As suggested, I'm opening up a new thread on the meaning of "The Committee" and a "competition". This was discussed in another thread that had gone off-topic. I'm going to start fresh here with a new angle though.

I was reading a discussion on another golf forum about punched greens. It's clear that aeration holes are not considered GUR. However, the rules of golf recommend that a local rule may put in place by the Committee. The rule says something like "through the green, balls that come to rest in an aeration hole may be lifted, cleaned and dropped no nearer the hole".

Now, I've played on several courses where the greens/fairways were aerated and I've never seen a local rule posted in the clubhouse saying there was a free drop from aeration holes. Most courses just don't care...

In the same thread on the other forum, some of the posters jokingly implied that they formed the Committee and activated this local rule when conditions permitted. I don't see why this shouldn't be permitted. If the group is playing a competition and they also form the Committee then they should be able to enact this local rule.

The definition of "the Committee" as provided by Gary in the previous thread is: The “Committee’’ is the committee in charge of the competition or, if the matter does not arise in a competition, the committee in charge of the course. Nowhere in that definition does it state the rules for forming the Committee or who can/can't be on it. Can my wife be "the Committee"?

It was also implied in the previous thread that a weekend round with your buddies was not a competition so therefore only the course could enact any local rules. In my opinion, the match I have with my buddy nearly every weekend is a competition. What constitutes a competition? Do there need to be prizes? Do the results need to be in the paper? Does there need to be more than X number of competitors?

Looking forward to continued discussion...

MJF