5. Provisional Ball, Hole #13- If your tee shot on 13 might have gone in the water, but you're not sure, you may play a provisional ball from the tee only, not from the front of the teeing area. If you want to hit from the front of the teeing area, you must first declare your ball lost in the hazard. NOTE: Rule 27-2 prohibits playing a provisional ball if the ball might be lost in a water hazard. The USGA allows a provisional ball to be played on certain water hazard holes. Such provisional balls must be played under Rule 27-2. Westlake allows a provisional ball on #13 only, not on hole #'s 4,7 or 9.

6. Water Hazards and Lateral Water Hazards. The water on hole #'s 4,7,9 and 13 are water hazards. You cannot play a provisional ball exception hole #13. If you hit your ball into the water on these holes, you may re-tee or drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. The water adjacent to hole #'s 2,5,6,8 and 14 are lateral water hazards. In addition to the two options listed for water hazards you may also drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole. Hole #'s 2 & 8 have designated drop areas. NOTE: All water hazards are determined by the edge of the water. Cement edges shall be immovable obstructions from which you entitled to relief.

7. Slow Play - The USGA has changed Rule 6-7 on undue delay of play to include slow play. Committees can now adopt local rules associated with the speed of play and have the discretion to vary the penalty, i.e., the first offense for slow play can be one stroke and the second offense can be two strokes. In all Men's Club tournaments, we are setting a recommended round of fourhours, with a maximum time of (4) four hours, (15) fifteen minutes. Players should take no more than 40 seconds to complete their stroke.

8. Play Out-of Turn - . There is NO PENALTY for playing out-of-turn in stroke-play events, i.e., you do not have to wait for the player who is farthest from the hole to play first and you do not have to wait for the player with the lowest score on the previous hole to tee off first. In short in Men's Club events PLAY READY GOLF. NOTE: Match Play events are exempted, as the player farthest away or with "honors" must play first.

9. Monitoring Play - The Committee will be monitoring the speed of play during tournaments and will take action against groups who consistently fall more than a hole behind if they are not playing in the recommended 4-hour time frame for a round. Such action includes (1) asking a slow group to let a faster group play through, (2) timing players to make certain they play withih the allotted time and (3) assessing pentalties if required. The penalty for slow play will be one stroke for the first infraction and two strokes for all additional infractions.

10. Obstructions - Light poles, sprinkler boxes, electrical panels, paved cart paths and any item used for the purpose of course maintenance are considered obstructions. Drop ONE club length, NO penalty. NOTE: Any ball striking a light pole must be replayed, NO penalty.

A new entry for the 2006 Decisions on the Rules of Golf (Decision 14-3/0.5) allows golfers to use a distance-measuring device to obtain distance information, provided the tournament committee or golf club in charge adopts a specific Local Rule permitting such devices. If a tournament committee or golf club plans to permit the use of distance-measuring devices in 2006, the USGA recommends the following wording for such a Local Rule:

Distance-Measuring Devices: [Specify as appropriate, e.g., In this competition, or For all play at this course, etc.], a player may obtain distance information by using a device that measures distance only. However, if, during a stipulated round, a player uses a distance-measuring device that is designed to gauge or measure other conditions that might affect his play (e.g., gradient, wind-speed, temperature, etc.), the player is in breach of Rule 14-3, for which the penalty is disqualification, regardless of whether any such additional functions are actually used.

Any Local Rule, regardless of the wording, must prohibit the use of a distance-measuring device that is capable of gauging or measuring other conditions that might affect play, even if such a function is not used. For example, if a golfer uses a distance-measuring device that also has compass and factors in changes in elevation, that golfer would be disqualified even if he or she uses the device solely for distance information and does not use the compass or elevation-change function.

WVMGC Rules and Green Committee has approved a local rule allowing the use of measuring devices as stated above. These EMD can be used for regular and tournament play at WVGC and any WVMGC sponsored away tournaments.

CAUTION-Do not let the use of the devices slow play down.