Some of you will be considering the start of the championship playing season and this may well include foursomes golf. England Golf have now received advice from the R&A n terms of the Rules of Golf and the impact of Covid-19 on this particular format.

Should you wish to play foursomes golf the following is recommended:

• Each partner should use their own golf ball, which is only handled by that player. For example the player teeing off from hole 1 is the only one that touches the ball from teeing off through to completion of the hole. The partner teeing off from hole 2 does likewise with their ball. Under the Rules of Golf a partner is permitted to drop the side’s ball in taking relief. It is also permissible to drop another ball when taking relief.
• When marking and replacing the ball on the putting green this should be conducted by the partner the ball belongs to. Under this situation (or any other where the ball must be replaced) the original ball must be used and must not be substituted by another ball.    

Please abide by England Golf’s Play Safe, Stay Safe guidelines (https://www.englandgolf.org/playsafe/). In addition they also recommend that each player carries their own hand sanitiser in case they touch their partners golf ball in error.