The golf course traffic light system for buggies and trolleys

What each colour means in England Golf's model

The traffic light system is a way of telling golfers, every morning, what the course allows. England Golf sets out a model version in Annex A of its Buggy and Motorised Transport Guidance for affiliated clubs, updated in September 2025, and a number of clubs publish their own boards built on the same three colours.

In the model, the colours work like this.

• Green: no restrictions. Every golfer may use a buggy, and any marked routes are still followed.
• Amber: restricted access because of heavy rain, frost or waterlogging. Golfers who need a buggy because of a disability are prioritised and keep using one, while other golfers may be restricted. Everyone keeps to designated routes and walks short distances to the ball where it is safe.
• Red: severe restrictions. Some holes or areas are closed to buggies. Golfers who need one may carry on using alternative routes or partial loops, and golfers without a disability should not use buggies.

Why no two clubs' boards say quite the same thing

England Golf's guidance treats the colours as a framework rather than a finished rule. It asks clubs to decide in advance what each status means on their own course, so that amber is tied to specific actions such as winter wheels on trolleys, only certain loops open, or limits on who may use a buggy, rather than standing as a vague warning.

The published policies show how differently that plays out. The Manor, whose traffic light policy covers buggies and trolleys together, runs a green winter status alongside green, amber and red. On its amber board trolleys need winter or hedgehog wheels and buggies are kept to the front nine on paths. On red, golfers without a disability cannot use trolleys at all, and buggies stay on front nine paths.

Beeston Fields Golf Club's policy, dated October 2023, uses amber differently. The full course stays open to everyone, but anybody with a trolley or buggy must follow the 90-degree rule, staying in the rough and using paths where they exist. On red some holes may close, while golfers who carry their clubs still have the full course.

Radcliffe-on-Trent Golf Club adopted its policy in February 2026, following England Golf's advice, with green for no restrictions, amber for restricted access with priority for disabled golfers, and red for severe restrictions. It notes that conditions often vary across different parts of a course, which is exactly why a single colour for the whole site can be too blunt. Read the definitions your club publishes rather than assuming amber means what it meant at the last course you played.

Trolleys usually sit on the same board

Plenty of golfers meet the system through their trolley rather than a buggy. The policies above put both on one board: winter or hedgehog wheels on amber, restrictions on red for golfers who are able to carry, and exceptions for golfers who are not.

Beeston Fields frames the step before closure as carry only for golfers who can manage it, while keeping trolleys and buggies available to those with a genuine incapacity to play without one. It is the same principle England Golf applies to buggies: restrict the people who can manage without before restricting the people who cannot.

Who sets the colour, and how you find out

In England Golf's model the head greenkeeper, or another appointed member of staff, assesses the course hole by hole each morning and records the decision, the date and the reasons in a buggy log. The guidance suggests keeping those records for at least twelve months, so that a club can show its decisions were consistent and proportionate if one is questioned.

Some clubs review more often than once a day. Vale of Llangollen Golf Club's policy commits to reviewing conditions at least twice a day, and St Austell Golf Club's allows decisions to be reviewed hourly or daily. A course that is red at seven can be amber by eleven once frost lifts or standing water drains, and the reverse can happen after a downpour.

The status then has to reach golfers before they travel. The model asks for colour-coded signs in the clubhouse and pro shop and a notice online, along with maps of designated routes and on-course marking of temporary changes. The Manor, for example, publishes its daily status on its website, through its app and at the pro shop.

• The club website or booking page, ideally with the time the status was set.
• The club app or booking platform.
• The pro shop by phone, which also knows what is likely to change later in the day.
• Boards at the clubhouse and near the first tee.

The 90-degree rule, and when it bends

Amber often comes with the 90-degree rule. England Golf's guidance describes it this way: drive along the route until level with the ball, turn at a right angle towards it, play the shot, then return directly to the route. The aim is to reduce turf wear by spreading traffic, rather than wearing one line down the middle of a fairway.

The same guidance warns against applying rules like this rigidly. Some golfers with substantial impairments cannot walk from a path to their ball, and a policy should say how closer access is authorised for them, case by case, with what was agreed recorded so the next member of staff on duty applies it the same way.

Why amber and red still keep some golfers riding

The model keeps golfers who need a buggy on the course on amber, and on partial loops on red, for legal reasons as much as practical ones. England Golf's guidance says a blanket ban on buggies while the course is open to walking golfers is highly likely to be indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010, because disabled golfers who need a buggy are shut out while everybody else plays.

Its alternative is restriction that is specific and based on evidence. The guidance contrasts a notice banning all buggies because of rain with one that closes named holes, keeps the rest open on designated routes, and says disabled golfers may use a buggy on the open holes. Keeping part of the course accessible, such as a nine-hole loop, is its suggested fallback where full access is not possible.

None of this makes wet ground carry a vehicle. Where a hole is genuinely unsafe, or would be badly damaged, it closes to every buggy. The system's job is to make that decision visible, consistent and no wider than the ground requires.

Setting one up at a club

A club moving to a traffic light system is mostly writing down decisions it already makes informally, and making sure they are made the same way whoever is on duty.

Golf Ireland's template buggy policy for its clubs builds in the same idea, committing a club to a traffic light system and a hole-by-hole risk assessment. England Golf and Golf Ireland both point clubs to research by the Sports Turf Research Institute on buggy use and turf, and Golf Ireland summarises its 2020 comparative trial as finding that damage is greatly reduced when buggies are used sensibly.

• Map the parts of the course that suffer first in wet or frosty weather, before the season starts.
• Write down what green, amber and red mean at your course, for buggies and for trolleys.
• Name who sets the status, by what time, and who covers when they are away.
• Mark designated routes, and keep a route map for each status.
• Choose the channels, website, app, pro shop and boards, and keep them saying the same thing.
• Keep a simple log of each decision and its reason, and review the definitions every year.

Planning a golf day around the status

For an organiser bringing buggies in for a society or charity day, the status on the morning is the one variable nobody can book around. The club's status applies to every machine on the course, hired or its own.

Settle with the club in advance what each colour would mean for your day: how many buggies can go out on amber, whether the day runs on paths only, whether a shotgun start can move to holes that stay open, and when the call will be made. Ask for that decision early enough that a delivery can be adjusted rather than turned away at the gate.

If you are hiring buggies for a golf day, tell us the venue and the date, and once the club has agreed the numbers we will plan the delivery around its timings.

Common questions

What does amber mean on a golf course?

Amber means restricted use. In England Golf's model, golfers who need a buggy keep using one on designated routes while other golfers may be restricted. Each club defines its own amber, so it might mean paths only, some holes closed to buggies, or winter wheels on trolleys.

Can I use a buggy on a red day if I have a medical exemption?

Often, on the parts of the course that remain open. England Golf's model keeps golfers who need a buggy playing on alternative routes or partial loops under red. Holes closed because they are unsafe stay closed to every buggy.

Does the traffic light system apply to trolleys?

At many clubs it does. Several published policies require winter or hedgehog wheels on amber and restrict trolleys on red for golfers who can carry, with exceptions for those who cannot. Check your club's own definitions.

Who decides the traffic light status each day?

Usually the head greenkeeper or course manager, after inspecting the course that morning. England Golf's model asks for the decision and its reasons to be recorded, and for the status to be published in the clubhouse, the pro shop and online.

Why is my course on red when a nearby course is green?

Soil, drainage and layout differ from course to course, so the same rainfall affects them differently. A heavy clay parkland and a free-draining heathland a few miles apart can reach opposite answers on the same morning.

Do golf clubs have to use a traffic light system?

No law requires one. England Golf offers it as a model in its guidance for affiliated clubs and builds its template policy around it, and Golf Ireland's template for clubs does the same.