Can a rated course devise its own ball-search/lost ball rules?

[cutchemist42]

Someone posted this on reddit, congrats to them breaking 80 their 1st time. What also stood out to me was their ball search rules and 2 stroke drop.

My course as well has something similar, where balls hit into the dunes/prairie grass are to be treated as lateral hazards to speed up play. (Will post my scorecars when I get home)

This course carries a CR and SR. For your handicap, arent you expected to observe the rules of golf as well as local rules. Can a course actually make that change as a local rule?

Would you simply mark those holes as not played under the rules of golf, and mark it with an x?

[iacas]

No, not really. Though a lot of places will do that (in 2019 the loosening of water hazards into "penalty areas" will bring more courses into compliance).

In fact a course can lose their USGA member club status if they do too many things like this.