RULES CORNER

Local Rules Adopted by the Women’s 18ers Golf Club

Written by Joyce McCann – 18ers Rules Chair

Since the Rules of Golf take up 326 pages, excluding 40 additional pages of Definitions, one might think there would be no need for Local Rules. But, no. Sixty-four pages at the end of the Rules of Golf are devoted to describing 76 “Model Local Rules”.  Within the Rules of Golf, adoption of Local Rules that are significantly different from these 76 Model Local Rules is not permitted. If such bogus local rules are adopted, any rounds in which they are applied cannot be posted. Below are Local Rules adopted by the Rossmoor Women’s 18er Golf Club.

 

LOCAL RULES ADOPTED BY ROSSMOOR WOMEN’S 18er GOLF CLUB  AND/OR ROSSMOOR GOLF COURSE

Updated October 10, 2022

  1. Protection of Young Trees (Model Local Rule E-10) (adopted January 2021). (This Local Rule has also been adopted by Rossmoor Golf Course). Trees marked with stakes or fencing are considered “No Play Zones”. In all areas of the course except Penalty areas, if your ball lies on or touches such a tree, or if the tree interferes with your stance or area of intended swing, you can take free relief under Rule 16.1b. If your ball is in a Penalty area, and you wish to play it from inside the penalty area, if the staked tree interferes only with your stance or swing, you can take free relief under Rule 17.1e(2). But, if the your ball is in the No Play Zone defined by the staked tree, you must take penalty relief (Rule 17.1e).

 

  1. “Goose Dung” (Model Local Rule F-12) (adopted June 2018). Goose dung is a Loose Impediment but can be difficult to remove. Under this Local Rule, 18ers may consider goose dung Ground Under Repair (GUR) if it interferes with the lie of the ball, stance or swing in the general area or bunkers, or, in addition, line of putt on the putting green. Free relief may be taken following Rules 16.1b (general area), 16.1c (bunkers), or 16.1d (putting green).

 

  1. Alternative to Stroke & Distance for Lost Ball or Ball Out of Bounds (OB) (Model Local Rule E-5) (adopted January 2019). This Local Rule is intended to speed up play. For example, it allows the player to avoid walking all the way back to the tee after a tee-shot is declared lost or OB. Full option relief procedures are somewhat complicated (see Model Local Rule E-5). The simplest option is to first find the nearest point on the fairway from where the lost ball is estimated to have come to rest on the course or from where the OB ball crossed into OB.play. Then, the next shot can be played from the fairway, 2-club lengths no nearer the hole from that point. The penalty is 2 strokes. Thus, it is as though the player had gone back to the tee and hit their 3rd shot, which ended up in the fairway. Hence, under this Local Rule, the player’s next shot would be their 4th. This Local Rule applies to all 18er play, including the Handicap, Invitational, Classic, and Championship tournaments.

 

  1. Animal Hoof Damage (Model Local Rule F-13) (adopted prior to 2017). Damage anywhere on the course (except on the putting green) that is clearly identifiable as having been caused by animal hoofs is considered Ground Under Repair (GUR) and free relief may be taken under Rule 16.1. This Local Rule does not apply on the putting green since animal hoof damage can be repaired.

 

  1. Damage by Animals: Turkey and Goose Footprints in Bunkers (Model Local Rule F10) (adopted August 2021). Turkey and goose footprints in bunkers are considered Ground Under Repair (GUR). If your ball lands in a turkey or goose footprint in a bunker, you have the option of taking free relief under Rule 16.1c. The relief position must be no nearer the hole and remain in the bunker. This Local Rule only applies to interference by turkey or goose footprints with lie of the ball, NOT to interference with stance or area of intended swing.

 

  1. Relief from Cracks in Ground (Model Local Rule F-8) (adopted August 2021). Cracks in the ground in the general area are considered Ground Under Repair (GUR). If your ball comes to rest in such a crack, or if the crack interferes with the area of your intended swing, you may take relief under Rule 16.1b. This Local Rule does not apply if the crack in the ground only interferes with the player’s stance.

 

  1. Preferred Lies Rule (Model Local Rule E-3) (first adopted July 2020; suspended Spring 2021; readopted July 2021, suspended March 2022, readopted September 2022 . Poor course conditions on Stanley Dollar course require adoption of this Local Rule. Model Local Rule E-3 is normally restricted to parts of the General Area that are “cut to fairway height”. The 18ers adopted a modification of this Local Rule that includes the entire General Area because in many parts of the Dollar General Area, “rough” and “fairway” are not clearly discernable. The text of the Rule as adopted is: “When a player’s ball lies in the General Area, the player may take free relief by placing the original ball or another ball in a relief area within 6-inches of the spot of the original ball no nearer the hole. If the ball lies in an area that is clearly rough, the improved position must remain in the rough. The need for this Local Rule will be determined based on course conditions.

 

  1. Immovable Obstruction Close to or on the Putting Green (Model Local Rule F-5)) (adopted by Rossmoor Golf Course). If an immovable obstruction (most commonly a sprinkler head) is in the line of play and within 2-club lengths of both the putting green and the lie of the ball, free relief is allowed under Rule 16.1b.

 

  1. Hole #15 Hillside left of the fairway is a Ground Under Repair No Play Zone. Any ball coming to rest in bounds on the hillside should be abandoned. Take free relief by dropping a ball anywhere in the nearest of the two Dropping Zones marked with yellow tee-markers (Model Local Rue E-1 – Dropping Zones)(adopted by Rossmoor Golf Course).

 

  1. Relief from tree roots (Model Local Rule F-9.2. A player may take free relief from an exposed tree root in the General Area if there is interference with the lie of the ball or the area of intended swing. The tree root is considered Ground Under Repair. Take relief under Rule 16.1b. Note that relief cannot be taken if the tree root only interferes with the player’s stance.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Giving and Getting Advice During a Round of Golf

The Do’s and Don’ts of Giving and Getting Advice During a Round of Golf

The Do’s and Don’ts of Giving and Getting Advice During a Round of Golf  (Corrected for 2023 Rules)

By Joyce McCann, 18er Rules Chair

 

Several rules of golf deal with the do’s and don’ts of giving or gaining different types of information during a round of golf that may give a player an advantage.

The Rules include two types of information; advice and public Information.  Advice is any comment or action intended to influence a player in, for example, choosing a club or deciding how to play a hole.  Advice can only be given to you by your caddie, partner, or an official “advice giver” in a tournament (Rule 24.4). If you accept advice from anyone else, or give advice to a player who is not your partner, there is a 2-stroke penalty in stroke play, or loss of hole in match play (Rule 10.2).

Public information, which includes such things as the location of a penalty area or bunker, distance to the hole, or the Rules, may be provided at any time to anyone. Sometimes the distinction between advice and public Information is subtle. If you are playing a hole and another player in your group says “there is a penalty area on the right,” that’s public information, but, if she says “best to play to the left side of the fairway,” that’s advice.

Here are two examples of other ways to gain helpful information within the

Rules.

Finding out what club another player used for a shot can be very helpful information. While it’s okay to ask another player what club they used after you both have hit your shots, it’s not okay to ask before you have hit your shot, as that is asking for advice. There is however, a legal way to find out what club another player used before hitting: you can look into their bag to see what club is missing . Touching the bag or a club in the process of peeking will incur a 2-stroke penalty (Rule 10.2a). So, look in the bag to your heart’s content, but don’t touch anything. Just another example of why the Rules are sometimes good for a laugh.

Knowing how a putt will break is vital. One can gain a lot of information before putting by watching the breaks of others’ putts. The best way to do that is to position yourself facing the player on an extension of the line of play on the other side of the flagstick. The 2023 Rules do not prohibit this regardless of whether you are the player’s partner, opponent, or just a fellow competitor. The new Rules do, however, define a ”Restricted Area” behind the player, where a caddie or partner cannot stand when the player begins taking a stance until the stroke is made [Rule 10.2b(4)]. So, the option of watching from the other side of the flagstick is open to any player. However, as some players might be distracted by seeing another player standing in their line of sight, they may ask that person to move. If the person refuses to move, they can be considered to be deliberately distracting the person putting, which could be “serious misconduct” (Rule 1.2a Interpretations).  So, if you are asked to move, move.

The bottom line is, get all the information you can within the Rules. Play your best, and remember to have fun.

What’s Special About Teeing Areas and Putting Greens?

What’s Special About Teeing Areas and Putting Greens?

by Joyce McCann – 18ers Rules Chair

A golf course is divided into 5 areas: Teeing areas, Putting greens, Penalty areas, Bunkers, and everything else, which is called the General area. Then, of course, there’s Out of Bounds, but that’s not part of the Course. Teeing areas and Putting Greens are unique in two ways.

  1. Rules that apply to Teeing Areas and Putting Greens only pertain to the hole you are playing, whereas Rules for Bunkers and Penalty areas apply everywhere on the Course, not just on the hole you are playing. For example, if your errant shot that ends up in the Teeing area of another hole, that’s not, for you, a Teeing area. It’s part of the General Area, and you play the ball just as you would if it was in the Fairway. Similarly, if your errant shot ends up on the Putting Green of another hole, that’s not a Putting Green for you; it’s a “Wrong Green”, and you have to take complete relief from the Wrong Green in the same way you would from a cart path (Rule 13.1f). On the other hand, if your errant shot lands in a bunker or a penalty area on a neighboring hole, you follow the same Rules as if they were on the same hole you are playing.
  2. You can do things in Teeing Areas and Putting Greens that you can’t do in any of the other 3 areas of the Course.
    1. Teeing Areas (Rule 6.2). Because the ball is not “in play” until a stroke is made, you can do just about anything you want in the teeing area – e.g, pull up weeds, use your foot or your club to build up a nice mound to tee-off from. Also, if you take a practice swing and inadvertently hit your ball OB, you can re-tee your ball – no penalty. Also, if you then tee-off and either again hit your ball OB, requiring stroke and distance penalty, or if your tee shot bounces off a tree and ends up back in the Teeing Area, you can re-tee your new ball anywhere in the Teeing Area for your next stroke. But, note that the Teeing Area is only the 2-club length deep area from the front of the tee-markers back.
    2. Putting Greens (Rule 13). Once your ball reaches the sacred ground of the Putting Green, it is in a new world. It may have been caked with mud from an eventful journey through the General Area, but now you can mark it, lift it, and clean it. You can also do other things you can’t do anywhere else on the Course (except, of course, in the Teeing Area). You can repair any damage caused by a person or outside influence (e.g., animal hoof prints) anywhere on the green. You can also remove sand and loose soil and replace a ball with no penalty if you accidentally cause it to move.

 

It’s helpful to know the differences in application of the Rules in the 5 areas of the Course. This article focused on Teeing Areas and Putting Greens. A subsequent article will highlight Rules differences among the other 3 areas.

What It Means to Have a Partner

What It Means to Have a Partner

by Joyce McCann – Rules Chair

You can have a partner in either Match Play or Stroke Play (Rule 23). In Match Play, you and your partner (called a “Side”) play against another Side of two opponents. This happens, for example, in East Bay Team Play. In Stroke Play, your Side plays against all the other Sides in the field. In both cases, your Side’s score for each hole is the lowest score between you and your partner.

 

There are special Rules that come into play when you have a partner.

 

  1. Both partners do not have to be present. Thus, if your partner can’t play for some reason, you can still play without your partner, even if they aren’t present (Rule 23.4).

 

  1. You can take any action concerning your partner’s ball before the stroke. For example, you can mark your partner’s ball, or if your partner needs to take relief, you can drop your partner’s ball. (unlikely, but legal!) BUT, if you break a Rule doing any of these things (e.g., cause your partner’s ball to move), your partner will get the penalty instead of you (Rule 23.5)!

 

  1. In Match Play, if an opponent concedes your next putt, you cannot go ahead and putt if it would help your partner. If you do, there is no penalty to you, but your partner’s score for that hole will not count (Rule 23.6, Exception).

 

  1. Order of Play. In general, in both Match and Stroke play, the player furthest from the hole plays first, but not always. Here are some Order of Play Rules to keep in mind.

 

a) in Match Play, if you or your partner play when the ball of one of your opponents is further from the hole, there is no penalty, but your opponent can cancel the stroke. If they do, when it’s your turn to play, you will have to hit the ball again from the original position. If your opponent does not cancel the stroke promptly, the stroke counts (Rule 6.4a(2)).

 

b) In Match Play, to save time, when your opponents’ side is away, you or your partner may play first if your opponents agree (Rule 6.4a(2)Exception). In Stroke Play, ready golf is encouraged (Rule 6.4b).

 

c) When it is your Side’s turn to play, you and your partner may play in whatever order you consider best (Rule 23.6). For example, let’s say that your ball is 130 yards from the hole and your partner’s ball is 100 yards from the hole. Even though your two opponent’s balls are 120 and 125 yards from the hole, you may tell your opponents that you want your partner to play first (Rule 23.6).

 

In competitions like East Bay Team Play, it’s important to know these Rules, because your Opponents will!

Quiz Time – What are the Stakes?

Quiz Time – What are the Stakes?

by Joyce McCann – Rules Chair

Answer these 3 questions correctly, and you can pat yourself on the back!

  1. Two of the 3 options for taking relief from a Penalty Area marked with red or yellow stakes are the same. What are the two options? What is the third relief option that is only available for one of the two types of Penalty Areas?
  2. If a red or yellow stake interferes with your lie, stance, or area of intended swing, can you take free relief? If so, how do you take relief? If a white Out of Bounds stake interferes with your lie stance, or area of intended swing, can you take relief?
  3. How do you know if your ball is in a penalty area marked with a red or yellow stake? How do you know your ball is Out of Bounds?

Answers

  1. Shared options: a) Stroke and Distance relief. Go back and hit the ball again; and b) Back-on-the-Line relief. Drop a ball within 1-club length of a Reference Point you choose that is on a “Reference Line” going straight back from the hole through the estimated point where your ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area.

Option not shared: If your ball is in a penalty area marked by red stakes, you may also take “Lateral Relief”. Drop a ball within 2-club lengths of a Reference Point, which is the estimated point where your ball last crossed into the Penalty Area. (Rule 17)

  1. You can take free relief from a red or yellow stake. Just remove the stake, and put it back after you’ve made your shot. These stakes are “Movable Obstructions”. But, you cannot remove a white Out of Bounds stake (Rule 15). If you can’t hit your ball without removing the white stake, you will have to declare your ball Unplayable and take penalty relief (Rule 19).

 

  1. If any part of your ball touches a line drawn between the two fairway-side edges of the red or yellow stakes nearest to your ball, your ball is in the Penalty Area (e.g., your ball is in the Penalty Area even if 98% of the ball is still in the fairway) (Penalty Area Definition). The Rule is different for White (OB) stakes. if only part of your ball touches a line drawn between the course-side of two OB stakes, it is not OB. The entire ball must be outside the course-side edge of the line to be OB (OB Definition).
Abnormal Course Conditions

Abnormal Course Conditions

by Joyce McCann – Rules Chair

What do a gopher hole, a water puddle, a cart path, and the hillside on Dollar #15 have in common?
By Joyce McCann, 18er Rules Chair

And the answer is ……. All of these seemingly quite different things are called Abnormal Course Conditions (Rule 16). They are examples of: Animal Holes (gopher hole), Temporary Water (water puddle), Immovable Obstructions (cart path), and Ground Under Repair (GUR) (Dollar #15 hillside).

These 4 categories are grouped together under the same moniker because, if your ball ends up in or on these, or if they interfere with your area of intended stance or intended swing, free relief is taken in the same way from all four conditions.

The first step is to find the Reference Point from which a relief area will be determined. The Reference Point is the Nearest Point of Complete Relief not nearer the hole, and is different depending on whether or not you can see the ball.

!. If you can see the ball (Rule 16.1b, the Nearest Point of Complete Relief is determined from wherever the ball is in the Abnormal Course Condition. For example, if the ball is visible in a puddle of water, the Nearest Point of Complete Relief will be the point outside the puddle that is nearest to the ball. Then, take relief by dropping a ball one club length from that point no nearer the hole.

2. If you can’t see the ball, the Nearest Point of Complete Relief is the estimated point where the ball crossed into the Abnormal Course Condition. The hillside on Dollar #15 is a great example. The entire hillside is a GUR No Play Zone. With the grasses currently blanketing the hillside, it is highly unlikely the ball will be visible. The Reference Point is the best estimate of where the ball crossed into GUR. Mark Heptig has determined that “the cart path should be used as the place where the ball crossed the margin of GUR”. Because errant drives can cross the margin of GUR very near the teeing areas on #15, it is not practical to follow normal relief procedures. Therefore, two Dropping Zones are used for relief. The correct procedure is to use the Dropping Zone that is closest to the Reference Point.

Abnormal Course Conditions are frequently encountered, so understanding that they are all dealt with in the same way will hopefully make it easier to remember the Rules.

What is a Reference Point and Why is it Important?

WHAT IS A REFERENCE POINT AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Written by Joyce McCann, Rules Chair

It is rare that a round of golf doesn’t include taking relief from something using a procedure that involves dropping a ball. In every case, whether it is penalty or free relief, the procedure requires identifying a Reference Point. A Reference Point is the point from which the Relief Area within which you must drop a ball is measured. It is important because if you have picked the wrong Reference Point, and don’t correct it before you play your dropped ball (Rule 14.5), you will very likely have hit your ball from the Wrong Place, which will result in a 2-stroke penalty (Rule 14.7).

Here are the 5 Reference Points in the Rules of Golf. They differ depending on the relief situation.

  1. Free relief from Abnormal course conditions (Ground under repair, Temporary water, Immovable obstructions, Animal holes), Dangerous animal conditions (Rule 16).

Reference Point = Nearest point of complete relief no nearer the hole. Relief area is one club length no nearer the hole.

  1. Penalty back on the line relief from Yellow or Red Penalty Areas (Rule 17) or an Unplayable ball (Rule 19).

Reference Point = A point you choose that is on a Reference Line extending from the flag through the point where your ball last crossed into the penalty area or was unplayable. Relief area is one club length on either side of the Reference Point no nearer the hole.

  1. Penalty lateral relief from Red Penalty Areas (Rule 17).

Reference Point = The estimated point where the original ball last crossed the edge of the red penalty area. Relief area is 2-club lengths no nearer the hole.

  1. Penalty lateral relief from an Unplayable ball (Rule 19).

Reference Point = The spot where the ball was unplayable. Relief area is 2-club lengths no nearer the hole.

  1. Free relief from a ball Embedded in the General Area (Rule 16).

Reference Point = The spot right behind the ball. Relief area is 1-club length no nearer the hole.

This is quite a bit to chew on, but your humble Rules Chair decided that, since the Season is ending, you have all Winter to digest it before next year’s season begins! If you look up the Rules indicated above, you will find illustrations showing the Reference Points for each relief situation. We have also attached a picture of all those illustrations. A suggestion is to keep this list of Reference Points in your cart or golf bag so you can easily determine which Reference Point to use in any situation.

Illustration of Reference Points:  2021-1015_Reference Points Illustration

What do the Rules say about practicing on the course before and during a round?

RULE OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2021

Written by Joyce McCann, 18er Rules Chair 

What do the Rules say about practicing on the course before and during a round?

Have you ever wished you could practice a little on the course before you start your round? And, during the round, if your game starts falling apart, wouldn’t it be nice to hit a few practice chips or putts to get your rhythm back?  Well, perhaps surprisingly, within strict limits, Rules 5.2 and 5.5 allow you to do these things. (You should also be aware that the Committee has the right to make a Rule that it is illegal to practice before or during a round.)

Practicing on the course before the round (Rule 5.2). The Rule is very simple.

If the round you are about to play is Stroke Play, you CANNOT practice on the course on the same day of your round. You can’t even walk out onto a green and roll balls or rub the green to test the surface. But you can practice chipping on or near your first teeing area and you can practice your putting stroke — just not on a putting green other than a practice putting green.

BUT, if the round you are about to play is Match Play, you CAN go out on the course before your round and practice to your heart’s content!

[FOR RULES NERDS] The Rules don’t give a reason for the different requirements for Stroke Play and Match Play, but a Rules expert I consulted speculated that the reason was that, in Stroke Play, you are playing against the entire field of players. So, to be fair, everyone should have the same opportunity to practice on the course before the round. If one or two players got to practice and the rest couldn’t, that wouldn’t be fair. In contrast, in Match Play, you’re only playing against one other person (or you and your partner are playing against an opponent and her partner), so their ability to practice is probably as good as yours! I think that explanation makes a lot of sense.

Practicing on the course during the round (Rule 5.5).

While you are playing a hole, you cannot hit a practice shot (Rule 5.5a).  But, between holes you can practice, with limitations (Rule 5.5b). Specifically, you can practice, either on or near the putting green of the hole you just completed or on or near the teeing area of the hole you are to play next. However, you can’t do this if it unreasonably delays play – e.g., if people are waiting behind you.

  1. In Individual Stroke or Match Play, once you have holed out, you can practice putting or chipping on or near the same green even if others in your foursome or your opponent haven’t yet holed out. While this is permitted by the Rules, some might consider it rude or poor etiquette. So, if you choose to do this, it should be done discreetly so it doesn’t distract players who haven’t yet holed out.
  2. If you are playing with a partner (e.g., Four-Ball Team Play), you can practice putting or chipping on or near the same green, but only after both you and your partner have holed out, or after the outcome of the hole has been decided.Practice Picture

Bottom Line. When the 18ers have a Match Play tournament, go out on the course before you tee off and practice as much as you want (provided you have a yearly pass or are willing to pay a green fee!). When the tournament is Stroke Play, do not practice on the course before your tee time. During either a Stroke or Match Play round, don’t hesitate to practice your putting or chipping within the limitations specified in Rule 5.5b indicated above. But be sure to do this without distracting other players or delaying play.

If your ball moves, what do you do? Rules every 18er should know.

RULE OF THE MONTH FOR SEPTEMBER 2021

If Your Ball Moves, What Do You Do – It Depends!  

This happens to all of us. We are in the process of setting up for a shot, taking a practice swing, waggling our club, or whatever our pre-shot routine is, and in the process we accidentally cause our ball to move.

So, up marches the Rules Official. The Rule that applies is Rule 9.4 (Ball Lifted or Moved by Player). What the Rules Official says depends on where on the course you were when this happened.

If you were in the teeing area there is no penalty [Rule 6.2b(5)]. You just put the ball or another ball back on a tee and start over. The reason you don’t get a penalty for accidentally moving your ball in the teeing area is that the ball is not in play on any particular hole until you make an actual on-purpose stroke at the ball. So, it doesn’t matter what you do beforehand.

If you were on the putting green, you also don’t get a penalty (Rule 13.1d). Just replace the ball.

But, if you were in any other area of the course (general area, bunker, penalty area) then you get a 1-stroke penalty and you must replace the ball (Rule 9.4).

So, the bottom line is, when you’re not in the teeing area or on the putting green, take special care not to accidentally move your ball at rest. If you do move it, replace the ball and you will have to take a 1-stroke penalty.

FOR RULES NUTS ONLY

Further consequences if you don’t follow the Rule.

If, instead of replacing your ball, you instead hit your next shot from the ball’s new position, you are now in trouble, because you have hit a ball from the Wrong Place [Rule 14.7]. That is a 2-stroke penalty and requires that you hit it again from the right place. But, to further complicate the issue, instead of getting 3 penalty strokes (1 for causing your ball to move and 2 for hitting from the Wrong Place), you only have to take a total of 2 penalty strokes. This is because of yet another Rule [Rule 1.3c(4): Applying Penalties to Multiple Breaches of the Rules]. Those 2 Rules will be the subject of other articles.

What if your ball moves for another reason?

Three other culprits could cause your ball to move: 1) Natural Forces (e.g., wind, gravity); 2) Your opponent in Match Play; and 3) An Outside Influence (e.g., someone else in your Stroke Play foursome,  a goose).

(1) Natural Forces. If you did not cause your ball to move, but after it came to rest, it moved on its own, say because of wind or gravity, as long as you had not already marked the position of the ball, you have to play it from its new position, no penalty.(Rule 9.3)

(2) Your Opponent in Match Play. If your opponent accidentally moves your ball, she does not get a penalty, and the ball should be replaced. But, if she deliberately moves your ball, she gets a 1-stroke penalty and the ball should be replaced (Rule 9.5). It’s interesting that if you accidentally move your ball you get a 1-stroke penalty (except on the teeing area or the putting green), but if your Opponent accidentally moves your ball, she doesn’t get a penalty!

(3) Outside Influence. There is no penalty and the ball should be replaced (Rule 9.6).

Pace of Play

RULE OF THE MONTH FOR AUGUST 2021

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair

Pace of Play aka Giddy-up Y’all

Frequently when we go out to play golf on a beautiful sunny morning, we find ourselves spending far too much time waiting on slow players ahead of us, or having the group  behind waiting on us. Thus, it is not surprising that the concept “Pace of Play” appears multiple times in the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf (Rules 5.6, 6.4; Committee Procedures 5G; Model Local Rules 8K). The sections on Committee Procedures and Model Local Rules list a variety of devices the Committee may adopt to speed up play. For example, often included on the player’s scorecard is a time when each hole should have been completed. This helps players in a tournament know where they stand during the round.

Below are some helpful suggestions in Rules 5.6 and 6.4 for our daily play at Rossmoor.

Rule 5.6b  (Prompt Pace of Play). Rule 5.6b reminds golfers to “play at a prompt pace” and offers advice on how to play efficiently. Importantly, it is suggested that we prepare in advance for the next stroke and be ready to play when it’s our turn. If everyone remembered that one piece of advice, Pace of Play would not be an issue. This Rule also sets an upper limit of 40 seconds  to make a stroke “after the player is able to play without interference or distraction.” Forty seconds is a long time, and the player should almost always require less time.

Rule 6.4 (Order of Play When Playing Hole). This Rule introduces the concept of “Ready Golf” in Stroke Play. This means that whenever you’re ready to hit your next shot you can do it, even if your ball is not furthest from the hole. This is an important permission, because for various reasons (e.g., you’re in a cart and another in your group is walking), you may reach your ball before the other player reaches her ball. Rule 6.4 also loosens the restriction in Match Play that furthest from the hole Order of Play must be maintained. The exception specifies that, if your opponent gives you permission, you may play out of turn. This too will help speed up play.

To sum up, a suggestion is that the next time you are not ready to play when it’s your turn, ask yourself why you weren’t ready. There are various reasons, some you can fix and some perhaps you can’t, but give it a try.

When it’s your turn to play, be ready!

If Your Ball Goes into a Penalty Area

2021-0710_2_Rules every 18er should know
2023-0226_Updated to reflect the new 2023 Back on the Line Rule (17.1d)
RULE OF THE MONTH FOR JULY 2021 by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair

If Your Ball Goes Into A Penalty Area, What Do You Do?

Penalty Areas are usually marked with either yellow or red stakes. Generally, yellow penalty areas are between the teeing area and the putting green; red penalty areas are to the right or left of the fairway. If your ball went into a yellow Penalty Area, you have 3 options. If it went into a red Penalty Area, you have those same 3 options, plus an additional 4th option (Rule 17).

The options are:
1. You can play your ball from within the Penalty Area with no penalty stroke.
2. You can take Stroke and Distance penalty – i.e., for 1 penalty stroke, go back to where you hit your original shot and try again.
3. You can take “back-on-the-line” relief for 1 penalty stroke. To do this, first identify orestimate the point where your ball last crossed into the Penalty Area. Then, line that point up with the flag on the green, and go back on that line as far as you want and drop the ball on the line. The spot on the line where the ball first touches the ground when dropped creates a relief area that is one club-length in any direction from that point (Rule 17.1d).
4. The 4th option, called “Lateral Relief”, is only available if your ball went into a red Penalty Area. As for Options 2 and 3, there is 1 penalty stroke. First, identify or estimate the point where your ball last crossed into the red Penalty Area (this is Reference Point). Then, unlike Option 3, you can drop your ball no nearer the hole within 2 club lengths of that Reference Point.

Now, after all that, we might ask ourselves, Is there more to say about what you should do if your ball goes into a Penalty Area? Of course there is! So, for those who have not yet fallen asleep reading all of this, here’s what else would be good to know.

1. How do you decide if your ball went into a Penalty Area if you didn’t actually see it go in? The question you have to answer is whether, after searching for your ball for 3 minutes, you can say it is “known or virtually certain” it went into the Penalty Area. For example, on Hole #10, if your ball flew toward the creek (which is surrounded by heavy rough), unless you actually saw the ball go into the creek, it would not be reasonable to say it is known or virtually certain the ball is in the creek. In that case, you would have to assume the ball is lost and take stroke and distance penalty.

2. Sometimes one section of a Penalty Area is marked by yellow stakes, and another section by red stakes. On the Dollar course, the Penalty Area that runs behind hole #2 and in front of the teeing area on hole #7 is one example, and the Penalty Area on hole #14 is another. So that you know what relief options are available to you, it is important in these cases to be clear about whether the point your ball last crossed into the Penalty Area was in the section marked by yellow stakes or by red stakes.

If You Can’t Find Your Ball

RULE OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE 2021.  Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair. 

If you can’t find your ball, what are your options?

The most common situation is that you slice or hook your shot, and it heads toward the rough, or worse.  You search for 3 minutes, but can’t find it. If a ball is not found in 3 minutes, it is lost, even if it is found in 3 minutes and one second. (Definition of Lost). If your ball is lost (or out of bounds), you simply return to the place where you hit your previous shot, take a 1-stroke penalty, and hit the shot again. This is called Stroke and Distance Relief (Rule 18.2). 

You also have a second option. Our club adopted a Local Rule (Model Local Rule E-5) in 2019 that allows you to avoid walking all the way back to where you hit your previous shot. Full option relief procedures are complicated (see Model Local Rule E-5), but in general, you can play your next shot 2-club lengths no nearer the hole from the nearest point on the fairway to where you estimate the lost ball would have come to rest on the course or where the OB ball crossed into OB. The penalty is 2 strokes. Thus, it is as though you did walk back to where you hit your previous shot and then hit your next shot in the fairway. This local rule  applies to all 18er play including the Handicap, Invitational, Classic, and Championship tournaments.

Well, that was a mouthful, but, as with most Rules of Golf, there is even more to say about Stroke and Distance Relief, and for those interested, here’s a fuller explanation of Rule 18.

  1. It is important to know that you don’t have to wait for your ball to be lost or out of bounds to take Stroke and Distance Relief. You can take Stroke and Distance Relief whenever you want. For example, say you hit a terrible shot on a par 3 hole. Your ball is not lost, but it’s in an awful position. The option of Stroke and Distance is always available. 
  2. The example above assumed your ball was lost in the General Area (all parts of the Course except the Teeing Area and Putting Green of the hole you are playing, all Bunkers, and Penalty Areas). However, it is also common to lose a ball in another area of the course, most notably in a Penalty Area. If it is known or virtually certain your ball ended up in a Penalty Area (e.g., you see it cross into the penalty area), but then can’t find it, Stroke and Distance Relief (Rule 18.2b) is, of course, available to you, as always (Rule 17.1d). But, you don’t have to take it. Instead, you can follow the normal procedures for relief from Penalty Areas (Rule 17.1d). 
  3. On the Course, there are also Abnormal Course Conditions (Rule 16), of which there are four: Animal Holes, Ground Under Repair, Immovable Obstructions (e.g., a parked maintenance vehicle), and Temporary Water. If your ball is lost in one of these four Abnormal Course Conditions, as always, you have the option of taking Stroke and Distance Relief, but you may also take relief without penalty following Rule 16.1e. 
Playing loose with loose impediments

Playing loose with loose impediments

Written by Joyce McCann – 18ers Rules Chair

A loose impediment is defined as: “any unattached natural object,” a very broad definition. Thus, many things qualify as loose impediments, such as sticks, leaves, branches, stones. Movable obstructions are defined as any artificial objects that can be moved with “reasonable effort.” Any objects manufactured from natural materials, such as cigar stubs, are also movable obstructions. Both loose impediments and movable obstructions can be moved without penalty, and under the new 2019 Rules, they can be moved anywhere on the course, including in penalty areas and bunkers. If your ball moves when you remove a loose impediment or moveable obstruction, you must put the ball back where it was. But, only if you were moving a loose impediment, you also have to take one penalty stroke (Rule 15.1b).

What about wood chips and mulch? We at Rossmoor are all aware that more and more off fairway areas of the course are covered in wood chips or mulch to conserve water. Thus, those of us who do not always hit a straight ball sometimes find our ball lying in a “sea” of wood chips or mulch. By Rule 15.1a, we know that wood chips or mulch are loose impediments, but the situation seems different than if only a stray wood chip interferes with our ability to strike the ball cleanly. How much leeway do we have in moving wood chips to improve our chances of making a clean shot in a “sea” of wood chips?

Part of the answer to this question lies in Rule 15.1b. As long as you are careful in removing wood chips so your ball doesn’t move, the Rules do not preclude removing any number of wood chips to increase your chances of striking the ball cleanly.

An additional complication is that currently, because of poor course conditions, the 18ers are allowing players to improve the lie of their balls by 6 inches no nearer the hole while remaining in the same area of the course (i.e., fairway or rough). So, how does this work if your ball landed in a “sea” of wood chips? Can you remove wood chips, creating a place for your ball less than 6 inches away from its original position, and then re-position your ball in the place you’ve created?

Interpretation 15.1a/3 supplies the answer. It says: “…when a ball is to be dropped or placed, the ball is not being put back in a specific spot and therefore removing loose impediments before dropping or placing a ball is allowed.” So, you may legally clear out wood chips before placing the ball 6-inches no closer to the hole from its original position in order to improve the lie. The Rules also say (Rule 15.1a) that you may remove loose impediments “in any way (such as by using a hand or foot or a club or other equipment).”  “Equipment” must be as defined, however (i.e., “anything used, worn, held or carried by the player”). So have at it, and hit a great shot from the wood chips!

Rules we might need as we emerge from lockdown

Rules we might need as we emerge from lockdown

From the 18er Rules Committee

After 2-months away from golf, it appears that very soon we may be able to get back out there on the golf course along with our clubs instead of, or more likely in addition to, our dogs! Chances are, however, that this long dreary interlude with no golf means that we may experience more slices, duck hooks, skulls, whiffs, stubs, and even the dreaded shank. To put it more politely, most of us will be a little rusty. In this article, we will explore several Rules of Golf that may be helpful as we emerge from the shadows back onto our beautiful golf courses. Made more beautiful I might add, because of efforts from our fabulous grounds crew together with the fact that we have not been tearing up the course by playing!

Model Local Rule E5. The usual procedure when you lose a ball or hit a ball out of bounds (OB) is to take stroke and distance penalty and hit it again from the same place. For example, if your drive went OB, your next shot would be to hit another drive, which would be your 3rd shot. However, perhaps you don’t have your slice yet under control, and you may fear that there’s a good chance you will hit your 2nd drive OB again. If that’s the case, Local Rule E5, which has been adopted by our course, is for you! This Rule allows you, instead of hitting another drive, to drop your ball in the fairway at a point even with where you estimate your first drive went OB. Thus, it is as though you had hit your 2nd drive and it landed in the fairway even with the point your first drive went OB. This Rule applies, of course, not just to drives getting lost or going OB, but to any shot getting lost or going OB.

Rule 19.3b. Unless one of your favorite shots is your bunker shot, after a long layoff, your ball landing in a bunker may strike fear into your heart – can you get it out in one shot, or if you do, will you skull it over the green and into the creek? If this situation resonates with you, here’s a Rule that might be helpful! Rule 19.3b allows you to declare the ball in the bunker “unplayable” and drop it back on a line with the flag (or in our current situation, perhaps on a line with the tin can stuck in the hole) outside the bunker. However, you do need to take an extra penalty stroke to do this – one stroke for declaring your ball “unplayable” and a 2nd stroke for removing it from the bunker. Thus, if on a par 3 hole, your tee shot landed in a bunker, your next shot would be shot #4. Any of us who has taken more than 2 shots to get out of a bunker might be quite happy with that outcome!

Eraser Rule (Rule 14.5). Now, a rule like this sounds just like something we have always wished for – if you hit a terrible shot, you get to have a second go at it! Well, no. Unfortunately, it only applies in certain circumstances where we have made a mistake in applying a Rule or choosing a wrong Rule. If either we or one of our playing partners or opponents notices the mistake before we hit our next shot, we get to go back without penalty and apply the Rule correctly or apply the correct Rule, or even apply a different Rule! The situations that qualify are those discussed under Rule 14, which deals with how to substitute, replace, drop, or place a ball. A simple (albeit perhaps unlikely) example is as follows. Suppose your ball lands on a cart path (immovable obstruction), and instead of taking 1-club length relief, you take 2-club length relief. If someone points out the mistake before you strike the ball, you can lift the ball without penalty and just go back and drop it again correctly. Or, you may decide that taking only 1-club length relief does not leave you with a reasonable next shot. In that case, you can instead decide to either hit the ball from the cart path, or take stroke and distance penalty (i.e., hit your next shot from where you hit the original shot that landed on the cart path). In other words, you can choose a different relief option that applies depending on the particular situation.

How to handle uncertainty about applying the Rules during a round – Part II. Stroke Play

How to handle uncertainty about applying the Rules during a round – Part II. Stroke Play

by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

Procedures for resolving Rules issues during a stroke play round (Rule 20.1c) are different than in match play (Rule 20.1b). In stroke play, you are playing against the entire field, whereas in match play you are only playing against your opponent. This difference has a couple of important consequences for how uncertainty in applying a Rule during play is handled. First, in stroke play, other players, whether they are in your foursome or another foursome, are encouraged to protect the entire field by offering help in correctly applying the Rules, or in pointing out when a Rule has been breached. But, in match play, each individual match is like a tournament unto itself. Opinions of players outside the match are irrelevant to the match. Second, if an uncertain Rules situation arises during match play, a player and opponent can agree on how to proceed, even if their decision does not accord with the Rules! However, if players in a stroke play foursome are not sure what the correct Rule is in a particular situation, they cannot simply proceed by agreeing on a procedure they are not sure is correct because how they proceed can affect the entire field.

Part I (see Rossmoor News, May 22nd), discussed Rules for handling uncertainty during match play. Part II discusses Rules for handling uncertainty during stroke play.

Example. During a recent 18er Thursday stroke play event, a player hit her tee shot on par 3 hole #14 into the penalty area in front of the tee. She was able to play her 2nd shot from within the penalty area, but it did not escape the penalty area and could not be found. There was disagreement in the foursome as to how she should then proceed. The foursome agreed that, because the ball was now lost, she should take stroke and distance penalty. But, they did not agree on whether it was permissible to drop a ball in the penalty area (i.e., should she drop a ball from where she hit her second shot in the penalty area, or should she go back to the teeing area to drop the ball?). The player decided to take stroke and distance penalty within the penalty area, but disagreement remained in the foursome as to whether that was allowed under the Rules.

How would this situation have been handled according to Rule 20.1c? Since there was uncertainty in this stroke play example, the player could have elected to complete the hole by playing 2 balls, and then asked the Committee to decide which ball should count after the round was completed. Before she played either of the 2 balls, she would have had to first announce that this was her intent, and she should also have said which of the two balls she wanted to count. In the example, had she elected this option, one of the two balls would probably have been played by dropping a ball under stroke and distance penalty in the penalty area, and the second ball would probably have been played from the teeing area under stroke and distance penalty.

What would have been the correct application of the Rules in this situation? Rule 17.2a (When ball played from penalty area comes to rest in same or another penalty area) indicates the player had 3 options, and an additional 4th option if her ball had last crossed the margin of the penalty area where it is marked with red stakes. These options would have applied whether or not her second shot hit from within the penalty area had been lost within the penalty area.

(1) She could have taken stroke and distance penalty inside the penalty area, dropping the ball within 1-club length from where the previous stroke was made in the penalty area (as suggested by one player in her foursome);

(2) She could have gone back to the teeing area and hit another shot (as suggested by another player in her foursome);

(3) She could have taken back-on-the-line relief, dropping the ball within one club-length of a reference point on a line extending from the hole through the point where the tee-shot last crossed into the penalty area (this option is not feasible on hole #14); or

(4) If the ball initially entered the penalty area marked by red stakes by bouncing off a tree across the creek back into the penalty area, she could have taken lateral relief from the point where the ball last crossed into the penalty area.( In this example, the ball crossed into the penalty area marked by yellow stakes, so this option did not apply).

Thus, when the player hit her 4th shot after taking stroke and distance penalty within the penalty area, she was not breeching a Rule. However, since there was uncertainty in the foursome about how to proceed, the best course of action would have been to play 2 balls.

Key points to remember in stroke play.

(1) Players are encouraged to help each other in applying the Rules correctly. If you see someone in your foursome, or in another foursome, who has, or is about to, breach a Rule, it is your obligation to say something, hopefully to prevent the breach. If they have already proceeded incorrectly, it is your obligation to tell them, their marker, or the Committee.

(2) If a player is uncertain how to proceed, they should announce they are going to play 2 balls to finish the hole, and say which ball they want to count. Then, the player should use their 2 best guesses of what the correct play should be, and finish the hole with the 2 balls. When they finish their round, and before their scorecard is turned in, they should ask the Committee to decide which ball should count and whether or not there is a penalty.

(3) For 18er regular Thursday play, the Committee is the Tournament Chair, the 18er Rules Chair, and Brent in the Pro Shop. First contact the Tournament Chair, and she will get a ruling from the Rules Chair or Brent in the pro-shop. Be sure to ask whoever gives the ruling to cite the correct Rule!

How to handle uncertainty about the Rules during a round – Part I. Match Play

by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

The official tournament season has begun at Rossmoor. Inevitably, situations arise when there is uncertainty or disagreement about how to apply the Rules in a particular situation. Fortunately, the Rules include specific procedures to follow when these situations arise (Rule 20.1). These procedures are different depending upon whether your round is stroke play or match play. In this article let’s look at a situation that arose in April, during an East Bay Team Play 4-ball match. The next article will look at a situation that arose during a regular 18er Thursday stroke play event.

Match play (Rule 20.1b). A player’s ball landed in temporary water (used to be called “casual water”) in a bunker near the front of the 15th green. Temporary water is an abnormal course condition (as are ground under repair, immovable obstructions, and animal holes). Rule 16.1c indicates how to take relief from an abnormal course condition in a bunker. The player can either take free relief in the bunker, or under penalty of 1-stroke, relief outside the bunker. To take free relief, the player first finds the nearest point of complete relief that is still in the bunker. If there is so much water that it is not possible to take complete relief, the player finds the nearest point of maximum available relief in the bunker. The other option the player has is to take 1-penalty stroke, and go as far back outside the bunker as she wants on a line extending from the flag through the point where the ball lies in the bunker.

The uncertainty that arose in this situation was that the player thought she could consider the entire bunker ground under repair (GUR) because it had been so impacted by the rain. In that case, the player would be able to take free relief outside the bunker. The player was wrong about this (see below), but at the time she didn’t know she was wrong.

Rule 20 specifies two options for resolving this issue. First, if the player and her opponents really don’t know what the proper procedure is (i.e., as long as they don’t agree to violate a Rule they know applies), they can agree to proceed under whatever scenario they think is fair, even though it may be shown later not to conform to the Rules! This is because what they do affects only their match, not the rest of the field. Second, if the player and her opponent cannot come to an agreement about the course of action to take, the player will have to take some action, and then if the opponent disagrees, the proper procedure is for her to state that she will request a ruling from the Committee when their group finishes the round. On the EBTP website (eastbayteamplay.com/rules-concerns), the “Committee” consists of a WGANC/NCGA Rules Official and two members of the EBTP Steering Committee who are not involved in the dispute.

What actually happened? While the 4 players in the match were deliberating about the best way to proceed, a passerby pointed out that the player could not designate the bunker GUR because it hadn’t been marked as such, and, for free relief, she had to drop the ball in the bunker. Since the passerby was neither a part of the match nor an official referee, the players could have ignored her advice (which happened to be correct), and could have agreed to follow the player’s initial inclination to designate the bunker GUR and take a free drop outside the bunker. However, they did take the passerby’s suggestion and continued play. Then, since the player and her opponents had agreed on a procedure, they did not need to request a ruling from the Committee after completing their round.

[The correct application of the rules according to the definition of GUR: A player cannot decide that a bunker, whether or not filled with temporary water, is GUR. The definition of GUR requires that an area be defined by the Committee as GUR, either by marking it on the course, or by announcing it is GUR prior to play. There are a few conditions that can be considered GUR by the player even if they have not specifically been defined by the Committee, but those few exceptions do not include temporary water in a bunker. Therefore, under the Rules, the only free relief option available to the player in this case was to find the maximum available relief still in the bunker.]

Key points to remember if you’re uncertain how to apply a Rule during Match Play. 1) You and your opponent(s) can resolve any issue when it arises before you tee off on the next hole, whether or not how you decide to proceed conforms to the Rules (provided you don’t agree to waive a Rule you know applies). 2) The only outside advice about how to proceed that you must follow is from a Rules Official. 3) If your opponent(s) do not agree with how you decide to proceed, they should announce that they will request a ruling from the “Committee” when the round is completed. 4) If you want to request a ruling, inform your team captain, and she will contact the appropriate Committee members.

New Rules for the New Year Rules Relevant to Four-Ball Team Play

by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

East Bay Team Play (EBTP) is beginning in March. The game we play in EBTP is called “Four-Ball” (Rule 23). This term is pretty vague, but Four-Ball means that two partners compete together as a side, with each partner playing her own ball. The side’s score for a hole is the lower score of the two partners on that hole.  Four-Ball can be played as either stroke or match play. In EBTP, Four-Ball is played as match play (Rule 3.2). In this article, we’ll explore some of what it means, vis a vis the Rules, to have a partner in match play – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

First, let’s look at the “good”. A great advantage of having a partner is that you two can strategize and give advice to each other, such as deciding what club to use, etc. (Rule 23.5). You can also decide which of you will play first on any particular shot. For example, on the putting green, if your partner is in a better position to win the hole than you are, but her ball is further from the hole than yours, you and she can decide that you will putt first to give information to your partner about the line of her putt (Rule 23.6).  You can also do this when you’re in the general area (the new term for through the green). In addition, your partner can help you line up your putt (as long as she’s not behind you when you take your stance!), and under the new Rules, she can even touch the green with her club or the flagstick to point out where you should aim your putt, as long as she removes the club or flagstick before you take your stroke [Rule 10.2b(2)]. Under the old Rules, touching the green was not allowed.

Under the old rules, if you accidentally moved your partner’s ball during search, or accidentally hit your partner’s equipment (e.g., cart)  with your ball, you would have received a penalty, whereas if you accidentally moved your opponent’s ball during search, or your shot bounced off your opponent’s golf cart, there would be no penalty.  Under the new Rules, the distinction between partner and opponent when the action is accidental no longer exists, and there is no penalty regardless of whose ball you accidentally move during search or whose equipment your ball accidentally hits  (Rule 7.4).

Now, let’s look at the “bad’.  Since you and your partner are, in a way, joined at the hip, if your partner does something that violates the Rules with respect to your ball, you will be penalized! For example, If you’re on the green, the Rules allow your partner to lift your ball for you. But, if she fails to mark the ball properly before lifting it, YOU will get the one stroke penalty (Rule 23.5b).

An important responsibility of every player is to provide the correct answer if asked by an opponent how many strokes you have taken at any time during play of a hole. If you answer this question incorrectly, you have a chance to correct the wrong information before your opponent makes her next stroke or takes a similar action like conceding the hole. If you do not correct the wrong information in time, you will get the “general penalty”, which in match play means you will lose the hole. However, if the wrong information you gave, hurt your opponent’s play (e.g., caused them to change their strategy for the hole based on that wrong information), BOTH YOU AND YOUR PARTNER will lose the hole!

And finally, the “ugly”.  Under the Old Rules, the use of equipment was included in Rule 14 (Striking the Ball). But, in the New Rules, there is an entire Rule devoted to “The Player’s Equipment” (Rule 4). Rule 4.3 details allowed and prohibited uses of equipment, and it’s useful to note the severe impacts prohibited uses of equipment can have on your EBTB team. The bottom line is that the first prohibited use of equipment by you or your partner will result in the offender losing the hole, and the second prohibited use by the same player will result in your team’s disqualification!

Here’s an example. Let’s say you draw the partner from hell. When you try to introduce yourself to her on the 1st tee, she can’t hear you until she takes out her ear-phones. She says she likes to listen to music while she plays because it helps with her swing tempo. You, knowing the Rules, let her know that if she does this while you’re playing a hole, she will have to take the “general penalty” – i.e., she will lose the hole [Rule 4.3a(4)] and you’ll have to count your score. So, you cut this potential problem off at the pass before she tees off. It’s a windy day, and now you find yourselves in the fairway ready to hit your second shots. Your partner, trying to gauge the direction and strength of the wind, holds out her handkerchief to help. Unfortunately, you didn’t know this wasn’t OK, but your opponents do [Rule 4.3a(2)) and call her on it, thus resulting in her first prohibited use of equipment, causing her to get the general penalty, and leaving you to carry the hole.

Then, on to the next hole. Your partner gets ready to hit her drive. She begins to set down a club to help align her feet correctly. Under the old Rules, this was OK as long as she removed the club before she took her swing. However, under the New Rules [New Rule 4.3a(6)), this is no longer permitted. You are aware of this change in the Rules, and alert her to this before she sets the club down, thereby averting yet another penalty. So, time passes, and after several shots, your team finally makes it to the green. Your partner has been sipping a soda-pop bottle, and she sets it on the green to help her judge the break. This is a violation [Rule 4.3a(1)). Your opponent team knows this, and they call her on it. Because this is your partner’s second prohibited use of equipment, your team is now disqualified and your round is over.

New Rules for the New Year – The Fifth Hole on the Dollar Course

New Rules for the New Year – The Fifth Hole on the Dollar Course

by Joyce McCann – 18ers Rules Chair

A sliced tee-shot on the fifth hole on the Dollar course often lands around the corner in a place that can’t be seen from the teeing area. The ball may either be in the rough difficult to find or possibly OB. Under the old Rules, you had two options:

1)      You could walk forward and hope the ball was in-bounds and that you could find it. If your hope didn’t pan out, you would then have to walk back to the tee, taking stroke and distance penalty (i.e., you would be hitting your 3rd shot from the tee).

2)      You could hit a provisional ball from the tee, announcing your intent before you hit the shot. If you didn’t pre-announce your intent, under both the old and new rules, the provisional automatically becomes the ball in play with stroke and distance penalty (i.e., it is your 3rd shot) regardless of what happened to your original shot (New Rule 18.3). Under the Old Rules, you could not hit a provisional after you started walking forward to search for the original ball, but under the New Rules you can.  However, you can only do this if the new 3-minute search-time limit (New Definition of “Lost”)  has not expired by the time you actually hit the provisional (Interpretation 18.3a/2). Frankly, it seems difficult to satisfy this requirement within 3-minutes, but that’s what the New Rule says!

Importantly, under the New Rules, you now have a new option – Model Local Rule E-5 (Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, p468). This local rule was recently adopted by the 18ers for all play on the Dollar course including the Club Championship. Here’s how it works. For two penalty strokes, this new local rule allows you to drop a ball on the fairway no nearer the hole than where you estimate your lost or OB ball may be. The procedure for identifying the relief area (the area in which you can drop the ball) is a little complicated.

Following is a brief description:

  1. Determine the ball reference point, which is your best estimate of where your lost or OB ball is.
  2. Determine the fairway reference point, which is the point of fairway of the hole you are playing that is nearest to the ball reference point but not nearer the hole.
  3. The relief area is anywhere between: a) A line from the hole through the ball reference point, and within 2-driver lengths to the outside of that line; and b) a line from the hole through the fairway reference point, and within 2-driver lengths to the fairway side of that line.

 

If you elect to use this new local rule, your next shot will be your 4th. Thus, it is as though you had opted to hit a provisional which landed in the fairway.

So, how to decide which relief option to take? An important factor to take into account on the 5th hole is that there is quite a lot of rough on the right side of the fairway. Thus, if you tend to slice the ball, a provisional hit from the teeing area may very well end up in the rough. The new local rule allows you to ensure that your 4th shot will be from the fairway. On the other hand, if your tee shot was really awful and didn’t get far from the teeing area before disappearing to the right, the best decision may be to hit a provisional. One thing to keep in mind when contemplating these options is that, if you have already hit a provisional, you cannot then decide to use the new local rule option, i.e., you can’t have it both ways!

New Rules for the New Year – The Fifth Hole on the Dollar Course (continued)

by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

If you elect to use this new local rule, your next shot will be your 4th. Thus, it is as though you had opted to hit a provisional which landed in the fairway.

So, how to decide which relief option to take? An important factor to take into account on the 5th hole is that there is quite a lot of rough on the right side of the fairway. Thus, if you tend to slice the ball, a provisional hit from the teeing area may very well end up in the rough. The new local rule allows you to ensure that your 4th shot will be from the fairway. On the other hand, if your tee shot was really awful and didn’t get far from the teeing area before disappearing to the right, the best decision may be to hit a provisional. One thing to keep in mind when contemplating these options is that, if you have already hit a provisional, you cannot then decide to use the new local rule option, i.e., you can’t have it both ways!

The Fourth Hole on the Dollar Course

The Fourth Hole on the Dollar Course

by Joyce McCann – 18ers Rules Chair

The most difficult challenge for many of us about the par 3 fourth hole on the Dollar course is that alignment of the tee shot has to be angled to the left. Thus, it is very easy to slice the tee shot and end up behind the trees, in the rough on the right, or sometimes even OB. In this example, let’s say you do slice your tee shot. It escaped OB, but landed somewhere in the rough. While looking for your ball, you accidentally move it. Under the old rules, you would have to take a penalty stroke and replace the ball as near as possible to where it was, not more than 1-club length away and no nearer the hole. Under the new Rules, you do not have to take a penalty stroke (Rule 7.4), and you simply replace the ball in its original or estimated position (Rule 14.2c).

You skull your next shot over the green and it runs down the hill, coming to rest against the chain link fence. Unlike the protective fence on the 3rd hole by the 4th tee box, which is an immovable obstruction from which you can take free relief, the chain link fence is a boundary fence from which you cannot take free relief. Had your ball flown over the fence, it would be OB. But, your ball came to rest against the fence and thus was still in-bounds. A ball is only OB if ALL OF IT is OB.

So, what to do? If, after you hit your 2nd shot from the rough, you legitimately thought your 2nd shot might be OB or lost, you could have hit a provisional ball (announcing this first to your playing partners). However, after walking up, you find that the ball is neither OB nor lost, but is in an unplayable position next to the boundary fence. Since a provisional can only be used if the ball was actually OB or lost, you cannot then decide to play the provisional [Rule 18.3c(3) Interpretations] and it has to be abandoned.

From an unplayable position, you always have the option of going back and hitting the ball again, taking a stoke-and-distance penalty, which would mean walking all the way back to where you hit the provisional that didn’t count. However, you have two additional options, both involving a 1-stroke penalty. Unfortunately, in this situation it appears that neither of these will work. You can’t take “back-on-the line” relief straight back as far as you want on a line from the hole extending through the spot where your ball lies because that would mean you would have to climb the fence and hit the ball from OB, which is a no-no. That leaves you with the option of taking lateral relief.

As in all cases of taking relief under the new Rules, the first thing to do is to find the reference point. In the case of lateral relief from an unplayable ball, the reference point is where the ball lies, in this case next to the chain link fence. [Note that this reference point is different from the reference point when you took free relief from the protective fence on hole #3 – in that case the reference point was the nearest point of compete relief from the obstruction]. From the reference point you then would normally define a lateral relief area spanning 2-driver lengths from the reference point no nearer the hole. But, in this situation finding a relief area does not appear possible. Even if you can find a legal relief area, it would always include an unplayable position next to the fence. Since the hill near the fence is steep, the dropped ball would very likely roll back down next to the fence. Since that position is included in the relief area, the drop would have to be considered “good” – i.e., it counts. You would then have to declare the ball unplayable again (for an additional 1-stroke penalty).

This situation, which is not uncommon on hole #4, is particularly difficult. A ball that comes to rest against the chain link boundary fence is neither OB nor lost, but it is unplayable. Hence, even if you have hit a provisional ball, it must be abandoned [Rule 18.3c(3) Interpretations]. And, because the fence is a boundary fence, and because of the steep hillside adjacent to the fence, neither back-on-the-line relief nor lateral relief are reasonably possible. The only realistic option the player has is to take the stroke and distance option, walking all the way back to where the previous shot was hit, which may very well be the tee box, using up lots of time.

It is of interest that the new Rules of Golf include a Local Rule that could be adopted, which would be helpful. Model Local Rule E-1.3 (p465 Official Guide to the Rules of Golf) allows the designation of a drop area for unplayable balls when the only relief option is stroke and distance. But, as of now, this Local Rule has NOT been adopted by our club. Therefore, if you find yourself in this situation, you will have to walk all the way back to where you may have hit a provisional ball that didn’t count, and hit another shot.

New Rules for the New Year – The Third Hole on the Dollar Course

by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair

In this rainy, cold season, the course is often really wet, but we all know that dedicated golfers keep playing regardless, as long as the pro shop lets us! Let’s say that you tee off on Hole #3 on the Dollar course, and you hit a high ball that slices and lands somewhere on the right side of the fairway in the rough, but you’re not sure where. You search, and see a ball that appears to be embedded (i.e., in its own pitch mark and partly below the surface). But, you don’t know if it’s your ball, and you pick it up to identify it. Under the old Rules, you will have to take a 1-stroke penalty for not announcing to your fellow players ahead of time that you’re going to pick it up. But, under the new Rules, you don’t have to announce ahead of time (but you do still need to mark it before you pick it up) (Rule 7.3).

Also, because the ball is embedded in the rough and not in a “closely mown area”, under the old rules you could not get free relief. You could not clean the ball and had to replace it in its embedded position, leaving you with a very difficult shot. Under the new rules (Rule 16.3), you get free relief from a ball embedded  in the rough. The method of taking free relief from an embedded ball has changed somewhat. The old rules required that you drop the ball “as near as possible” to the spot where it was embedded. Under the new rules (Rule 16.3b), the procedure is more precise. You first determine a reference point, which, in this case, is directly behind where the ball was embedded. You then measure a 1-driver length relief area no nearer the hole from the reference point. And finally, you drop the ball from knee height in the relief area.

After you take relief from the embedded ball, you can’t aim your next shot at the green because it is blocked by the trees. So, you try to carve a fade around the trees, but instead your ball goes dead straight and hits the protective fence guarding players on the 4th tee from shots like this one. The ball drops straight down. A protective fence is an immovable obstruction. Under both the old and new rules you can take free relief. Under the old rules, you would first find the “nearest point of complete relief” from the obstruction, and then you would drop the ball from shoulder height within 1-club length, using the club you planned for your next shot. Under the new rules (Rule 16.1b), the reference point is the nearest point of complete relief, and you  drop the ball from knee height no nearer the hole within a one driver-length relief area measured from the reference point.

Since the fence protecting the hole #4 tee box is located next to a severe downhill, when you drop your ball it may roll down the hill (though in this weather it may embed instead!). Under the old rules, as long as the ball stopped within 2-club lengths from where you first dropped it, it would have been a fair drop and the ball could be played; otherwise you would have to re-drop. However, under the new rules, the dropped ball must not only first strike the course within the 1-driver length relief area, but the dropped ball must also come to rest within the relief area. Otherwise, it will have to be re-dropped. If it rolls out of the relief area a second time, it will have to be placed on the spot it first hit within the relief area (Rule 14.3c).

So, in this example, under the old rules, you would have gotten a penalty stroke for not announcing that you were going to pick up the embedded ball to identify it, you would also not have been able to clean it, and would have had to replace and play it from its embedded position. Under the new Rules, you can clean it and take free relief, giving you a much better chance of putting the ball back into play. Also illustrated here are the new concepts of “reference point” and “relief area” in connection with taking relief. Note that the reference point was different in the 2 cases in this example –  directly behind the place where the ball was embedded, or at the nearest point of complete relief (ball, stance, swing) from the protective fence. Under the new rules, In all instances of taking free or penalty relief, the first step is to determine the reference point, which can vary depending on the situation.

New Rules for the New Year – The Second Hole on the Dollar Course

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

The second hole on the Dollar course is a short par 3, but it’s not easy because the green is protected by bunkers in front and on both the left and right sides. Let’s see how the new rules might apply to common situations we might find ourselves in on this hole.

Let’s say your tee shot is decent, but is a little left and short of the green, landing in the bunker at the front left. When you approach the green, you see that your ball is close to a twig (a loose impediment) that will interfere with your swing and make your attempt to get the ball out of the bunker very difficult. Not yet aware of the new rules, you think you can’t remove the twig and you try to hit the ball out anyway. That doesn’t work so well, and the ball buries under the lip. Under the new rules (Rule 15.1), you could have removed the twig (or any other loose impediment) with no penalty, giving you a reasonable chance of splashing the ball out onto the green and saving your par. (Important to remember though, under both the old and new rules, if your ball moves when you remove the loose impediment, you have to replace the ball and take a 1-stroke penalty.)

With your second shot buried under the lip, you decide to declare it unplayable. Under both the old and new rules, you will have to take a 1-stroke penalty. Under the old rules, you have 3 options: 1) Go back to where you hit the previous shot (in this case, in the bunker); 2) Drop a ball on a line between the ball and the hole, but still in the bunker; or 3) Drop a ball within 2-club lengths no nearer the hole, but still in the bunker. However, under the new rules (Rule 19.3) you have an additional option. For a second penalty stroke, you can take back-on-the-line relief that extends outside the bunker. Thus, if you are one of us that has a hard time getting out of bunkers, this extra option may be for you.

So, in this example, playing by the old rules, your second shot would have been very difficult because of the twig, and attempting the shot resulted in an unplayable ball still in the bunker. Playing by the new rules improves both of these situations: 1) Removal of the twig gives you a better chance of getting out of the bunker and saving your par; and 2) Using the additional relief option for an unplayable lie by extending back-on-the-line relief beyond the bunker gives you a way of avoiding taking several shots to get out of the bunker if bunkers just aren’t your thing.

Finally, a couple of additional rules changes that come into play in this example:

1)      Under the old rules, dropping a ball involved dropping it from shoulder height. Under the new rules, the ball must always be dropped from knee height.

2)      Under the old rules, when you took relief by 1- or 2- club lengths, the club you could use varied according to the situation. Under the new rules, a club length is defined as always the longest club in your bag (not counting the putter).

New Rules for the New Year

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

As all Rossmoor golfers are probably aware, as of January 1st, many rules of golf have changed. Brent Mulanax summarized many of the more significant changes in his article that appeared in the Rossmoor News December 19th. 18er Rules Corner articles will focus on common situations you are likely to find yourself in.

Let’s say you played golf on New Year’s Eve (under the old rules), and then came out on New Year’s day after a night of celebration to play again (under the new rules). Let’s see how the new Rules will apply to what may happen on the first hole of the Dollar course after a night of celebration.
a. Your first swing on the tee almost misses the ball, but not quite, and the ball ends up off the tee but still within the teeing area. Under both the old and new rules, that first swing counts. Under the old rules, your second shot would have had to be hit from wherever the ball came to rest in the teeing area. However, under the new rules, you can pick the ball up and put it back on a tee anywhere in the teeing area to hit your second shot (New rule 6.2b).

b. Your second shot is better, but the ball slices and goes into the tall grass in the rough on the right side of the fairway. Under the old rules, you would have had 5 minutes to search for the ball. If you couldn’t find it, you would have had to take stroke and distance penalty, walking all the way back to the tee to hit again. Under the new rules, you only have 3 minutes to find the ball (New rule 18.2a). Furthermore, if you don’t find it, a suggested new local rule for general play (i.e., not top level competitions) (Model Local Rule E-5) provides an alternative to walking back to where your last shot was hit. If our club adopts this local rule, you will have the option of dropping a ball on the fairway within 2 club lengths of the point of fairway nearest to where the original ball is estimated to have come to rest. You will still have to take 2 penalty strokes, but you will not have to walk all the way back to hit the next shot. We hope our club adopts this new local rule.

c. Your 5th shot is pretty good, but just misses the green to the left, leaving a delicate chip. You inadvertently double-hit the chip shot. Under the old rules, you would have had to count both hits as strokes, but under the new rules you don’t (New rule 10.1a)!

d. Finally, you hurry to putt because, by this time, you’re flustered and don’t want to hold the group up any longer. But in hurrying, you putt before the flag has been removed from the hole and your putt hits the flagstick. Under the old rules, you would have incurred a two-stroke penalty for hitting the flagstick, but under the new rules you don’t incur any penalty (New rule 13.2a)!

So, you can see from this rather chaotic first hole experience, the new rules were a big help. You got to re-tee the ball after dubbing your first drive, you didn’t have to walk all the way back to the tee to hit your next shot after losing your second tee-ball, and in addition, you did not have to take penalty strokes for double-hitting your chip shot or for your putt hitting the flagstick. Playing by the old rules you would have scored a 10 on the hole, but playing by the new rules you would have scored a 7. So, hooray for the new rules!

When can you substitute the ball you hit from the tee?

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2018. Updated to conform to the New Rules.

WHEN CAN YOU SUBSTITUTE THE BALL YOU HIT FROM THE TEE WITH ANOTHER BALL BEFORE YOU HOLE OUT?

The ball you tee off with on a hole should be the ball you hole out with on that hole (Rule 6.3). However, stuff happens between tee and hole, and the Rules indicate that it is OK to substitute another ball before you hole out in some circumstances without penalty, but not in others. The reason for not allowing substitution, in some situations seems a bit rigid.  Here’s an example taken from a USGA Rules of Golf Quiz (as you can see, the 18er Rules Committee answered this question incorrectly) —  

Question #6. In stroke play, a competitor lifts his ball to take relief from temporary water. He tosses the ball to his caddie for cleaning. The caddie is distracted and the ball comes to rest in a deep water penalty area, where it cannot be retrieved. The competitor substitutes a ball and plays out the hole. What is the ruling?

You answered: There is no penalty.

Correct answer: There is a two stroke penalty

It seems common sense that, if a ball is legally lifted for cleaning and then accidentally dropped in a lake, the Rules should permit substituting another ball without penalty. However, that is not the case, and in the above example the player has to take a 2-stroke penalty simply because her caddie didn’t catch the ball! The reason for the penalty is that Rule 14.2 (Replacing Ball on Spot) requires that any time a ball is to be replaced, the original ball must be used. And, they might have added “no exceptions”! Here’s another example. How many of us, after marking and lifting our ball on the green, have replaced it with a cleaner ball? Well, this is a similar example. Since the action is to replace the ball, the same ball must be used (Rule 14.2). If not, there is a 2-stroke penalty. 

However, you may substitute a ball without penalty when you are taking relief under any Rule that requires you to drop or place a ball (Rule 14.3). Examples are taking penalty relief from a penalty area (Rule 17), taking a stroke and distance penalty (e.g., ball OB) (Rule 18), taking penalty relief from an unplayable lie (Rule 19), or free relief from immovable obstructions (e.g. a cart path (Rule 16) or abnormal course conditions (e.g., temporary water, GUR)). In those cases, you can substitute a ball even if the original ball is available. 

The bottom line is, that substitution is not allowed if you are replacing a ball, but is allowed if you are dropping a ball.  

Provisional Balls – Do’s and Don’ts

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.  First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the new Rules.  

Provisional balls – Do’s and Don’ts

The fact that the Rules of Golf allow one to hit a provisional ball (Rule 18.3) is a very good thing. It is intended to speed up play. But it’s important to know the ins and outs of applying this option because it can only happen in certain circumstances, and there is a right and wrong way to do it. 

  1. A provisional ball is only an option if you think the original ball may be out of bounds (OB), or lost outside a penalty area (Rule 18.3a). 
  2. You must inform your playing partners that you intend to hit a provisional before you hit it (Rule 18.3b). 
  3. Before you hit your provisional, you must wait until all others in your group have hit their shots (Rule 6.4c). 
  4. Even after you have moved forward to start to search for your ball, you can still decide to run back to where you hit the previous shot to hit a provisional, as long as the 3-minute search time has not expired by the time you hit the provisional (Rule 18.3a/2).  
  5. Once you have hit the provisional, you have 3 minutes to find your original ball after you arrive in the area where you think it is. Prior to the 3-minute limit, you can keep hitting the provisional ball till it is even with the place you think your original ball may be. But, the second you hit the provisional from a position past where your original ball may be, and your original ball is subsequently found within the 3-minute limit, the provisional becomes the ball in play and the original ball is deemed lost. 
  6. You may also find yourself in the position of liking where your provisional ball ended up a whole lot better than your original ball. In this case, you have the option of not even searching for your original ball, but playing the provisional (with stroke and distance penalty, of course). Worth knowing also, that others (e.g., competitors) can also search for your original ball, and if they find it within the 3-minute limit, you will have to play that ball. Hence, if your tee shot on #10 hooks hopelessly into the woods to the left, and your provisional ends up 6-inches from the hole, you should run to the green and tap the ball into the hole (for a 4) before your competitor finds your ball not OB but deep in the woods. 

Multiple Penalties and Resolving Rules Issues

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the new Rules.

Multiple penalties and Resolving Rules Issues During a Round

Recently, a player preparing to hit her ball in the rough, took a practice swing and accidentally caused her ball to move about an inch. By the Rules, she should have taken a 1-stroke penalty and replaced her ball (Rule 9.4). Instead, she did not replace the ball. She hit it from where it had come to rest after she had caused it to move. By doing that, she also breached Rule 14.7 (Playing from Wrong Place), which specifies a 2-stroke penalty for hitting a ball from the wrong place. 

Should the player then have received 3 penalty strokes – 1 for causing the ball to move (Rule 9.1) and 2 additional penalty strokes for playing it from the wrong place (Rule 14.7)? 

Simple logic would suggest that yes, she should get 3 penalty strokes. However, in the Rules of Golf, there are special cases involving multiple penalties where the total penalty is not the sum of the separate infractions [Rule 1.3c(4)]. In general, in these cases, an upper limit of 2 penalty strokes is applied. The situation discussed here happens to be one of those cases, and the total penalty is not 1 + 2 = 3, but 1 + 2 = 2!

The problem for those of us who are not rules experts is to know whether our particular situation falls into this special category. In general, if the two breaches resulted from unrelated acts, the player would get the sum of both penalties. For example, making a practice swing in a bunker that touches the sand (2-stroke penalty) and also bending an overhanging branch that interferes with the player’s swing (2-stroke penalty), would result in 4 penalty strokes. But, making several swings in a bunker that touch the sand would result in only 2 penalty strokes (Rule 1.3c(4)). 

It is fairly easy to see that the above example (causing a ball to move: 1-stroke penalty and then hitting the same ball from the wrong place: 2-stroke penalty), falls within this special class of multiple penalties. The player breached 2 rules in sequential acts – causing the ball to move (Rule 9.4), and then instead of replacing it, hitting it from its new position (Rule 14.7). This would result in a total of 2 penalty strokes.

However, there are many cases where it may not be clear whether this multiple penalty limitation should be applied. There may also be other situations not involving multiple penalties where you are uncertain how to proceed according to the Rules.  The best thing to do if you are in doubt about any Rules situation is to follow Rule 20.1 (Resolving Rules Issues During Round). This is an important Rule to know. The methods for resolving Rules issues during Stroke and Match play are different.  In stroke play, Rule 20.1 allows you to play out the hole with 2 balls, and then the Committee will decide which ball to count.  If you do this, you must first let your fellow competitors know you are going to play a second ball, and say before you hit which of the two balls you would like to count. In Match play, you and your opponent can agree on a resolution, even if it doesn’t comply with the Rules. If you can’t agree, either you or your opponent may make a claim to a Rules official after the round. 

The take-home message is: a) It’s important to know Rule 20.1; and b) When in doubt, report concerns to Rules Officials. You will notice that, whenever you turn in your scorecard to the officials at the end of a stroke play round, they always ask whether you used Rule 20.1.

 

Searching – Where Oh Where Is My Ball?

Searching – Where Oh Where Is My Ball?

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the 2019 Rules.

Recently, an 18er was playing at a nearby club. Her shot on a par 3 landed in a bunker just short of the green and bounced up into grass overhanging the bunker (see picture). As she was searching for her ball, it rolled down into the bunker. What to do? Should she replace the ball? Should she play it from the bunker? Does she have to take a penalty stroke?

The first thing in deciding what to do in this situation is to know that the grass overhanging the bunker is not part of the bunker (Rule 12.1). It is part of the General Area – i.e., it is just like everything else on the hole she was playing except the teeing area, putting green, and penalty areas. 

Thus, the Rules question is, what are the consequences if a player accidentally causes her ball to move while searching for it in the general area. In this example, under Rule 7.1, it was fine for the player to probe the overhanging grass with her club to try to find her ball. And, under Rule 7.4, after the player caused her ball to move during the search, she does not have to take a penalty stroke. But, she does then have to replace the ball as close as possible to its original position in the overhanging grass, and attempt what looks like an impossible shot. Note that, If the player’s fellow competitor (Stroke play), or opponent (Match play) had been helping in the search and caused the ball to move, there would also have been no penalty, but the ball would still have had to be replaced. 

Once the ball had been replaced in the overhanging grass, if the player then decided the shot was indeed impossible, she could have declared the ball unplayable. She would then, by Rule 19 (Unplayable Ball), have had to take a penalty stroke. But, since her ball in the grass was in the General Area and not in the bunker, for only 1-penalty stroke one of her options would have been to take Back-on-the-Line Relief (Rule 19.2b), dropping the ball within 2-club lengths from a Reference Point of her choice that is on a line running from the hole through the spot of the original ball, with no limit on how far back on the line she chooses to designate the Reference Point (e.g.,  she could drop her all outside the bunker). Hopefully, she then would have hit the ball up on the green for a 1-putt. 

Equipment and the Rules of Golf

Equipment and the Rules of Golf

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the 2019 Rules. 

News flash – from the viewpoint of the Rules, it’s not just us playing golf, it’s also our “equipment”. Equipment includes anything we, our fellow competitors in stroke play or opponents in match play use, wear, hold, or carry (e.g., a golf cart, bag, club, or balls). 

There have been two recent incidents that both involved equipment behaving badly.  

It is important to note that both of these incidents occurred during stroke play – rulings might be different had they occurred during match play. One incident occurred during a “friendly” game of skins on the 15th hole on Dollar when a player’s fairway metal shot took an unexpected turn to the right and ended up lodged in the seat of the stationary golf cart (equipment) of a fellow competitor, who narrowly avoided a direct hit by diving out of her cart at the last minute. The second incident occurred during the final round of the 18er stroke play Championship tournament. In that incident, a player hit her tee shot on #10 and it landed on the green, but was deflected off the green by a club (equipment) a fellow competitor in the group ahead of her had forgotten to pick up. 

Both the cart and the club were not just equipment, they were also outside influences because they didn’t belong to the player, and they were also movable obstructions for obvious reasons. Yet, different Rules apply in these two situations. So, what is the key difference between the two incidents? 

In the golf cart incident, a ball came to rest on the cart. In the golf club incident, a ball was deflected by the club. The applicable Rule when a ball comes to rest on a movable obstruction is Rule 15.2 (Movable Obstructions). The Rule applied when a ball is deflected by an outside influence is Rule 11.1 (Ball in Motion Accidentally Hits Person or Outside Influence). In both cases, there is free relief. 

In the golf cart incident, since the golf cart is a movable obstruction, the solution is simply to move the cart, and then drop a ball within one club length of the estimated spot right under where the ball came to rest in the cart (Rule 15.2). [As an aside for Rules Nuts, if the cart had been moving when the incident occurred, the cart was a moving outside agency, and the governing Rule would be 11.1b (Exception 1). Free relief would be taken by dropping a ball in a relief area measured from the estimated point right under where the ball first came to rest on the moving cart.] 

In the forgotten club incident, the player must play her ball from where it came to rest after it was deflected  (Rule 11.1b). Thus, there is no free relief from where the forgotten club lay on the green, and the player who hit her ball on the green must now play it from the rough. Doesn’t seem fair! Thus, two different Rules must be invoked to deal with these two incidents, both of which involve the equipment of a fellow competitor interfering with a ball struck by a player.

What a relief, or not!  

What a relief, or not!  

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the 2019 Rules.

A basic principle of golf is that the ball is to be played as it lies. However, there are times when we find our ball in positions that seem unfair (e.g., in temporary water or ground under repair, or blocked by immovable obstructions, such as a cart path or an irrigation box. Thankfully, in those situations, the Rules grant us relief without penalty (Rule 16). Relief is taken by first finding the nearest point of complete relief no closer to the hole, and then dropping the ball within one club length of that position, also no closer to the hole. 

However, such a simple solution can become complicated, as recently illustrated by a ball coming to rest on the cart path next to the penalty area on the left side of the fairway on Dollar hole #7. In this case, the nearest point of complete relief was in the penalty area. But, the Rules have thoughtfully foreseen that possibility (Rule 16.1b), and stipulate that relief must be taken in the same area of the course where the ball lies. In this case, the ball is lying on the cart path, which is in the general area. Thus, the player, gratefully, could take relief in the fairway on the other side of the cart path, and she hit the ball up onto the apron of the green. 

The interesting thing, however, is that, had the nearest point of relief from the cart path been in the middle of a thicket or a large tree, as long as the thicket and the tree were in the general area, Rule 16.1b does not make an exception. In those cases, to get relief without penalty the player must drop the ball within one club length of the estimated position of the relief point in the middle of the large tree or the thicket, and she must then do the best she can. Without penalty, she can hit the ball off the cart path, but she may then have to buy a new club. The other two options (which are good to remember) both involve a penalty.  For one penalty stroke, she can go back and hit the ball again from where the original shot was hit (Rule 18). Or she can declare the ball unplayable from where she dropped it in free relief from the cart path, but then she has to take a penalty stroke (Rule 19).  All of these negative consequences stem simply from her ball coming to rest on a cart path, some might say through no fault of her own! So, when we aim for cart paths, of which there are many on our Rossmoor courses, be aware of the possible consequences! 

 

Relief from staked tree

Relief from staked tree

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the 2019 Rules.

So you thought you could take relief from a staked tree at Rossmoor – well, now you can! 

During a recent 18ers Thursday play day, a player found her ball behind a staked tree in the right rough on hole #13. How should she proceed? Does she get relief?

The first step is to know how the Rules designate a tree. Whether or not a tree is staked, it is just a part of the course that we have to try to avoid. Trees are not obstructions because only artificial things are obstructions (e.g., irrigation boxes, sprinkler heads). Happily, the stake and any protective fencing around the tree are immovable obstructions, and the rule that applies is Rule 16.1. [Relief can be taken from an immovable obstruction only if it interferes with the player’s stance or swing (NOT if it just interferes with the line of play). Relief is taken by finding the nearest point of relief no nearer the hole, and dropping the ball within 1 club length.]

In the case of staked trees, it is important to keep in mind that, unless a Local Rule has been adopted, relief can only be taken if the stake or protective fencing around the tree interfere with the player’s stance or swing, NOT if just the tree interferes. Many staked trees on our Rossmoor courses not only are staked, but are fully protected by fencing around the tree (e.g., hole #13). However, some trees (e.g., to the right of the green on hole #15) are staked, but with limited or no fencing.  The18ers adopted Model Local Rule E10 (Protection of Young Trees) in January 2021, which allows free relief under Rule 16.1b if you find yourself behind a staked tree with limited or no fencing. Prior to that adoption, relief could only be taken if the stake or fencing interfered with your stance or swing, not if the tree itself interfered

As it happened in the incident on #13 on Dollar that occurred in 2017, the stake and protective fencing around the tree blocked the line of play, but did not interfere directly with her stance or stroke. She therefore could not take relief and had to pitch out to the side. 

Ball at Rest Moved – stroke play vs. match play

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to 2019 Rules.

Rules may be applied differently in Stroke Play and Match Play – an example involving an errant drive and a careening golf cart at a team match play event.

In a recent Rossmoor team play Four Ball match at Crow Canyon Country Club, a player hooked her drive into the rough. Driving the golf cart towards her ball with her partner as passenger, she needed to quickly move the cart out of the line of play of another player. In the process, she inadvertently ran over her ball with the golf cart. The result was that the ball was moved. How does she proceed? The simplest thing would be just to replace the ball and move on, no penalty. That would be the result if this incident had occurred while searching for a ball (Rule 7.4). However, that was not the case. So the question becomes whether there is a penalty, and if so, who gets the penalty?

To solve this mystery, the first point to understand is that it was the golf cart (equipment) that moved the ball. Then, the next question is “Who did the golf cart belong to?” This is key because, if there is or is not a penalty, that will be determined by the answer to that question (Hint: It’s not necessarily the owner of the golf cart!). 

Who the golf cart belonged to may be different depending on whether the incident occurred during Stroke play or Match play, and during what kind of Match play. 

In Stroke play and individual Match play, the golf cart is the equipment of the driver, even if the golf cart owner is sitting in the passenger seat. However, in 4-Ball Match Play, as was the case in this incident, the golf cart is the equipment of both partners. 

So, what is the Ruling?. 

In Stroke Play, if the ball belonged to the driver of the cart, she would receive a 1-stroke penalty for causing her ball to move (Rule 9.4). But, if a “fellow competitor” was driving the cart, the “fellow competitor” is an outside influence, and there would be no penalty (Rule 9.6). 

In Match Play, the situation is even more complicated.  If the Match was just you against an opponent (i.e., individual match play), the penalty is different depending on who was driving the cart. If you were driving, you get the penalty; if your opponent was driving, the opponent gets the penalty (Rules 9.4 and 9.5). But, in 4-ball match play, regardless of whether you or your partner are driving the cart, the cart is the equipment of both you and your partner, and the partner whose ball it is will get the penalty (Rule 9.4 and 23.5b). 

In general, different applications of the Rules to situations in Stroke and Match play can be boiled down to the difference in defining the “unit”, as either a single player playing against the entire field (Stroke play), or, depending on the type of Match play, a player vs her opponent, or in this example a player and her partner vs an opponent and partner.

 

“Known or Virtually Certain”

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Updated to conform to the 2019 Rules.

A Useful Phrase to Remember – “Known or Virtually Certain”

Two incidents occurred recently on hole #14 that highlight the importance of the phrase “known or virtually certain”. This phrase occurs multiple times in the Rules of Golf relative to penalty areas, abnormal course conditions, ball movement, and certain other situations.

The first incident occurred when a player hit her tee shot on #14. Another player in the group saw it go into the penalty area right of the fairway. The player who hit the ball was concerned she would not be able to find her ball, and announced she was going to hit a provisional (Rule 18.3). [The provisional option is intended to speed up play if players aren’t sure whether their ball might be lost or out of bounds.]  At that point, two other players in the group spoke up and said that she could not hit a provisional because her ball was “known or virtually certain” to have gone into the penalty area.

The second incident on #14 involved a player who also hit a tee shot that clearly went into the penalty area. She then went forward to try to find the ball but was unsuccessful. She was not clear whether she should treat the ball as a “lost ball” (Rule 18) – i.e., she would then be required to hit again from the tee with stroke and distance penalty – or whether she could consider one of the other options available under the penalty area rule (Rule 17).

The key point in deciding what to do in both incidents was that both balls were “known or virtually certain” to have gone into the penalty area.

Even if the ball was searched for and not found, the players had the full range of options available to them for penalty area relief (Rule 17.1d).

Thus, neither hitting a provisional nor treating the ball as lost were appropriate in either of these cases because the balls were “known or virtually certain” to have gone into the penalty area, and the Penalty Area Rule 17 was operative. As noted above, since the phrase “known or virtually certain” appears multiple times in the Rules of Golf, it’s a good phrase to keep in mind! [Note, however, that the requirements for concluding that “known or virtually certain” applies in any given situation are fairly stringent. It means more than just “possible” or “probable”. It must be at least 95% likely that the ball went into a penalty area (Definition of Known or Virtually Certain).

Sprinkler head on the apron of the green

Written by Joyce McCann, 18ers Rules Chair.

First published in 2017. Edited to conform to 2019 Rules.

A Little-Known Rossmoor Local Rule: Sprinkler head on the apron of the green

Recently, during the 18ers 4th of July Shotgun, a player found herself on the apron of the 17th green with her line of play blocked by a sprinkler head. Does she get relief, and if so how does she take relief? If she was strictly applying the Rules of Golf, she would not be able to take relief. This is because the sprinkler head is an immovable obstruction and the apron is part of the general area; in which case, relief can only be taken if the sprinkler head interferes with her stance or stroke, but not if it just interferes with her line of play (Rule 16). However, players often wish to putt from the apron, and Model Local Rule F-5 gives clubs the option of allowing the player to take relief if an immovable obstruction on the apron interferes with the line of play. Rossmoor has adopted this Local Rule (see the back of the Dollar scorecard). So, the answer to the first question is: Yes, she can take relief. What about the second question – how does she take relief? Under the old Rules, the player could drop the ball as close as possible to the nearest point of relief from interference of the sprinkler head with her line of play. However, under the new Rules, since the player’s ball is in the general area, the player should follow standard relief procedures for interference by an immovable obstruction (Rule 16.1b).