For four months, from July to October 1940, the German air force, Luftwaffe , attempted to achieve air superiority over the British Royal Air Force (RAF ), during the first half of World War II in the so-called Battle of Britain . It was not a single battle but several campaigns of air raids on British soil with the aim of destroying as many RAF aircraft as possible, imposing chaos and unleashing panic in the population for the subsequent invasion of England.
The Richmond Golf Club , ten miles from the center of London and with more than 2,500 hectares, was one of the places that suffered the Luftwaffe bombing.
This private golf club decided that neither the bombings nor the war were going to stop its members from practicing their favorite sport. Of course, they decided to publish a manual adapted to the new circumstances...a war :
- Players are asked to remove shrapnel or debris from bombs so as not to cause damage to the harvesting machines.
- In competitions, during a blitz, players can take cover without any penalty.
- Located delayed-action bomb positions are indicated by red flags but do not guarantee the safety distance.
- Shrapnel or bomb debris in fairways or bunkers within one club-length of the ball may be removed without penalty.
- A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, the ball may be dropped at the nearest spot in the hole without penalty.
- A ball that falls into a bomb crater may be dropped to the nearest point outside the hole without penalty.
- A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place but penalized one stroke.
Source:Wartime Golf Rules