Complex with two courses and pre-competition practice

[Shindig]

Rule 7-1b prohibits a competitor from practicing on a "competition course" prior to a round or play-off of a stroke play event.  Great, and I have no problems with this -- if I'm a later tee time, it isn't fair that I might be able to get to the course at the same time as someone in the first group, wander over to the 18th green during his or her round, and see how that bunker that fronts the green is playing today.  

I keep the rules book italics above because competitor and course are definitions in the Rules.  In fact, rule 33-2 tells the committee to define accurately the course.  That's also great and I have no problems here either.

If the golf complex we're playing has one eighteen-hole course, the interaction is fairly straight-forward:  get there and you may use the range and other designated practice areas.  There's probably limited benefit (at most) to four hours on the range before a round compared to a normal warm-up range session, so the early tee times aren't disadvantaged here.

But when they have multiple courses in the complex, this is less clear to me.  My home course (18 holes, regulation) shares a parking lot and a name with a nine-hole par-3 course that measures under 1000 yards. 

Is this a decision for the committee to make, whether competitors may play the par-3 course prior to their round?  My reading of this says that the committee should define (under rule 33-2) the course, so they could prohibit it.  Alternately, since we aren't using those holes, would they not be part of the course?  Or because they're in the complex, are they always?

That ends the question I'm actually worried about in the short-term.  I love my club (and I haven't asked my club committee what the rules on this are -- this isn't the result of a dispute or anything), but I live a bit further away than I used to.  Time was I could easily plan my day to get there an hour before my tee time.  Now with traffic, if I have a later tee time, I'm more likely to get there 3 hours early to avoid risking a traffic delay that could cost me warm up time or even my spot.  And it makes me wonder what I'm going to do with the difference.

Thinking about this has caused me to come up with two other related questions though.

There's another complex near me that has two 18-hole regulation courses.  If we had a tournament there, how would the other course be treated?  If I had a noon tee time at course A, would I be within the rules to make a 6am tee time at course B and play it day-of?

What if that complex, rather than using an established 18 hole course, finds a route around the complex using eighteen holes, some from A some from B?  Would playing on one of the 18 excluded holes be permitted, even though most days they'd be part of the same course as some of what I'd be playing?  My instinct is that this has the same answer as the previous question, but I'm not sure what that is.

Thanks in advance for any help on these interactions.  Finding help for this on Google was surprisingly tough (or perhaps I'm just not good at it) -- I mostly found standard explanations of the main rule.  The Tufts book explained why the rule exists, but that didn't help me figure out what the ruling should be.  

[David in FL]

The course is the course.  There is no prohibition about practicing anywhere off the course, no matter how close or far that area may be from the course.

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

The course is the course.  There is no prohibition about practicing anywhere off the course, no matter how close or far that area may be from the course.

It's not quite that simple.

The Committee can make some areas off-limits for practice. At NCAA Nationals, even though we were only going to play one course one time, and we played it the first day (of four possible days), we were not allowed to practice on it after we finished that day. Nor were we allowed to practice on the other course.

I doubt the Committee would ban players from practicing on a nine-hole executive course before play, but they can. They can also prevent practice on an unused course or holes from another set of 18 (whether always that 18 or a combo set of holes).

It's kinda like how the Rules let you practice putting and chipping on the green after you putt out, but the Committee can over-ride that allowance.

Basically, @Shindig, ask an official. You'll probably be fine, but you don't want to practice and get banned.

Oh, and remember, too, that if there is no OB between the "courses" you can be tagged with practicing "on the course" even though you're on a different set of 18 holes. After all… 

Quote

The "course" is the whole area within any boundaries established by the Committee (see Rule 33-2).

[David in FL]

Fair enough.  I should have added, unless The Committee dictates otherwise.  The Committee has extremely broad authority, and we often forget that caveat.

[iacas]

15 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Fair enough.  I should have added, unless The Committee dictates otherwise.  The Committee has extremely broad authority, and we often forget that caveat.

Plus, note too, that "the course" is defined by the boundaries, so even if you're on a par 3 course if the holes parallel some of the "regular course" holes, you might technically still be on the "regular course" if it's not defined as OB.

[Shindig]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Basically, @Shindig, ask an official. You'll probably be fine, but you don't want to practice and get banned.

 

Thanks!  I'm going to do that.

The boundary between the two is O.B.;  the 8th and 9th holes of the par-3 course fit behind (well behind) the first green and parallel to the second hole of the regulation course.  However, there is a fence between the two and shots from one to the other are O.B..  The entrances to the respective courses are at different points in the parking lot.

But again, I'm going to ask the tournament director to be sure.  Thanks!