This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
The Royal Nairobi Golf Club, established in 1906, and the Entebbe Golf Club, dating back to around 1901, are two of the oldest golf courses in East Africa.
These courses have a rich history, with members who have made the pilgrimage to St. Andrews, Scotland, the Mecca of the Rules of Golf, where the rules were first written in 1754.
As the Chief Referee for the Safari Tour, I had to add a local rule for the two events, allowing golfers to lift and clean their golf balls. However, the rules differ between the two courses.
At Royal Nairobi Golf Club, the local rule was strictly 'lift, clean and replace,' meaning players had to replace their ball exactly where it lay when lifted from a closely mown area.
At Entebbe Golf Club, we gave players some latitude to place a ball that had been lifted under this local rule within a scorecard length of where the ball was lifted from.
This difference in local rules highlights the importance of understanding the Rules of Golf, particularly when it comes to local rules.
A recent incident at the Entebbe Golf Club showed that some professional golfers may not know the difference between the two local rules.
One golfer asked if they were playing under the preferred lie local rule, which is not the case at Royal Nairobi Golf Club.
Unfortunately, this incident highlights that some golfers may be getting an undue advantage by introducing this local rule, which was meant to help them due to the wet conditions.
The truth of the matter is that many golfers don't fully understand that even on the putting greens, they are required to replace the ball at exactly the same point where they picked them up from and not an inch or two closer to the hole.
This is a rule of golf that is as true and as old as the two ancient courses of East Africa.
