PHGC Lightning Policy

When lightning is a risk

Pryors Hayes Golf Club considers the safety of its members and guests the top priority during inclement weather. Weather reports and local conditions are monitored during storm warnings.

If it is decided that it is unsafe to continue to play golf as a storm approaches, the Professional Shop will sound a klaxon to call all golfers off the course and into the clubhouse.

If there is a risk of lightning, play must be discontinued. Pryors Hayes Golf Club is not responsible for the safety of any golfer on the course and it is therefore the player's responsibility to remove themselves from any situation they deem dangerous.

If you see lightning or hear the klaxon

Proceed immediately to the clubhouse.

• Do not continue to play golf and do not seek shelter under trees.
• During competitions, if there is a lightning risk, play will be suspended and players must leave the course.
• Where play is automatically suspended on the sound of the klaxon, a player may not override the policy decision to evacuate the course.
• Players should stop play and seek shelter any time they believe lightning threatens them, even if the klaxon has not been sounded.

Rules of Golf and resumption of play

Although the club will take every precaution to ensure the safety of players during a thunderstorm, it is a player's own responsibility to discontinue play when, in their opinion, lightning is a threat.

Rule 6-8, discontinuing play, applies to all competitions and matches where there is a risk of lightning. A player is entitled to discontinue play if they believe there is danger from lightning.

Where play has been suspended due to lightning, play must be resumed where it was discontinued, even if resumption occurs on a subsequent day. When the danger has passed, three short blasts of the klaxon will indicate that it is safe to return to the course.

General policy notes

• All members must adhere to the lightning policy. Failure to do so is at their own risk and Pryors Hayes Golf Club accepts no liability for any member or guest who fails to co-operate with a decision to suspend play and close the course.
• It is not the responsibility of staff to retrieve clubs, equipment or trolleys from the course during a lightning storm where play has been suspended.
• Golf buggies do not give protection from lightning.
• Lightning is a severe hazard that must be viewed seriously.

Mens competition committee addendum

This addendum relates to mens section club competitions where the course is closed because of an electrical storm, flooded greens, course flooding, severe winds, snow, fog, adverse weather or any other reason deemed necessary by a club official.

Where a competition is already under way, the competition result may stand as a fair result where at least twenty players have posted a valid score under the rules of that competition. Normal committee prize structure and trophy allocation will apply where applicable.

Where a player is informed that their round cannot be finished, the scorecard will be cancelled at that point and the player will be refunded any entrance fees. If a competition is stopped before the first tee time, the fixture may be rescheduled at the discretion of the committee.