Well now that the web site is back up and running, it’s time to get back to posting with one of my favorites: Diary of a USGA Rules Official. Just to recap, I first met Dr. Robin Farran back when I was still a student at the Golf Academy of America. Not only is he one of the USGA’s top Rules Officials, he also helped write the book itself. I would argue that no one is better or more versed on the Rules than Dr. Farran, and he emails out several scenarios each month so we can continue to stay sharp. During this pandemic, they have been even more greatly appreciated:
Incident 1
Player A’s ball comes to rest on the putting green near a large cricket. As Player A brushes the cricket away from the ball, his hand moves the ball. Player A replaces the ball on the estimated spot.
**Player A has proceeded correctly without penalty. When a ball is on a putting green, there is no penalty for moving a ball in play when removing a loose impediment, Rule 15.1 Exception 1, or for accidently moving the ball, Rule 9.4b Exception 3.
Incident 2
Player A’s ball comes to rest in the fairway near a large cricket. As Player A brushes the cricket away from the ball, his hand moves the ball. Player A replaces the ball on the estimated spot.
**Player A gets one penalty stroke for moving his ball in play – see Rule 9.4b. As required by Rule 9.4b, Player A replaced the ball.
Incident 3
Player A’s ball comes to rest on the putting green on top of a large leaf. Player A removes the leaf, without marking the position of the ball, causing the ball to move. Player A discards the leaf, cleans the ball, and replaces the ball on the estimated spot.
**Player A has proceeded correctly without penalty. When a ball is on the putting green, there is no penalty for moving a ball in play when removing a loose impediment, Rule 15.1, or for accidentally moving the ball, Rule 9.4 Exception 3. Additionally, the ball may be cleaned, Rule 13.1b , and the loose impediment is not required to be replaced, Rule 15.1a Exception 1.
Incident 4
Player A’s ball comes to rest in the fairway on top of a large leaf. Player A removes the leaf, causing the ball to move. Player A discards the leaf and replaces the ball on the estimated spot.
**Player A gets a penalty of one stroke. Player A moved his ball in play, Rule 9.4b, and removed a loose impediment prior to replacing the ball, Rule 15.1a Exception 1. Since the two acts are related, player A gets one penalty stroke – see Rule 1.3c(4)
Incident 5
Player A’s ball is in a sandy part of the general area about 20 yards below an elevated putting green. Player A makes the stroke, the ball lands short of the putting green, and begins to roll slowly back down the hill toward Player A. Player A, realizing that her ball is likely to come to rest where she just played the stroke, smooths the sand where she had played the stroke. Player A’s ball comes to rest in the smoothed area.
**Player A gets the general penalty for deliberately altering conditions to affect the ball in motion – see Rule 11.3.
Incident 6
Player A’s ball is in a sandy part of the general area about 20 yards below and elevated putting green. Player A makes the stroke, the ball lands short of the putting green, and begins to roll slowly back down the hill toward Player A. Player A, realizing that her ball is likely to come to rest where she just played the stroke, smooths the sand where she had played the stroke. The ball stops short of reaching the smoothed area.
** Player A gets the general penalty for deliberately altering conditions to affect the ball in motion – see Rule 11.3. In Rule 11.3, the player is penalized for the intent not for the outcome of his or her actions – see Interpretation 11.3/1.
Incident 7
Player A’s ball is in a sandy part of the general area about 20 yards below an elevated putting green. Player A makes the stroke, the ball lands short of the putting green, and begins to roll slowly back down the hill toward Player A. Player A, realizing that her ball is likely to come to rest where she just played the stroke, picks up a club on the sand near where she had played the stroke. The ball comes to rest near where the club had been on the sand.
**Player A gets no penalty for picking up her club. The Exception to Rule 11.3 permits a player to lift or move clubs when a ball is in motion.
Incident 8
Player A’s ball is in a sandy part of the general area about 20 yards below an elevated putting green. Player A makes the stroke, the ball lands short of the putting green, and begins to roll slowly back down the hill toward Player A. Player A, not attentive to where the ball landed and unaware that the ball was rolling downhill, smooths the sand where she had played the stroke. The ball stops short of reaching the smoothed area.
**Player A gets no penalty for smoothing the sand. At the time of her raking, she was not aware that the ball might come to rest where she had played the stroke – see Interpretation 11.3/1.
In each of the following incidents, Player A continues play after the ball is put into play and, when a ball is dropped on a spot, the ball remains on the spot.
Incident 9
As Player A is walking down the fairway, Player A sees a ball and, thinking that the ball is a stray ball, picks it up without marking the spot. The ball is Player A’s ball. Player A cleans the ball and drops the ball on the estimated spot.
**Player A gets a penalty of one stroke. Player A gets a one-stroke penalty for moving his ball in play, a breach of Rule 9.4b. Player A also replaced the ball in a wrong way, a breach of Rule 14.2b(2). As noted in Rule 1.3c(4), multiple procedural breaches result in one penalty stroke in total.
Incident 10
As Player A is walking down the fairway, Player A sees a ball and, thinking that the ball is a stray ball, picks it up without marking the spot. The ball is Player A’s ball. Seeing a scrape on the ball, Player A places a new ball on the spot where the original ball lay.
**Player A gets a two-stroke penalty in stroke play or a loss-of-hole penalty in match play. Player A gets a one-stroke penalty for moving his ball in play, a breach of Rule 9.4b. Player A also breached Rule 4.2c(2) for substituting a ball when not permitted by the Rules. As noted in Rule 1.3c(4), in stroke play, the combined breaches of a procedural breach and a substitution breach results in a penalty of two strokes.
Incident 11
Player A sees a ball in the rough and reaches down and picks it up to identify it. It is Player A’s ball. Prior to putting the ball back, Player A cleans the ball then realizes that the spot was not marked before lifting. Player A remembers, from the only Rules Clinic he ever attended, that the player is required to estimate the spot and drop the ball from shoulder height. Player A drops the ball from shoulder height on the spot.
**Player A gets a penalty of one stroke. Player A lifted his ball in play without marking the ball, a breach of Rule 7.3, cleaned the ball when not permitted, a breach of Rule 14.1a and replaced the ball in a wrong way, a breach of Rule 14.2b(2). As noted in Rule 1.3c(4), multiple procedural breaches result in one penalty stroke in total.
Incident 12
Player A’s ball is in a bad lie in a bunker. Thinking that he doesn’t want to play the ball as it lies, Player A lifts the ball cleans it and surveys the relief area in the bunker. Player A then realizes that the only reasonable lie is outside the bunker and not wanting to get two penalty strokes under Rule 19.3b, Player A replaces the ball in the original lie.
**Player A gets a penalty of one stroke. When Player A elected to replace the ball and not proceed under Rule 19.3b, the permission to lift the ball without penalty is not applicable. Player A gets a one-stroke penalty for moving his ball in play, a breach of Rule 9.4b.