From Laurie:
“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.”
When the conditions of the course are such that a ball becomes embedded in its own pitch-mark, what do you do? Lift, clean and …..
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).
Q: In match play, if your opponent asks how many strokes you’ve taken, do you have to tell her?
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.
A heavily-wooded golf course provides lots of opportunities for lost balls. There are generally no colored stakes along a tree line; in other words, the woods are not considered to be a hazard or out-of-bounds. So how should one proceed upon hitting a ball into the woods?
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).
Two of my friends had similar experiences with moving their ball accidentally. Being honest competitors and wanting to do the right thing, they accepted penalty strokes graciously. But should they have done so?
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.
Today I assessed myself a 2-stroke penalty for knocking down a leaf on my practice swing. When I got home I found this in the USGA Decisions book:
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!!
How often do you hear (or use) the words “line of flight?” Would it surprise you to know that there is no such thing? The concept is often called upon (incorrectly) to determine a place to drop a ball that has gone into a water hazard or is unplayable in some other way.
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.
The other day I watched someone switch golf balls on the putting green. This person was playing most of each hole with one ball and putting with a different ball. This is not allowed under “The Rules of Golf.”
From the Rules of Golf – 15-1: “A player must hole out with the ball played from the teeing ground unless the ball is lost or out of bounds.”
The Rules of Golf also say that a player may substitute a ball if the current ball is “unfit for play.” (Rule 5-3) “A ball is unfit for play if it is visibly cut, cracked or out of shape. A ball is not unit for play solely because mud or other materials adhere to it, its surface is scratched or scraped or its paint is damaged or discolored.”
(Answers are at the conclusion of the article.)
Casual water is “any temporary accumulation of water on the course that is not in a water hazard and is visible before or after the player takes his stance.” (The Rules of Golf 2008-2009)
So how do you deal with this situation when your ball is lying in casual water?
First you must determine the nearest point of relief. This is not necessarily the nicest point of relief; there is no choice involved. The nearest point of relief is the point on the course that is not nearer the hole and that offers full relief from the casual water.
In order to determine the nearest point of relief, you use the club with which you would have made your next shot and take your stance holding the club as you would when addressing the ball. At this point there should be no interference to stance or swing from the casual water. The point at which the clubhead is touching the ground should be the closest point to where your ball originally lay. Mark that spot with a tee and measure one clublength from there not nearer the hole. Then drop the ball.
What if the ball rolls back into the casual water?
You must redrop. If it rolls in again, you will redrop but on this drop you need to take note of the spot where the ball first strikes the ground, and if it has rolled back into the casual water, you must pick the ball up and place it on that spot.
Answers: Yes, yes and perhaps both.
According to the “Rules of Golf,” a bunker is “a hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand or the like.” We often call this area a “sand trap,” but those words are not found in the “Rules of Golf.”
The following terms are not in the “Rules of Golf” either, but you might encounter two other kinds of bunkers on the golf course. A hollow grassy area often located near the green is referred to as a “grass bunker.” And areas of cochina or desert growth are sometimes called “waste areas” or “waste bunkers.” The rules concerning sand bunkers do not apply to either of these areas, because they are not considered hazards.
You MAY ground your club in a waste bunker.
You MAY remove loose impediments in a waste bunker.
You MAY take practice swings in a waste bunker, hitting the ground as you do so.
You MAY even drive your cart into and through a waste bunker.
What clues do you have that a sandy area is a waste bunker and not a hazard? The material in a waste area is clearly not “prepared” sand. There is no rake nearby. And there might be plant and shrub growth within the area.
PS – Try to get into the habit of calling a sand-filled hazard by its real name – “bunker.”