Forum: Rules Of Golf

I was at the Canadian today, chipping onto the 17th green. My playing partner's ball was already on the green. I chipped on, and my shot rolled into my opponents ball. My shot was obviously slowed down, and his ball was knocked further from the hole. We ended up replacing his ball where we...

Two balls lie in the fairway and are next to each other and are so close that it makes it impossible for yourself to hit your ball without hitting your fellow competitor's ball as well. What's the proper thing to do? What if the same situation happens in a hazard? (bunker or water hazard)

At Casselview a playing partner experienced his ball in bounds, but he couldn't swing because he was too close to a farmers fence. There were no white stakes to indicate out of bounds. With his ball on the course, but a hindrance which was not part of the course, I believe he gets free relief. ...

This happened a few weeks ago at Hautes Plaines: A fellow competitor hits his ball into a bunker where there's lots (and I mean lots) of very fluffy sand (greeen side bunker on 5th hole). This ball is buried under the sand (0% visible) and, therefore, cannot be identified. What are his...

Similar to the previous thread, with a little twist. This actually happened to a friend last week. The player addresses his ball in the hazard, takes his backswing and as he starts down his club contacts a tree branch. The tree is in the hazard. He checks his swing. He does not make contact...

My ball lands in a water hazard and I decide that I want to play it out. I do not ground the club, however, the club touches some long grass that is growing in the hazard, as I take my backswing. As I start down I decide that I want to stop my swing and do so before contacting the ball,...

Here is a question maybe easy for most of you. A fellow competitor drove the ball off line in the woods. Since it was not marked as a hazard, a provisional ball was hit. After searching, the original ball was found. The ball is unplayable. The provisional is eliminated cause he found the...

At the Spring Open qualifier today my ball ended up on a huge ant hill adjacent to the 13th tee. One of my fellow competitors was unsure if I got relief, so I chose to play two balls, one taking relief and the other, playing the original ball. I hit the ball with which I took relief on to the...

Are you allowed to bring a rules book with you on the course in a competitive event? I know in my pool league each team is required to have a rulebook, but I've never seen a golfer carrying one. Dan

I caught the tail-end of a story on the Golf Channel last night about some sort of contraversy last week involving Stewart Cink, anybody catch that story? Something with him in a waste bunker???

Interesting ruling on # 11 Augusta After Ernie drove his tee shot into the woods on # 11, he had a couple of unsuccessful tries to move fallen tree branches whitout moving his ball. The ball was unplayable as it lied. He called the ruling officials (3 of them) to give him a ruling that allows...

Does anyone have an opinion on the claim by Ken Venturi that Arnold Palmer "did wrong" in the 1958 Masters. The issue resurfaced recently with Venturi's book on his life in golf. Apparently Palmer, who was leading the tournament overshot a par three and plugged his ball. He asked for a ruling and...

I've heard that contacting the ball in a practice swing doesn't count as a shot, although I can't find anything official on the subject and will take the stroke as is until I can confirm that. But, operating under that train of thought, what happens if you're on the tee and make contact with the...

What does someone have to do to get an RCGA (or other official) handicap? Is this about playing with a CGPA pro or some stuff like that? Or being a member and having signed scorecards? I'm just curious, as I'd like to plan out my next 10 years of golf around some kind of tangible goal. How...

That Poulter incident where his physiotherapist went in the creek to look for his ball and Garcia clubbing his club in the bunker were definitely strange and I think unfair rulings, it was clear Poulter did not mean to put his ball in the water and it was also clear that Garcia did not know he went...

The rules contest ending March 28 had this question and answer: A half-eaten pear lies directly in front of Bob's ball in a bunker and there is no pear tree in the vicinity of the bunker. Can Bob remove the pear without penalty? No. A pear is a natural object. When detached from a tree it is...

Hi; Hate to go back to basics but - I have had conflicting opinions on this point of etiquette... If a player is addressing the ball and his head is pointed a 12:00 and his butt is at 6:00 where do I stand? Once I was about 20 ft behind at 9:00 and the guy teed off and then...

Had an argument with a friend who said becoming a CPGA was easy. I understood that you had to have a specific handicap AND go through a qualification round. Is this correct?

Hey Gary, A player is surveying a putt while the ball is on the green with ball marker directly behind ball (I see tour pros do this all the time). Lets say that the player sets up like he's going to hit the putt so he can look down the line, he grounds his putter behind ball and coin, causing...

The new rulebook is here! The new rulebook is here! Some interesting changes. Here's the synopsis, http://www.rcga.org/english/Rules/CHANGES_TO_RULES.pdf Among the highlights for you extremists out there. Appendix II Club Length Clause 1c amended to include a new 48 inch limit....

During the last round of the Sony Open, Davis Love III hit his approach shot way right of the green, in fact in went behind the grandstand and under a van/truck. He was given a free drop. Why? I thought he would get a one stroke penalty and drop it where it went out of bounds. Any thoughts?

Hi Gary Would this Grip Tee be legal or illegal for golf / tournament play? I think this design is now illegal for Long Drive competition this year.

In Friday's Mercedes second round, Stuart Appelby hit a ball on a short, driveable par 4 into an area where he thought the ball might be lost. He them hit a provisional ball. When the telecast came back to him a few minutes later, he was standing near his provisional ball. The commentator...

I am about to make my initial attempt at matching a set of clubs by total weight, first and second moments of inertia. A specified amount of weight is to be added to the clubs, some under the grip and some at a point between the bottom of the grip and the clubhead. Rather than put a plug down...

QUOTE All lakes and ditches are defined as water hazards (red and yellow stakes) PENALTY - 1 stroke , drop two club length from point of entry. UNQUOTE The above quote is printed on the back of score card at a local golf course. However there is no stakes at the golf course around the dithches...

Some courses are so small that you risk to shoot the wrong green. This is what happened and lead to a question about the rules. I had misjudged the course on the 1st hole at Canadian and sent my wedge shot on the green (looks like a practice green) left of the true green. Having been brought up...

Hi. Just wondering if a chipper is a legal club....(the club that looks like a putter but has an offset face) Thanks. :wave

My question relates to course difficulty based on ratings and slopes. For eample, Course "A" has a rating of 69.5 and a slope of 117. Course "B" has a rating of 68.4 and a slope of 120. Which course would be considered the most difficult? Witrh regards. RJS

Gary, I know that paper yardage books are legal, at least I am assuming that they are since they are used on tour and a basic version is included on most score cards. What about electronic yardage books? These may be an overhead view of the hole on a pda where you can see how far an item is...

Gary, In last week's rules contest, there was a question concerning taking a stance in the bunker without a club, and the answer was that yes, it is considered to be addressing the ball. If that happens, what are the ramifications of then going out and picking your club? If the player takes...

Witnessed a very odd situation in a round on Friday... A guy that I was playing with hit his drive towards a group of sparsely branched pine trees. When we got up to the area to search, we located the ball resting on the top side of a tree branch at about shoulder height. We assumed that his...

I can use a small flat object(coin) to mark the ball on the putting green, or the toe of a club, or a "daisy,"(from Decisions book) or I can scratch a line on the surface of the green. Can I place my foot directly behind the ball, pick up the ball and clean it, and replace it, if I have not...

Hi Gary, Suppose I drive a ball into the rough on a certain hole and for my 2nd shot, the cart path is intefering with my swing or stance. I take relief from the cart path but due to a hill where my ball is, both times I drop the ball it rolls to a point where the cart path still inteferes with...

(1) At Mont Cascades, on #7, right side, about 170 from the green, there is a wall of rock that is almost vertical, about 12' high. My second shot ended on top of the rock wall, almost at the edge. Declaring the ball unplayable, am I correct in assuming that I could find a spot within two club...

I was golfing at Chateau Cartier yesterday with two buddies of mine. One of my friends was teeing off of the par 3 number 6 from the white markers and his tee shot, a worm burner, hit the red tee marker and went back right into the water. He said he could hit again with no penalty because the...

Gary, when taking relief the rules refer to one or two club lengths, but I cannot find any reference to which club is to be used. Are there any occasions when a specific club (i.e. the one you will most likely take your next shot with) needs to be used?

Gary Is there something in the rules of golf that say all rules violations should be called by someone "who is phsycally at the tournament"? ex: Yesterday's violation called in from the US by a viewer on Paul Azinger, for his caddy pulling the flag out before a ball came to rest. IMHO...

I find it amazing that many clubs still use a form of what they understand as retrogression, ie., best back nine, etc., to break ties, or a "count back," where the golfer with the lower score on #18 is the winner. If the winner of a tournament is the golfer with the lowest score after 18...

Kendra Graham will appear on The Golf Channel on Sept 9 at 8PM. The Sorenstam dropping issue will likely be a topic.

A discussion occurred over the following possible scenario. A player is putting from say, the 9 o’clock position on a green that is fast and severely sloped from back to front and the flagstick has been removed and placed significantly below the hole(6 o’clock). The putt lips the cup and rolls...

I think this was asked before but I couldn't find using the search. Can a player use his putter head to mark his ball?

Kind of a dumb question but can you use one ball until you get to the green and then use another ball to putt with?

Just wondering the ruling on this scenario. Happened to me on the par 3 at Emerald Links. My t-shot flies the water and fades back into it after crossing land in flight. The ball flies along and over most of the water and a small peninsula of land (30 ft long) ,but, the ball never touched land...

Hi Gary, I was going over some pictures of a trip I made to Cuba last december and came across the attached picture that I took at the Varadero Golf Club. You can clearly see that the cart path crosses right through the bunker. My question is: "If a competitor's ball is lying in the bunker...

This whole ordeal regarding Azinger's caddies' faux-pas with the flagstick raises a question regarding tending the flagstick. If I am on the green putting I am allowed to have the flagstick tended so as to show me where the hole is. Once I have played my stroke the flagstick MUST be removed...

Because the condition of our local courses varies so much, we either: (1) play the ball down-which is ideal, (2) move it "x" inches with the clubhead, (3) mark, lift, maybe clean and place the ball within "x" of the original lie. If either of the latter two options is chosen, there may be...