Forum: Rules Of Golf

Wild parsley is spreading. Even if a groundskeeper dresses in a hazmat suit and cuts it down, the broken stems are dangerous. There are two areas of it currently on my course. One is OB, so the ball is simlpy a write-off. The other is internal. It's in an area that normally has thick brush...

With all the rain we've had in the last week or so, the question came up as to casual water in the rough. Are you allowed relief if your ball comes to rest in casual or standing water in the rough. Some say you have to play it as it is and some say you do get relief. If you can get relief, is it...

Is the use of lasers during a round in the PGA actually illegal? When the caddies walk the course before the round, they'd be using a laser for sure to fill in they're yardage book, right? Anyone else think laser should be allowed on tour? Seems to me like it would speed things up a...

My back is pretty messed up and I shouldn't be playing golf but I'm going to play the season out. Should I count the rounds towards my cap? I'd be lucky to break 100... cap is currently 17.2

I received this from my father in law so don't freak out if they are not 100% accurate, I just found these to be very interesting: Rule 18 Now 3 minutes to search not 5 Rule 7 Ball Moved while searching - replace - no penalty Rule 16 Replace embedded ball anywhere - free drop Club length...

Okay, saw this mentioned in another thread, and didn't want to threadjack. What happens if you hit into the bunker, but in order to get the ball out you're going to have to hit through a stone. I have encountered this a few times as I play the Canadian a lot and the fairway bunker on #5 seems to...

Is it legal to change clubs when you are taking relief from a cart path? A rules official once told me I could use my driver to take my stance then once relief was given switch clubs. I thought you had to take your stance with the club you were going to use?

I see that Rule 33-1/6 states that you cannot play a match and a stroke play competition at the same time. My question is does a stableford scoring system meet the criteria to be the stroke play competition? Or said another way can you play a match and turn in a stableford score from the...

Simple question, of the rules of golf, which one do you think is the most archiac and would like to see changed/updated/eliminated?

Hello, So you're hitting to a green that is just beyond a pond. You hit your shot short and it lands just on the edge of the water, not in the water, but on the bank of the lake just in front of the green. The area has thick grass and rough and you're not able to hit the ball, but you can...

This happened to me this week. Hit a shot where i saw my ball go into the yellow stakes area (water) but there is a O.B. next to it where my ball ended up. Is this considered a lost ball or is it ball a ball in the hazard? Thanks

18th hole match play............Par 5 Playing against a 2 HDCP, I was 10 at the time. I was 80 yds out after 2 shots and the other guy was under a tree 100 yds back..........with no swing..........unless he climbs the tree. So, we have a local rule with certain trees with ribbons. So the...

Three competitors were scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. Two competitors were present at that time. The third competitor, who was scheduled to play last in the group, was practicing on the range at 10:00 a.m. but arrives just in time to play after the second competitor plays. His actions did not...

Player A hit ball way left, outside the golf course property. Way left is a lake with red stake around it. Left of the lake is land and property fence. Ball flew over the read stake area, over the fence... Is ball out of bound or can player A drops by the red stake?

I was asked this question last night, by the player it happened to in a recent tournament. Player thought his drive might be in a hazard, so he hit a provisional, not realizing this was not allowed. He then hit another provisional since his first provisional was definitely in the hazard. ...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2015/10/09/presidents-cup-phil-mickelson-south-korea-usa-jason-day/73636020/

When is a ball unplayable? Recently I pulled a shot and ended up past the green right up against a tree. The bottom of the ball was on the grass/rough, and the side of the ball was flush against the tree. I took an unplayable and dropped with a one stroke penalty. I felt I had no shot as I may...

On the 4th hole the Out of Bounds (OOB) is marked with white stakes and also has a white line the length of the right side of the hole. Lyle hits his ball and it comes to rest near the line but not OOB. One of the stakes is about 2" in front of his ball. Can Lyle remove this stake???? :book

This is an embarrassing situation. I teed up on the tenth tee today and my tee ball hit the tee marker and ricocheted to the right. I proceeded to play the ball as it was. One of the guys playing with me said that I could re-tee without penalty. I think he is wrong. He also claims if your ball...

Speculation, please! The play-by-play for Fred Couples on the PGA Scoreboard site shows this: What would cause a "Drop in tee box"? Or do they simply mean re-tee, as in a ball OB?

So, my regular Sunday game is always with the same foursome. Three of us are "close" in handicap, and the fourth is..... not. We always alternate the partnerships, and do a two-man best ball; i.e. two against two, and take the low score of one twosome against the low of the other twosome, and...

I actually had this happen to me a few years ago. My ball came to a stop on top of a cut stump along the edge of a fairway. What would the ruling be? Play it where it lies or man made obstruction?

A few questions for Gary Some leagues hold skins events and collect a few dollars from every player to go into a pot. Winners of holes get a share of the pot. We have been discussing both having an event or two for our club, and getting official RCGA club status. Would a player accepting a...

In a recent club tournament a player ducked hooked a ball out of view to the left and as the players were walking toward the area where the ball could have been, a non-competitor(green fee player) was seen picking up a ball. The competitors asked to see the ball and the green fee player...

You are on the putting surface and have marked your ball. You replace ball very carefully lining up the putt with a line on the ball (anyone who does this know how hard it is to get the ball to stay where you want sometimes) You then settle in to your routine and the ball rolls a half turn...

I was playing with McGoo and XTour yesterday and one of their balls was heading out of bounds when it struck a fence. The ball stopped dead and landed just inbounds. The fence is basically resting on the white stakes, but the ball was clearly still in bounds. As a left handed golfer her had no...

So playing Metcalfe today and hit hydro wires off the tee,so they tell me to re-load. What are the chances i hit the wires again i said. Bingo !!! I proceeded to go and hit the second ball where it was.Is this the right way or should i have reloaded a third time. Just lucky i guess.

#14 green at Hawkesbury Golf and Curling is a long and heavily sloped green from back to front. If your above the hole, it is very easy to putt the ball off the green and have a 20 yard chip back to the hole. Someone told me that you always have the option to replay your shot (even a putt) with a...

What is the ruling for a ball stuck in the green. Today My ball got stuck approx 1/2 the ball was stuck in the green. What is the rule for this? I lifted my ball tried fixing the divot and placed the ball over the divot but the divot caused my ball to bounce and ended up being a horrible...

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules-hub/2023-rules-of-golf/2023-rules-resources.html

In a skins game, I was in a lightly wooded area - a clear shot back to the fairway, and a narrow opening straight at the green. If I were going for my best score (stroke) I'd play it safe, but in a skins (or match play) I went for the green. Skins or match play are fun in part because you...

Example White tees 70.0/118 Red tees 65.0/ 106 Two men with 7 hdcps are playing a match. One has only ever played from the reds and the other only ever played from the whites. My understanding for their match the calculation is: 70.0-65.0=5 So the player from the red must give the player from...

On Mont Cascade's 7th hole, there is a cart path at the bottom of the hill at the narrowest point. The path is adjacent to a ditch which is staked as a hazzard. The retaining wall of the cart path has broken, and a considerable amount of "cart path gravel" has spilled into the ditch. One of my...

Came close to pulling this off, was wondering what my next play would have been: - In the front bunker on #18 at Marshes, picked it clean and ball flew and landed on the green, 3 feet from the hole for #9, or ~150 feet from the fole for #18. Whats the next play if I would have drained it on...

33-7. Disqualification Penalty; Committee Discretion A penalty of disqualification may in exceptional individual cases be waived, modified or imposed if the Committee considers such action warranted. Any penalty less than disqualification must not be waived or modified. If a Committee...

I noticed a thread on TGN about range finders and they are listed as legal for tournament use, true or false? If they are legal it would very nice to have one in normal play and tournaments. I don't want this to be the "all range finder user must die" debate (Steve!:)), but just looking to see if...

Another player caught with a rules violation. In yesterdays Safeway Classic Juli had a long wait to tee off on the 10th (I think) and put a club weight on to take some practice swings and at the end of the round was asked about it and under rule 14-3 she was disqualified. I guess this is another...

Here's a golf story i heard and would like clarification if anyone can help... two guys are playing in a match play game. they arrive at a par 3 hole. player 1 selects his club and goes to the teeing ground. As it is a par 3, he looks around the tee deck and finds a broken tee (like many of...

A golfer plays a stroke from a fairway bunker and the ball lands in a green side bunker. He then takes a practice swing in the fairway bunker, making contact with the sand. Is this permitted? I ask because of Rule 13:4 "....before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard, the player must...

this gets confusing but I think I know what's right. You hit ball, there is a hazard, you aren't sure if it's in, or maybe you didn't know it was staked, you declare and hit provisional. Get up there and can't find ball anywhere. I see two results 1) if you can't be virtually certain...

The October 4, 2010 issue of GolfWorld contains the following letter from Bryan W. Jones of the PGA of America Rules Committee that may be of interest to some of you: "It has been a tough stretch for us in the rules business, but the reality is we appreciate the opportunity to educate golfers. ...

A player hits his ball thin out of a greenside bunker, and the ball flies over the back of the green, landing approximately 15 yards beyond the back fringe. The ball ends up 3 feet behind the back right corner of a large slab of concrete that extends vertically out of the turf about 12 inches. It...

Question for all you rules experts. If someone was using a set of irons and found them too long. But until they got the chance to get them cut down is a player allowed to mark on his grip (say with a strip of tape) where he feels most comfortable gripping the club?

I had a hole in one, had to leave after 11 holes due to bleeding from mosquito bites. Does my hole in one count??? IF NOT, am I allowed to go back to the course now and finish my round? I would love to finish that round as I was 3 under after 11. Like Mpare said, i've never read a rule...

Hi Gary, With all the rain today some of the greens seemed to have a mushroom type growth and I was wondering what the ruling is if these are in your line as it's not something like a leaf or sand on the green????

Advanced difficulty. A 5' wide cart path runs up the left side of a straightaway par 4. 18" left of the cart path is a 6' high, metal, out of bounds fence. Your ball comes to rest on the geometric middle of the cart path. As you wish to take relief from the cart path, from where may you play...

Is it against the rules to install a pistol putter grip on a club other than your putter? I don't think so but my father-in-law needs to know, he wants to istall a jumbo on his chipper. Thanks

If I hit a ball in the woods off the tee then I hit a provisional ball dead center, I then look for my first ball and spot a ball in the dense bushes. From where I am, I can see if that ball is mine. Am I obligated to identify that ball or can I just say that the ball is lost, not try to identify...