Thankyou

I have already answered this question which you addressed to me via my blog site on the Rules of Golf;

Can the Committee disqualify a player after the competition has closed for recording a score lower than was actually scored when the player’s and marker’s signed score cards both recorded the same score? Yes an exception to Rule 34-1 b states;

A penalty of disqualification must be imposed after the competition has closed if a competitor….(iii) returned a score for any hole lower than actually taken (Rule 6-6d) for any reason other than failure to include a penalty that, before the competition closed, he did not know he had incurred.

Obviously, having reviewed the evidence, the Committee has decided that the player signed for a score on one hole that was lower than he actually scored.

Rule 34-3 states;

In the absence of a referee, any dispute or doubtful point on the Rules must be referred to the Committee, whose decision is final.

Barry Rhodes

Is this in breach of the rules by the committee.

You do not get relief for a ball that is embedded in the grass wall of a bunker unless it is closely mown, which is not often the case (see Rule 25-2). If it is not carefully mown you obviously have to play the ball as it lies. If it is closely mown then you must drop it as close as you can to where it was embedded. If it rolls into the bunker, more than two club-lengths from where it touches the course, or nearer the hole you have to drop it again. If the same thing happens after the second drop then you place the ball where it first hit the course. If it will not stay at rest at this point you have to place it at the nearest point where it will come to rest not in the bunker and not nearer the hole (Rule 20).

There are only two types of hazard in golf; water hazards (which includes lateral water hazards) and bunkers. However, grass-covered ground bordering or within a bunker, including a stacked turf face (whether grass-covered or earthen), is not part of the bunker (See Definition of Bunker).

Barry Rhodes

I’m not sure if you have already answered this question so I apologise if you have already done so.

Qn : If my ball is embedded in its own pitch mark on the steep grass wall of a bunker (not in bunker), and the wall is too steep for me to drop the ball, what do I do according to the rules?

Also, is a bunker considered a “hazard”? I took part in a competition recently and my playing partners kept insisting a bunker (as well as the grass walls) are all considered “hazards” so I should not be entitled to a free lift.

Thanks for clarifying!

It’s a good question. In my opinion, players should be encouraged to prevent others from breaking a Rule and should therefore pick up the flagstick to avoid a fellow competitor’s ball hitting it. However, it is up to each player to make their own decision on this. Since 2008 there is no penalty for the fellow competitor that lifts the flagstick, as part of Rule 24-1 states;

When a ball is in motion, an obstruction that might influence the movement of the ball, other than equipment of any player or the flagstick when attended, removed or held up, must not be moved.

Barry

Is it a drop near out of bounds, and hit 3rd stroke, or return to T box and hit 3rd stroke. This happened where in a 4some was require to return to T Box. (just a game not a match)

Thanks Peter.

Barry’s Reply:

Peter,

I presume that you meant to say that the hazard was a water (or lateral) water hazard and was therefore not a bunker. If this is the case, and it is known or reasonably certain that the ball has come to rest in a water hazard, then a provisional ball may not be played. Rule 27-2 states,

“If a ball may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds, to save time the player may play another ball provisionally in accordance with Rule 27-1.”

So, as it was known that the ball played from the teeing ground WAS in a water hazard and could not have been lost outside then, as soon as another ball had been played from the teeing ground, that was the ball in play and it was NOT a provisional ball. The next stroke would be the player’s fourth.

Regards,

Barry Rhodes

Barry’s Reply:

George,

I have read your email several times and am not sure that I understand what your question is. Apologies if this answer is not what you are looking for.

Committees often establish a Local Rule giving mandatory relief, without penalty, from staked trees that they want to protect. If players’ balls lie up against these trees they don’t want them to attempt to play shots that could permanently damage them. However, if your ball is at the base of a mature, unstaked tree, you have the options of attempting to play a stroke, without penalty, or taking the option of dropping a ball within two club-lengths, not nearer the hole, under penalty of one stroke. This seems fair to me.

Regards,

Barry Rhodes

Also, there have been many situations, where in tournaments, I have seen pros take a drop between the point of entry into a water hazard that went through the green and the hole, even to the point where they have had to place the ball because it keeps rolling into the hazard when dropped. Please explain these situations.

Barry’s Reply:

Tony,

It is evident that, in your first question, the Rules Official deemed the ball not to be in the bunker and therefore lying through the green. In this case Rule 25-2, Enbedded Ball, states, “A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green. ‘Closely mown area’ means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.”

I am a little confused with the wording of your second question. It would seem that you may be referring to situations relating to lateral water hazards (red stakes and/or lines) in which one of the options for relief open to the player, under penalty of one stroke, is to drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard (Rule 26-1). If, when taking relief from a hazard, the ball when dropped rolls into a hazard, and does so again when re-dropped, then the player must place it as near as possible to the spot where it first struck a part of the course when re-dropped (Rule 20-2c).

If this has not fully answered your question I think that you will find my two short videos on water hazards and lateral water hazards very informative.

Regards,

Barry

The ball did not move from its original position and it left the ball plugged

I was told I had to take a one stroke penaly because my equipment came in touch with the ball. In a hazard, a player is allowed to find, mark and identify his ball as long as he replaces it in exactly the same spot.

I cannot understand why I should be penalised for running over my ball and making its lie a lot more difficult and add penalty stroke.

Barry Reply:

This apparently simple scenario involves a number of different points.

The first is that a ball is deemed to have “moved” if it leaves its position and comes to rest in any other place. This includes vertically downward. Decision 18-1 states; “Q. A ball lying in long grass slips vertically downward. Or a ball is accidentally stepped on and pressed down, say a quarter of an inch, in the grass or into the ground. In each case, has the ball moved?

A. Yes, unless the ball returns to its original position. The direction of movement is immaterial.”

Rule 18-2a(ii) states that if equipment of the player or his partner causes the ball to move, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke, and if the ball is moved, it must be replaced. The same Rule provides that there is no penalty if a player accidentally causes his ball to move in searching for a ball in a water hazard.

You make the point that “In a hazard, a player is allowed to find, mark and identify his ball as long as he replaces it in exactly the same spot.” This is correct in as far as it goes, but misses out on the very important point that the player must not touch his ball until he has given his opponent, marker or fellow-competitor an opportunity to observe the lifting and replacement (Rule 12-2). When a ball has been lifted for identification from a bunker, the original lie must be re-created as nearly as possible and the ball must be placed in that lie.

In summary, you did incur a penalty of one stroke as soon as your buggy moved the ball in the rough (vertically downwards) and the Rules required you to replace the ball in its original lie. If you did not replace the ball to the lie it had you would have incurred a total penalty of two strokes (in stroke play) for playing from the wrong place; see the penalty statement at the end of Rule 18.