the bunker, as near as possible to the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole, on ground that affords maximum available relief from the condition. As an additional option, the ball may be dropped, under a penalty of one stroke, outside the bunker, keeping the point where the ball lay directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. You normally take relief by dropping a ball in a relief area based on the nearest point of COMPLETE relief.
COQUINA PATHS
are considered an integral part of the course and no relief is granted.
EXCEPTION TO THIS LOCAL RULE, players shall be granted free relief from all coquina paths on the Palmer Course only.
DROPPING ZONES
are defined by signs and/or white lines on the course, such as those found on Palmer #7, #14 & #15. If your ball comes to rest in a yellow penalty area in front of the green, you have the option of using these dropping zones.
On Palmer Holes 14 & 15, the water on the left side of the hole is a red penalty area and if you enter the penalty area along the side, you must play it as a Red Penalty Area and may not use the drop zone. The water on the left side is defined by the length of the fairway.
TEMPORARY IMMOVABLE OBSTRUCTIONS
are the temporary structures that are put up for the PGA Events and elsewhere on the course. It includes the materials on the course while the structures are being erected or dismantled. Where the ball is seen entering the TIO, complete free relief is allowed under the Model Local Rule from physical interference and line of sight interference if the ball is in the TIO, or the TIO interferes with the player’s stance or swing. This means that the player entitled to free relief must drop or place a new ball in a drop zone or relief area outside of the TIO whether or not the ball is found so long as the player is certain the ball went into the TIO.
MULCHED AREAS & BEDS
are considered an integral part of the course and no relief is granted.
EXCEPTION TO THIS LOCAL RULE, players shall be granted free relief from areas that contain cultivated flower plantings
TREE ROOTS (aka "Root Rule")
The "ROOT RULE" does not exist in MGA Tournaments. If a players ball lies within tree roots (example: trees along left side of 18 Palmer), you do not get free relief. You may choose to declare the ball unplayable and continue under the “unplayable rule” definitions with a 1 stroke penalty. Player is entitled two club lengths from the spot of the ball no closer to the hole or back of line relief or return to the spot of prior shot and replay, all with one stroke penalty.