“My wife’s ball was plugged in the face of a bunker. She took a mighty cut, the ball popped out lazily and almost straight up in the air. Her club followed through and hit the ball once again at shoulder level, knocking it down the hill behind her. It was quite the double hit.

“Just two strokes or a penalty?”

Rule 14-4: Striking the Ball More than Once

“If a player’s club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player must count the stroke and add a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all.”

Barb Hanson

A friend of mine was getting ready to putt and in making her practice stroke she accidentally touched and moved her ball. What is the ruling?

Unfortunately, she incurred a penalty stroke under Rule 18-2a for moving the ball in play, and she had to put the ball back in its original position.

Decision 22/6 says that the request was not proper and Ann certainly did not have to comply. In fact, if Ann and Bev were found to be aiding each other in this way, they could both be disqualified.

“Re: embedded ball, I thought I’d pass along a reminder that Appendix I, 4.1 offers a Local Rule allowing an embedded ball to be lifted ‘through the green’, which means in the rough, too. The MWGA (Minnesota Womens Golf Association) Hard Card contains this Local Rule, and I’m told it’s fairly universally adopted.”

I was so sure I knew the answer, but I was wrong. I have to quote the whole rule in order for you to get the complete picture. From the USGA Rules of Golf, Rule 25-2 says: “A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green. ‘Closely mown area’ means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.”

Can you invoke the embedded ball in the rough? No. The rough is not a “closely mown area.”

What is “through the green?” It is the whole area of the course except the teeing ground, the putting green of the hole being played and all hazards on the course.

Is there a penalty for lifting an embedded ball? No, as long as you proceed according to the rules (as stated above).

A: Yes. Rule 9-2a says that “an opponent is entitled to ascertain from the player during the play of a hole, the number of strokes she has taken, and, after play of a hole, the number of strokes taken on the hole just completed.”

Q: In match play, if a player is asked how many strokes she has taken, and her caddie answers with incorrect information, is the player held responsible and subject to penalty?

A: Yes, unless the error is corrected before the opponent makes her next shot.

Q: In match play, Jane hits her ball into a water hazard. Brenda asks Jane how she’s going to proceed to which Jane replies that she is going to drop out and take a one-stroke penalty. After Brenda plays her next shot, Jane changes her mind and plays her ball out of the hazard. Did Jane give Brenda the “wrong information” according to Rule 9-2?

A: No. Jane didn’t have to answer Brenda’s question, but the fact that she did does not preclude her from changing her mind.

The first thing to do is to hit a provisional ball. It doesn’t take much time to do so and it could save you a bunch of time later. (Rule 27-2) Although you don’t have to, you may go look for your ball, searching for a maximum of five minutes. If you find it, you must play it as it lies or declare it unplayable and take a one-stroke penalty. If you don’t find it, you take a one-stroke penalty and continue play with your provisional ball (Rule 27-2b).

In the first case, Ann was getting ready to address her ball when her putter nicked the ball causing it to jiggle. She told her fellow competitors about it and added a penalty stroke to her score. However, when I questioned her about it, she said the ball didn’t actually move from its position; it simply wiggled and returned to its original spot.

The second scenario occurred in the fairway when Nancy unintentionally moved her ball about three feet with her club. She, too, added a penalty stroke to her score.

What’s wrong with these two pictures?

They both pertain to Rule 18 which says: “When a ball is in play, if equipment of the player … causes the ball to move, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke. If the ball is moved, it must be replaced…”

In Scenario #1, the Decisions Book answers this very clearly in Decision 18/2:

“Q: In addressing the ball, a player accidentally causes the ball to oscillate, but it returns to its original position. Has the ball moved?

“A: No.”

So Ann did nothing wrong and she should not have taken a penalty stroke.

In Scenario #2, clearly Nancy moved her ball with her equipment, so her penalty was deserved. However, she should have replaced the ball before continuing play.

13-2/22 Knocking Down Leaves with Practice Swing
Q: A player’s ball lies near a tree or bush. The player takes a practice swing near his ball and knocks down leaves in the area of his intended swing. Is this a breach of Rule 13-2?

(FYI: This is the rule that says you must not improve or allow to be improved the position or lie of the ball the area of your intended stance or swing, your line of play or the area in which you are to drop or place a ball by “moving , bending or breaking anything growing or fixed…”)

A: The answer depends on whether the area of the intended swing is improved. In some cases, the knocking down of a number of leaves would not improve the area of the intended swing as the player still has to swing through a number of remaining leaves when making his stroke. In such circumstances, there would be no breach of the Rules. In other cases, the knocking down of one leaf might improve the area of the intended swing, in which case there would be a breach of Rule 13-2.

In my case, I now believe that I shouldn’t have taken the penalty, because the leaf that fell made absolutely no difference to the area of my intended swing. I’m sure glad to know this for future reference!!

If your ball is in the water and you need to put another ball in play, you must take your drop based on where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. You have two options if the hazard is a direct hazard and is marked in yellow: 1) replay the shot; or 2) go back as far as you’d like on an imaginary straight line  beginning at the hole and going through the point on the margin where your ball last crossed. If the hazard is marked in red, you have two additional options: 1) take two club lengths from the point on the margin where your ball last crossed (not closer to the hole); or 2) find the point equidistant from the hole and not closer to it  on the opposite margin of the hazard. All of these options are based on the point at which your ball crossed into the hazard, not the ball’s “line of flight,” and they all require taking  a one-stroke penalty.

If you’re in some other kind of awkward situation (i.e. under a large pine tree) and need relief, you have three options:  replay the shot;  take two club lengths from where the ball lies not closer to the hole; or, keeping the ball between you and the hole, go back as far as you like. These options also come with a one-stroke penalty.