Diary of a USGA Rules Official: New Rule!

Dr. Robin Farran teaches Advanced Rules at the Golf Academy of America in Phoenix and is one of the USGA’s top Rules Officials. He’s one of the guys who helps write the book, and he’s always emailing out different scenarios. Some of them have actually happened!

In this month’s Diary of a USGA Rules Official, Dr. Farran discusses the new Local Rule in 2017 and plays one of my favorite game shows: Okay or Not Okay?

Local Rule for 2017 Adopted
Any penalties? Do the Rules require the moved ball to be replaced?
**See the full text (below) as recommended by the USGA for the Local Rule for 2017.

1. Player marks his ball with coin, coin contacts the ball causing the ball to move.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

2. Player leans over to mark his ball with a coin; drops coin on the ball causing the ball to move.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

3. Player lifts the ball-marker from behind his ball causing the ball to move.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

4. Player approaches his ball to lift the ball-marker from behind the ball, contacts the ball with his shoe causing the ball to move.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

5. Player sees a ball on the putting green and believing it was a stray ball, picks up the ball without marking it. It was the Player’s ball in play.
One stroke penalty (Rule 20-1) – ball must be replaced.

6. By mistake, an opponent or a fellow-competitor marks and lifts the player’s ball.
Opponent – One stroke penalty (Rule 18-3) – ball must be replaced; fellow-competitor.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

7. On a calm day on a relatively flat putting green:
a.) Player rests club immediately the behind ball. After lifting club and standing a distance behind ball to view line of putt, the ball moves.
We should decide that the action did not cause the ball to move.
No penalty – play the ball as it lies.

b.) As soon as the player set his putter immediately behind the ball, the ball moved.
We should decide that the action caused the ball to move. (Decision 18-2/0.5).  If the player did not intend to move the ball the Local Rule would apply.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.

8. On a breezy day on a sloped putting green:
a.) Player rests his putter immediately behind the ball. After lifting his putter and then standing a distance behind the ball to view line of putt, the ball moves.
We should decide that the action did not cause the ball to move.
No penalty – play the ball as it lies.

b.) Player rests his putter immediately behind the ball. After lifting his putter and standing still for about 20 seconds, the ball moves.
We should decide that the action did not cause the ball to move.
No penalty – play the ball as it lies.

c.) As soon as the player grounded his putter immediately behind the ball, the ball moved.
We should decide that the action caused the ball to move (Decision 18-2/0.5). As the player did not intend to move the ball, the Local Rule would apply.
No penalty – ball must be replaced.
If we determined from the conditions that the player did not cause the ball to move, or the player was confident that he did not cause the ball to move, there is no penalty and the ball must be played from its new location.

d.) As the player approaches his ball on the putting green, he sees the ball move. He did nothing to cause the ball to move, but he replaces the ball.
The player was required to play the ball as it lay. He played from a wrong place and Rule 13-1 is the applicable Rule. The player incurs a two-stroke penalty.

e.) On the final hole, the player’s ball is about two feet from the hole. He places his putter near the ball and with a practice putt touches the ball with the putter and moves the ball only a short distance, perhaps about ½ inch. The player then putts and holes the ball.
The player moved his ball accidentally and the Local Rule applies; no penalty for having moved the ball. However, the player was required to replace the ball. When he did not replace the ball and then completed the hole with the ball played from a wrong place, the player incurred the general penalty under the Local Rule. 

Okay or Not Okay?
Ball lies on the fringe of the putting green:
Player fixes a ball-mark on the green on his line of play. OK! [Rule 16-1c]

Player putts and the ball strikes a ball on the green that was played out of a greenside bunker by a fellow-competitor after player putts. OK! [Rule 19-5a]*

Player putts and ball strikes the unattended flagstick in the hole. OK! [Only a penalty when attended – see Rule 17-3a]*

Player putts too strongly and the ball rolls past the hole and strikes the flagstick laying on the back of the green that had been removed by a player in the group. Not-OK! [Rule 17-3a]*

Player putts and the ball is deflected by a rabbit that ran across the green. OK! [Rule 19-1]*

Player putts too strongly and the ball rolls past the hole toward the flagstick laying on the back of the green.  His fellow competitor picks up the flagstick before the ball strikes the flagstick. OK! [Rule 24-1]*

Player putts and the ball strikes the foot of the player attending the flagstick who was not being attentive. Not-OK! [Rule 17-3b]*

Player putts croquet style. OK! [Only prohibited by Rule 16-1e when ball on putting green]

Ball lies on the putting green:
Player putts and the ball strikes a ball on lying on the green that was played by a player on an adjacent hole. Not-OK![Stroke play – Rule 19-5a]* [OK! In Match Play]

Player putts and the ball strikes the flagstick in the hole. Not-OK! [Rule 17-3c]*

Player putts and the ball strikes the foot of the player attending the flagstick who was not being attentive. Not-OK! [Rule 17-3b]*

Player putts and the ball is deflected by a rabbit that ran across the green. OK! [Rule 19-1b]**

Player marks, lifts and cleans ball.  After ball is replaced and at rest, ball rolls two feet.  Player replaces ball and putts. Not-OK! [Several Decisions, 18-2/0.5, 18-1/12 and 20-2c/3.5]*

Player putts croquet style. Not-OK! [Rule 16-1e]*

Player holes ball using handle of putter. Not-OK! [Rule 14-1a and Decision 14-1a/3]*

OK! – No penalties  Not-OK! – Penalty on the player
*Ball is played as it lies – Rule 19-1.
**Stroke is canceled and must be replayed – Rule 19-1b.

Winter Warm-Up
1. In stroke play, no Local Rule permitting distance measuring devices (DMDs), Player A during Hole #1 measures the distance to the flagstick with a DMD.
**Player A incurred a two-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 14-3. A subsequent breach of Rule 14-3 would result in disqualification. See the Penalty Statement under Rule 14-3 and Decisions 14-3/0.5 and 14-3/0.7.

2. Player B, forgetting that the Rules prohibit anchoring long putters, putts 3 times on the 1^st putting green anchoring the putter each time.
**Player B breached Rule 14-1b by intentionally anchoring his long putter (i.e., forgetting that the 2016 Rules amendment prohibits anchoring) and incurred a loss-of-hole penalty in match play or 6 penalty strokes in stroke play. Decision 1-4/14 reminds us that breaches with intervening strokes are separate breaches.

3. On the 1^st hole, Player C records a 5 on the score card. After the score card was returned and before the close of competition, it was learned that in two separate bunkers on the 1^st hole Player, for “care of the course”, Player C removed turf divots from the bunkers before playing the strokes from the bunkers.
**After returning his score card and prior to close of competition, it was learned that Player C breached Rule 13-4 on two occasions during play of hole #1, therefore the Exception to Rule 6-6d applies. Player C must add two penalty strokes for each breach of Rule 13-4 and an additional two-stroke penalty under Rule 6-6d for the incorrect score on his score card for hole #1. See the several Decisions (New for 2016) beginning with Decision 6-6d/5. Player C’s score for hole #1 is 11.