Forum: Rules Of Golf

Just wondering if anyone else saw his ball move when he was clearing away debris around the ball after taking his drop yesterday? I had to rewind a couple times, but I'm pretty sure the ball moved, though it may have only oscillated and returned to its original position. If it moved but did not...

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/test-item-graphics/?cid=Email_WednesdayNL_20170301 I could see adoption of many/all of these could really speed up the game. New rule: Committees are given the discretion to mark all penalty areas as red so that lateral relief is always...

https://youtu.be/Mc90UbpJbuM

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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...

Gary I'm in need of a little clarification of the "local rules". If you are playing in a tournament and they call it "lift clean and place throughout", are you allowed to go from rough to fairway or even rough to green under this local rule. Is there a set amount of relief you can take? Is 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?

What is the rule for a ball that lies on or within a ground crack which is caused by the lack of moisture or water? Today, my golf partner had his ball across a ground (tension) crack...and he had played as it had lied....the shot unfortunately wasn't very good. I had told him to move ball since it...

I'm trying to organize an event between our forum and two other Ontrio based forums. I am looking to play the event straight up with caps ranging from 0-10. The preference of another team captain is to have varied caps (higher than ten) compete. My concern here is sandbagging. He is proposing using...

so i am just watching Tin Cup the movie with Kevin Costner, and you know that shot he hit off the pora-potty in the final round of the open... is that legal to use man made obstacles to your advantage? yes i know its a somewhat stupid question, but it got me thinking...

I was playing a match play competition with the Slammer Tour this weekend and noticed that one of my opponents had 15 clubs in the bag. This is a guy that is supposed to be a rules guru and he was breaching rules all day and had the nerve to call me on a rule. I did not call him on it...

This question is regarding using the proper "form" of a procedure. A competitor is involved in a discussion with a rules official regarding the lie of his ball, and the resulting ruling requires the player to take a drop under the prescribed rule. The player takes his relief and measures...

My ball is resting in the middle of a bridge going over a red staked water hazard. Local rules state that there is a free drop from roadways/pathways. What is the ruling? This has come up several times in the course of play over the last several years. It is my understanding that the bridge...

Playing Falconridge 17th hole. Hit a bad tee shot, went right and landed in long grass maybe into light bush. I hit a provisional ball. Get up there and if I choose to look for my ball I'm in ankle deep water. There are no red stakes. Couldn't find my ball but my playing partner agreed it was in...

Can someone explain why the difference in course rating is applied to players playing from different tees after the allocation of strokes is done? Is the difference in difficulty not already taken into account when the course handicap is calculated based on the tee to be played? Colour me...

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?

Golf clubs commonly divide their players into handicap classes, ie., Class "A", Class "B", and Class "C." Is their an official guide as to the handicap factor ranges that are used for each class? At my previous club, we used the following, for men: Class A 9.9 or less Class B ...

Since joining this community and reading, with interest, all of the little nuiances to the Rules of Golf I realized how little I really knew about the rules so I bought 2 copies of the RCGA Rules of Golf - one that I keep at home and 1 that I keep in my bag. I think that it would be interesting...

Whilst playing Loch March today , on hole #5 i was lining up a putt for birdie , about 3 ft , i hit the ball dead straight towards the cup , the ball went right down , into the hole , hit the ledge of the cup and rebounded straight back up and back on the same line i putted from ! I was amazed , i...

This is slightly different from the LOST BALL post so I've put in another one. Player A; can't find his ball in the rough so he drops and hits another. Before leaving he finds his ball hits it. Which ball is he forced to play? Just curious as it came up in a match I played on the...

Need to settle an argument with a friend. What happens when a tee shot hits a power line?

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...

Player A hits 2nd shot and his ball bounces into a long patch of grass in the rough. He advances and cannot find his ball (playing partners helped out and could not find it) and he then elects to hit another ball from where he though his ball had disappeared into the rough. He proceeds further up...

I was playing in a club championship and was teamed up in a group where the other 3 guys were all buddies. We were playing a Par three and one of the guys was taking a practice swing with his wedge prior to chipping onto the green. he proceeded to actually hit his ball on the practice chip and it...

I think I know the answer, but.... are you allowed to repair aeration holes on a green? I think you're only allowed to repair pitch marks, and not even spike marks.

you stop keeping score after the 12 hole because you aren't feeling well. What do you do in terms of the round counting towards the cap? Count only the front? Give yourself the max on the rest of the holes?

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...

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...

Can a fellow competitor tap down a spike mark in your line of put? I know that you can’t tap down the spike mark from your own line but I was told yesterday that if you say something in regards of a spike mark in your line, your fellow competitor can walk up and tap it down for you without penalty....

Kevin Sutherland just putted out on 17. The leaderboard behind him shows his distance to the hole at 2'8". The commentators mentioned it. I stopped my PVR and looked at it. The numbers are about a foot high. Very visible to the player. So he can look at the leaderboard for a distance reading. There...

BC's stance is in ground under repair (GUR) about 210 yds from the green and has a crappy lie so decides to take relief for the GUR using his gap wedge to measure his nearest point of relief as he figured that with a bad lie that was all he could get on the ball. After taking his drop he now has a...

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?

Hit an iron shot to the green and the ball roll on the fringe. Can I fix my ball mark before chipping/putting my ball from the fringe? Am I only allowed to fix ball mark after my ball is on the green? Thanks

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...

Not sure if there is a rule or is it etiquette. Where is the correct place to leave a rake, in or out of the bunker? I always thought in but saw during the women's US Open yesterday they are out, and by 2-3 feet.

They are occasions when the rules can benefit the player, for example, knowing WHEN and HOW to take relief. Also, it is only fair that the player be penalized for hitting the wrong shot to the wrong place, or for doing something contrary to the rules. Are there rules or situations, other than...

Played Pakenhan today and one of my fellow competitor's ball came to rest in casual water in the near end of a greenside bunker. The only area free of casual water was in the far end of the bunker, all of which was closer to the hole from where his ball was originally lying in the bunker. My...

I think I asked this before but can't find the thread (if I even made one). If you have a line on your ball and want to use the line to line up with the hole out of the fairway like you do on the green? Can you mark your ball and rotate it and put it back? Thanks

A golfer's ball comes to rest in a puddle, (casual water) and he elects to take relief. Marking the nearest point and the club length relief with tees, he drops the ball properly. His lie is poor so he then claims that he is still in casual water because when he fairly takes his stance, water can...

I was playing on Sunday and my ball came to rest in front of 3-4 May flowers. If I was to play my ball were it lied I would have to destroy the May flowers as they were in the path of my swing. Now as far I know the May flowers are a protected wild flower. My question is, should I have been able to...

Last Saturday Ive played a golf tournament with three other player. One of them hit the ball close to the flight in front of us and they were visibly annoyed about that however they teed off the ball and went away Now my question 1. What should we do? 2. Could the player get a penalty...

OK, so my course has a local rule that states: "A ball striking power lines or poles must be replayed, regardless of outcome, with no penalty." We have a number of holes where power lines run across and parallel to holes between fairways and the local rule has always made sense to me because...

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...

Is carrying 2 putters in your bag legal? Just curious.

Tigers ball was headed towards the cup and someone threw an apple at his ball (you can't make this stuff up). The apple missed the ball but what would have happened if it hit the ball and knocked it off its line??? I would think they would make him re-putt it but as everyone knows... I'm always...

in match play... my ball comes to rest on a rather large rock. if my playing partner allows it, am i allowed to move my ball to the nearest point of relief? no closer to the hole?

I think I know the answer to this but I'll put it out there. 11th hole at King's Forest. Hitting from an elevated tee deck down into "the valley". Creek, marked yellow stakes, runs across the fairway (actually, just before the fairway even starts), and is out of sight from the tee deck. ...

A posting on 04-05-2007 (Is this cheating) described a high handicaper that drove eratically, but used an iron off the tee in tournaments - with the result that he shot well under his handicap. Replies used the terms sandbagger, unethical, and occasionally cheating. (One cited 1-1 of the RCGA...