The club suggestions book: October's entries, answered

The suggestions book sits on the windowsill by the bar, a hardback A4 ledger with a biro tied to it by a length of string. The secretary answers in red ink, usually by the following Wednesday. These are the October entries.

Saturday 3 October. Could the hole on the 9th green be made bigger. It is smaller than the others.

The Rules of Golf set the hole at 4¼ inches across, on every green, and the committee has no power to change that. The head greenkeeper measured the 9th on Monday morning. It is 4¼ inches. The committee notes that the 9th green slopes from back to front, and that this may be what the member is describing.

Sunday 4 October. Please could members be reminded to take the flag out when putting. The four-ball in front left it in on every green.

Sunday 4 October, two lines further down. Please could members be reminded that you can leave the flag in.

Rule 13.2a allows a player to putt with the flagstick in the hole, as long as they decide before the stroke. The committee has checked the timesheet and suggests the two members try a round together.

Saturday 10 October. My ball was declared lost on the 12th by a member of my group who timed the search on his phone. It turned up 20 seconds later. It was a new ball.

A ball is lost if it is not found within three minutes of the player or caddie starting to look for it. The committee confirms that the three minutes began when the search began, and not when the group reached the gorse and started discussing where it went in. The ball has been handed in to the pro shop and can be collected by anyone who can describe the marking.

Saturday 17 October. The man in front took more than a minute over a two-foot putt. He walked round it twice and crouched behind it from both ends. It was downhill.

Rule 5.6b recommends that a player makes a stroke in no more than 40 seconds, from the moment they are able to play, and adds that players should usually be quicker. The committee has timed the secretary’s own routine on the 1st tee and will say no more on the subject.

Saturday 17 October. Somebody in my group repaired a spike mark on my line on the 15th green. I did not think that was allowed.

It is. Rule 13.1c lets a player repair shoe damage, ball marks, scrapes from equipment or the flagstick, and animal tracks and hoof prints. Aeration holes do not count as damage, so the holes left by September’s hollow-tining stay where they are, however many of them are on the line.

Sunday 25 October. The 3.30pm roll-up did not finish. We came in off the 14th in the dark.

The clocks went back at 2am on Sunday 25 October. From November the Sunday roll-up starts at 12.30pm. Under Rule 5.3a, a player who reaches the 1st tee up to five minutes late gets two penalty strokes on the first hole in stroke play, rather than being disqualified. The roll-up does not apply Rule 5.3a. It goes without them.

Wednesday 28 October. Preferred lies came in on Monday. Could they be extended to the rough. That is where my ball usually is.

Under Model Local Rule E-3, preferred lies are generally restricted to the fairway. The R&A gives six inches, a scorecard length and a club-length as examples of the area a committee might choose, and this committee has chosen a scorecard length. The club’s scorecard opens out into three panels. Members are asked to measure with it folded. A ball may be preferred once only, so a ball that rolls off its tuft in the wind is played from where it stops.

Thursday 29 October. Please could the clocks be put forward again.

They go forward at 1am on Sunday 28 March 2027. The committee had no part in either decision.

Sources

• The R&A: Rules of Golf, Rule 5 – Playing the Round
• The R&A: Rules of Golf, Rule 13 – Putting Greens
• The R&A: Players’ Rule Finder – When a ball is lost
• The R&A: 2025–2026 winter rules FAQs
• The Golf News Net: What size is a golf ball and a golf hole
• Royal Museums Greenwich: When do the clocks go back