Following two successive weather-related cancellations at the end of the last winter season in February, the Council has developed a policy to deal with situations where conditions are such that play is not possible. This has been done with reference to Governing R & A Committee Procedures 6E: Suspensions and Resumptions (of play), which covers a range of conditions including visibility, water, wind and lightning, while also taking into account the fact that we do not own the course and are therefore not responsible for taking decisions on whether the course should be open or closed.

1. Course closure - The Edinburgh Leisure (EL) ground staff have the responsibility to decide whether the golf course is playable. As Braids United Golf Club has both early morning and late morning tee times, there is the potential for the course to be deemed unplayable at one of these times but not the other. Under these circumstances, if the closure affects members in either the earlier or later times, the day’s competition will be cancelled in its entirety together with all scores and penalties. If appropriate, any play possible may be used to return a general play score, but scores will not count towards any eclectic competition that is running at the time.

2. Unplayable conditions on the course - We cannot rely on EL taking and effectively communicating a decision to close the course after play has commenced (if this does happen, then the situation will be as described above).

We will therefore operate using a local rule as follows:

It will be the responsibility of the most senior Council member available, on the course, to halt play if R&A guidelines are breached and/or safety of club members, public and property is at risk. In such an event, if all members have not completed their respective rounds, the competition will be abandoned without hesitation and rescheduled when practically possible within the club fixture list. If appropriate, scores already carded will be acceptable as general play scores, but will not count towards any eclectic competition that is running at the time.

For clarification, relevant conditions include:

Visibility – landing areas not being visible due to fog or darkness.

Water – the entire area round a hole being covered in temporary water which cannot be removed.

Wind – several balls being moved by the wind, with problems experienced in replacing the ball on the original spot (but not just one or two balls being moved on a particular green).

Lightning