Remember that video of Lee Westwood practising his hitting distances? There was a big 164 inked in marker pen on the back of his 8-iron before he then impressively struck it almost to the yard on the range.
It was footage like that which sent Peter and his pals into a confused quiver before he fired off this email…
“I use a shot tracker so have a good idea of my average distances. Being of a certain age I have written down those averages on a piece of paper, so when faced with a shot where I am unsure which club to use I can use my Motocaddy M5 GPS trolley for the distance and compare to my personal notes.
“We had a discussion the other day with members and course pros whether this constitutes an artificial aid.
“At the moment our leaning is towards “Yes” as Rule 4.3a states interpreting distance … information (such as using a device to get a recommended line of play or club selection based on the location of a player’s ball).
“We know that GPS devices often have tournament modes to turn club advice off during competitions so presumably a piece of paper that effectively does the same thing would be similarly considered as not allowed.
“The confusion comes because we understand in recent articles on other sites that some golfers legitimately write their own distance in marker pen on the reverse of the clubs. Can you clarify?”
Yes, Peter, yes I can…
