Rules of the World Ice Golf Championship

The competition will be played in accordance with Rules of Golf as approved by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews 2000, and additional local rules and conditions of competition as approved by the tournament committee.

Local rules

1. A ball lying "through the white", see rule 25-2, may – without penalty – be moved or may be lifted, cleaned and placed within a club length of where it originally lay, but not nearer the hole. After the ball has been moved or placed and is at rest, it is in play. From this new position the ball must not be moved or placed again. Note: the position of the ball to be lifted should be marked.

2. "Whites" will be defined by a small wall of snow or a red line. The whites may prior to a shot be smoothed with a scraper provided for the purpose. Thus the putting line may be touched and improved.

3. If a ball is lost, a new ball may under penalty of one shot be put in play, at a point as close as possible to the spot where the original ball is deemed to be lost. (No loss of distance).

Format

The tournament is played over 36 holes stroke play over 2 days. 9 holes are played in the morning and 9 holes are played in the afternoon both days. Thus a stipulated round is 9 holes, a break may be taken and clubs may be changed.

Winner

World Ice Golf Champion is the player with the lowest gross score after 36 holes. There are also prizes for the best players in two handicap groups A and B, which is decided by Stableford.

Limitations

Maximum number of participants is 20. Maximum handicap is 36.

Ties

In the event of a tie for first place, the winner will be determined by a sudden death play off. All other ties will be determined by count back in this order: the last 18 holes, last 9, last 6, last 3, last 2 and last hole, lowest handicap, by draw.

Handicap

Players from countries using the CRS system will play from their Handicap index. Players from Countries using the SSS system will play from their usual handicap.

Tees

Red tee – Ladies. Yellow tee – Men.

World Ice Golf has been around since the 17th century as evidenced by a painting by the Dutch painter Aert van der Neer (1603-1677) showing players with a club in their hands attempting to get a ball into a hole in the ice covering a frozen canal in Holland. At that time the game was called "kolven".

A Brief Retrospect

The World Ice Golf Championship was the brainchild of Mr. Arne Neimann, a local resident and hotel proprietor on a small island called Uummannaq, off Greenland's North West coast. In 1997 Mr. Neimann challenged architect Rolf-Henning Jensen to design Greenland's first golf course, which proved remarkably easy to do. With support of the local community, Uummannaq Municipality and Greenland Tourism the World Ice Golf Committee was set-up to establish the ice golf championship. The World Ice Golf Championship in Uummannaq has become a genuine and inimitable international golfing event.