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Rules of Golf

Paul Lawrie supports global Level 3 TARS event in St Andrews

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The R&A
25 Mar 24
3 mins

Paul Lawrie and leading golf officials were among those who recently attended a global refereeing event staged in St Andrews. 

Organised by The R&A, the annual Level 3 Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar (TARS) returned to the home of golf. The Level 3 seminar, which has been running since the mid-1990s, is a key stage of The R&A’s four-tier qualification process designed to help candidates achieve the skills and standards required of a tournament official or referee. In total, 71 delegates from 41 organisations were represented from 35 different countries for the three-and-a-half day course. They travelled from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Thailand and Tunisia, as well as from Europe and Great Britain and Ireland.

Storm attendance

Among those attending at Fairmont St Andrews included Lawrie, the Champion Golfer of the Year at Carnoustie in 1999, who took time out from his schedule to do an interview on rulings from a player’s perspective. Graeme Storm – winner of The Amateur Championship in 1999 who went on to make 500 Tour appearances including two victories – also attended in his new capacity as a referee with the DP World Tour. Grant Moir, Executive Director – Governance at The R&A, said, “The focus on TARS is learning those skills of being an on-course referee and also all the other aspects that go along with tournament administration, so it’s a very interactive and hands-on experience.” Other TARS events are also held around the world at different times of the year. Last year, The R&A saw 303 delegates attend a Level 3 TARS in Chile, Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Scotland and South Africa.
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Grant Moir - Executive Director – Governance at The R&A

“The focus on TARS is learning those skills of being an on-course referee and also all the other aspects that go along with tournament administration, so it’s a very interactive and hands-on experience.”

Role play session

The purpose of the seminars is to give guidance and practical advice on running competitions, including sessions on course set-up, course marking, pace of play and refereeing. A key part of TARS is the role play session where delegates are given the opportunity to practice their rulings by giving a member of the Rules team a ruling and receiving feedback on their work. “We host TARS in St Andrews once a year,” added Shona McRae, Director – Rules at The R&A. “Those attending have already completed The R&A Level 3 exam so have a good knowledge of the Rules. During the week, we can give the delegates some feedback on their performance so hopefully everybody learns from that experience.”
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