Hard Card

Most of the regular tours have well formulated conditions of competition and Local Rules for the tour season, as laid out in the appendix 1 of the Rules of Golf. The PGTI in India follows this religiously.In the amateur circuit,it is being implemented in the last two seasons. The purpose of the hard card- which is a hard copy of the Conditions of competition and Local Rules printed in an easy to carry hard card-is to make life a bit easy for the players. Players do not have to worry about varying set of Local Rules in different golf courses.Only a few pertinent Local Rules relevant to the specific course is added or modified to the Hard Card Local Rules.
For example, the Hard Card Local Rule will specify that stones in bunkers are movable obstructions. This will be extended to all the tournaments in the IGU Amateur Tour, even if some courses do not really have the problem of stones in bunkers. Similarly, though only a few courses have on course lighting systems, compulsory reshot, if a ball strikes a lighting system will be applicable to all tournaments in the circuit.
However, very few players make effort to read all the clauses of the Hard Card Local Rules or the additional Local Rules specific to tournament.
One such incident happened recently in the Amateur Tournament concluded in Coimbatore.On the third day, one of the leading players hooked his tee shot on Hole 3.The ball landed in a wooded area and was at rest adjacent to a retaining wall of a lateral water hazard. The outer face of the retaining wall was marked with red paint and it was clear that the retaining wall was within the hazard margin.As the ball was outside the hazard margin, the player demanded a free relief under Rule 24-2.Normally, he would have been entitled for this relief, but for the clause in the Hard Card Local Rule which deems such artificial retaining walls within the water hazards as integral parts of the course. When I denied the relief to him, he was upset and we have to explain the application of the hard card Local Rule.
This incident also highlights the importance of course markings.In this case, if the inner face of the retaining wall was painted red, the player would have got relief under R 24-2, as the outer face of the wall will be outside the hazard margin.