Forum: Rules Of Golf

This scenario has happened twice in my tournament golf lifetime and in both cases I did not handle the situation correctly. On the first tee of our club championship several years ago three of the four members of the group indicated the marks on their ball identifying them as their own. The...

When qualifying for our Intersectional Team, we use Stableford points to determine team members. On the scorecard the marker was asked to mark the player's score for the hole and the Stableford points earned. When the player attests his scorecard, is he marking for the correct hole by hole...

My ball rolls to the fringe of the putting green and stops with an amount of goose poop on the side facing away from the hole. My fellow competitor requests that I mark and lift my ball as it is in his intended chipping line. I know that I am not allowed to clean the ball and must replace it in...

Brought up during today's round. Stroke Play Tournament. With all the rain we have had a small portion of the sod on a putting green has separated from the subsoil and an air bubble has been created under the surface. Your ball happens to come to rest on the mound/bubble that was formed. ...

Played Les Vieux Moulins today and on #12, my second shot ended up in the bushes just short and to the left of the green. The ball was in the crotch of a branch, suspended about 18" above the ground. As I started my backswing, my club contacted another branch which pulled the branch where my...

I drive my ball into a lateral water hazaed and choose to drop the ball within two club lengths of the point where it last crossed the margin. With the 1 stroke penalty, I am now lying TWO and my ball is IN PLAY. However, I dropped on an immoveable obstruction. Choosing to take relief I mark my...

Rule 33 says that the committee has no power to waive a rule of golf. The RB definitions indicate that roads that are artificially surfaced are obstructions, so roads that are NOT artificially surfaced are NOT obstructions. Brilliant, eh? Running parallel to the 17th at Mississippi GC is a...

For those interested in the Rules of Golf certification programme, you can purchase the CD-ROM for Level 1 here - http://www.golfquebec.org/pdf/boutiqueanrevise.pdf The kit includes a test which you submit to the RCGA for evaluation. I recently contacted the RCGA for the Level 2 package and was...

This past season I had two “heated” discussions with two different members of two different golf clubs, about their local committee’s right to make local rules. They were under the impression that their local committee could change any rule of golf, to suit a condition they felt needed alteration....

(1) Made one mistake in passing my Level 2, RCGA Rules of Golf Certification exam. As I cannot find out which one it is, I am wondering if this is it. True or False: "If a player begins play with more than 14 clubs, he is not penalized provided he declares one to be out of play before teeing...

In match play my opponent hits a shot that lands and makes a ball mark 1" from the hole. Since my ball is farther from the hole than his, I am away. As he goes to repair his ball mark, I ask him not to, as I want to use the ball mark to deflect the ball into the hole, if I am off line. This is...

My opponent's OR fellow competitor's ball is on the putting green. I mark and lift my ball and in so doing I ACCIDENTLY drop it and it hits my O's or FC's ball. In match play, I am penalized 1 stroke and his ball is replaced, but in stroke play, there is no penalty and his ball is again...

As some may know, the R&A and the USGA meet every four years to discuss and to make rule changes. The next updated version of the rules will be out next year and I gather something like 100 items are up for discussion. Of particular interest are these two possible rules changes. Currently,...

The following takes place between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm. The story is true; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. A, B, C & D are playing in the OVGA Intersectional matches. On a long par 5, with a water hazard crossing in front of the green, A and B hit good drives side by...

A player signs his scorecard indicating that his hole by hole score is correct. His correct score is 76. The committee adds the hole by hole up incorrectly and his score is 73. The 73 is posted on large score sheets from which the prize list is determined. The prizes are presented, and he...

I declare my ball unplayable on a finger of rough adjacent to a bunker. In dropping my ball it barely rolls into the bunker, just under two driver length from where it hit the ground. If I was to use my sand wedge to measure two club lengths the ball would have rolled more than the two wedge...

If taking relief from, say, an immovable obstruction, the rule says that I should use the club with which I would have played the shot had the condition from which I want relief, was not there. If I am 50 yards from the green the club I would normally use would be a 35" lob wedge. But, I decide...

First hole is a par 3. A hits his ball out of bounds. B hits his ball on to the green. C and A both ask B, "What club did you hit. B answers, "A 4 iron." Who gets penalized?

This happened yesterday in my group during the OVGA Seniors Championship at the Brockville CC. A player's ball comes to rest on the fringe at the back of #16 green. The fringe is sloping a little towards the hole. The player takes several practice strokes within a foot of the ball, scruffing...

1. A player chips on to the green, close to the hole and marks the ball. He then picks up a clump of grass (loose impediment) from someone's shoe that is right beside the hole. Another player who is on the green and away, asks that the clump of grass be replaced. Does it have to be replaced? 2....

In the thread on the worst match play defeat possible, there were a couple of suggestions that (a) rules can be interpreted, and that (b) the rules do not make sense. Are there any members willing to describe situations or rulings that they feel fall into either one of these categories? ...

Playing in a tournament on #6 at Mississippi, a player hits his tee shot into the hazard that crosses the fairway at 280 yards. The ball is playable but is up against the concrete culvert that goes under the little bridge. "I am taking relief from the culvert," he says. "The culvert is in...

Due to a break in an irrigation line, the greens keeper has cordoned off an area of long grass and placed a “Ground Under Repair” sign in the middle of this area. Gerry hits his ball towards this area of long grass from the tee, looks in the GUR for his ball and cannot find it. He searches the...

John pulls his tee shot left and just short of the 13th green at Mississippi and it comes to rest at the base of the oak tree that lies between his ball and the green. Because he is right handed his feet rest on the crushed stoned cart path. He determines that his nearest point of relief is just 1...

It is a common practice to move our ball marker on the putting green when the marker rests on the line of play of a fellow competitor. Golfers with good etiquette remind the FC to move the marker back, but what happens if he does NOT. Your FC does not put the marker back and putts from a spot a...

Michael:) hits his tee shot towards an area of trees and thinking the ball might be lost, plays a provisional ball. He finds a ball in the trees and plays it, and walks over and picks up his provisional. When he gets to the ball he hit, he discovers that the ball is NOT his. 1. From where does...

Gerry is on the putting green in two, 25' from the hole and Dan's ball is 30' away but on the same line as Gerry's. Dan asks Gerry to move his marker and Gerry moves the marker 1 putter head to the right. Dan sinks his putt for birdie. Gerry puts his ball down in front of his marker and putts to...

Dan's ball is on the putting green, 40' from the hole, while Gerry's ball is 20' from the hole. Gerry has marked and lifted his ball. Dan putts and Gerry, absentmindedly, replaces his ball. Dan's ball hits Gerry's. What is the ruling?

Gerry fades a ball to the right towards an area of bush. Thinking his ball may be lost he announces, "I will play a provisional." His provisional again fades towards the same area and he says, "I'll play another." In searching, he finds the 2nd and 3rd balls, but he does NOT find the original. ...

To those golfers who compete in Golf Quebec or OVGA tournaments, your use of distance measuring devices was approved by Golf Quebec a few weeks ago and more recently by the Ottawa Valley Golf Association, OVGA. The device must measure distance only and if a player uses or has in his bag, one that...

It seems that there may be a school of thought that some of the The Rules of Golf are open to interpretation. Are there any rules that you might say are interpretative, ones where it seems that you must do "this" but could also be interpreted to mean that you could do "that?"

Mississippi Golf Club, number 4, is a par 3 with a bunker at the back of the green. Mike hits his tee shot and the ball buries under the lip of the very back part of the circular bunker. Thinking he can play a shot sideways, he makes a stroke at the ball, but instead, drives the ball even further...

From a Rules website. Dave hits his ball into a large flower bed (Local Rule play prohibited) and asked his two FC's, to agree on the location of the free drop for a ball lost in the Flower bed. The two FC's agreed that it was known or virtually certain that the ball went into the Flower bed and...

As many golfers do NOT play farthest from the hole goes first when around the greens, this is a common situation. John is on the putting green 50' from the hole and Gerry is on the fringe 30' from the hole. John putts and at the same time Gerry chips, his ball striking John's and knocking...

BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATES ONLY A cart path runs up the left side of a hole and my tee shot lands a couple of inches to the right of the centre of the path. Being 150 yards from the green I take out my driver to help find my nearest point of relief. I am right handed and because my ball is just...

Before a tournament, Gerry and I either play or drive around a course to look for areas of concern such as the placement of stakes for hazards and out of bounds, select the location of pin and tee markers and determine what local rules are or should be used, specifically whether preferred lies are...

In stroke play, a competitor’s tee shot comes to rest in a greenside bunker. He moves a loose impediment in the hazard, and in doing so, causes the ball to move. He then makes a stroke at the ball but misses. Realizing he had been required to replace the ball, he now replaces the ball to its...

A player whiffs his tee shot and then lifts his ball, removes the tee and drops the ball where the tee had been. The player then plays a stroke onto the fairway. The player lies ???. Why?

Based on the all the discussion from the other thread, let's discover what the 'silent majority' think about the issue.

From The Leith Society website. Open to anyone including those with rules certification. Straightaway Par 4 with water all the way down the left side and in front of the tee. Player hits his first ball into the water directly in front of the tee. Goes to the end of the tee box, drops a...

In a stroke play competition, fellow competitors Dave and Bob, strike their tee shots into trees bordering the fairway. When they arrive where the balls are likely to be, Dave sees a ball on a cart path, which he incorrectly identifies as that of Bob. Dave finds another ball adjacent to the cart...

A player's ball is at rest in grass on the fairway side of a water hazard stake, close to the stake but not touching it. He removes the stake and coincidentally the ball falls into the hole where the stake was previously located. The movement of the ball was not attributable to the removal of the...

A competitor's ball comes to rest on an old cart path in a poor lie. He lifts the ball and drops it two club-lengths from the nearest point of relief. After playing it, he is told that he dropped the ball in a wrong place. He announces that he will play a second ball under Rule 3-3 and wishes to...

In stroke play, a player strikes his ball into an area of casual water that is adjacent to a water hazard. He mistakenly thinks that the casual water is a part of the water hazard. Abandoning the original ball, which he could have easily retrieved, he substitutes a ball, drops it five yards behind...

From another website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0qfI8syG0 How would you have ruled?

A Level 3, RCGA rules seminar will be held in Ottawa on April 30, May 1 and 2, at the Carleton Golf and Yacht Club. Registration and information may be found on the Golf Quebec website, here: http://www.golfquebec.org/carte/DetailTournois.asp?code=158

There has naturally been an increased focus on the severity of the Rules of Golf following a number of high profile situations over the past few weeks. These include; S.Korean LPGA players Shi Hyun Ahn and Ilmi Chun (both disqualified for playing each other’s balls on the 18th fairway, putting out...

In the Harrington thread I made reference to some rules of golf where the player does everything right, but still gets penalized. The challenge then, to those interested, is to search your understanding of the rules or your experience on the course, and come up with examples of situations where...

Gerry (gbower) and I have discussed the possibility of giving a free clinic to any Ottawa Golf Forum members who may be interested in increasing their knowledge of the Rules of Golf. We would hold the clinic in the early evening of a week day at our home course, Greensmere Golf Club, in late May....