Dr. Robin Farran is one of the top USGA Rules Officials in the country and currently teaches Advanced Rules at the Golf Academy of America in Phoenix. The man never seems to take a day off! In this week’s Diary of a USGA Rules Official, Dr. Farran shares some of the more interesting conversations between players and Rules Officials.
In the first example, Rules Officials’ comments are highlighted in red, while player comments are highlighted in blue. Otherwise, rulings are typically highlighted in red. It’s a pretty clever little tete-a-tete, and there’s plenty of red, white, and blue to help ring in the 4th of July:
And the Answer Is?
When we’re serving as officials, players ask us questions and expect an answer. The following are typical questions that we are asked, sometimes on the course and other times by phone call.
**In each incident below, the official must request additional information from the player in order to make a correct ruling. The response to a question from a player often must be a question by the official, not an answer to the question that was asked.
1. “My ball was on a sprinkler head. I get relief, right?”
“Where was your ball?”
“In a lateral water hazard.”
“There is no relief from an obstruction when your ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard.”
See Note 1 under Rule 24-2b.
2. “My ball is embedded in a pitch mark. What do I do now?”
“Was the pitch-mark made by your ball when it landed?”
“Yes.”
“Where is your ball?”
“My ball is embedded on the putting green.”
“Okay. Please mark and lift your ball. Before fixing the ball-mark, you might wish to remove your marker a putter-head length to the side and move the marker back after the ball-mark has been repaired.”
See Rule 25-2 and Rule 16-1c.
3. “I swatted at a bug near my ball and moved my ball. Is that a penalty?”
“Was your ball in a bunker or in a water hazard?”
“No, my ball was on the putting green.”
“In the Rules, there is no penalty when your ball is on a putting green and you move a loose impediment causing your ball to move. You must place the ball as near as possible to its original location.”
See Rule 23-1.
4. “I carefully moved a small stick that was touching my ball. The ball oscillated but did not move. Is that a penalty?”
“If I understand correctly, your ball oscillated but did not move to another location?”
“Correct.”
“Where was your ball?”
“My ball was on the grass just inside the lateral water hazard on hole #15.”
“You need to add two penalty strokes to your score for hole #15 for moving a loose impediment in a hazard when your ball is in the hazard.”
See Definition of “Moved,” Decision 18/2 and Rule 13-4c.
5. “My ball is in a burrowing animal hole in the desert. Where do I take my ‘free drop’?”
“If your ball were in that same location and there was no animal hole how would you play the shot?”
“I would take an unplayable.”
“If the ball is not in a playable location, the Rules do not provide relief without penalty for the burrowing animal hole.”
See Exception to Rule 25-1b.
Some Favorites
In each of the incidents, which ball is the player’s ball in play?
1. Player A’s second shot from the fairway goes right of the fairway into an area of deep rough and vegetation. Player A and his fellow-competitors arrive in the area and spend 2 minutes searching without success. Player A announces that he will return to where he previous played and play a provisional ball while the fellow-competitors search.
Just after player A drops his provisional ball, a fellow-competitor calls to Player A that his original ball has been found. The five-minute search-time had not expired.
**Player A’s original ball, found within the 5-minute search time, is his ball in play. The dropped ball was dropped under an inapplicable Rule, Rule 27-2a, since Player A had gone forward to search. Rule 20-6 permitted Player A to lift a ball dropped under an inapplicable Rule and proceed correctly, i.e., continue play with the original ball.
2. Player B’s tee shot goes right of the fairway into an area of deep rough and vegetation. Player B and his fellow-competitors arrive at the area and spend 2 minutes searching without success. Player B announces that he will return to the tee and play a provisional ball while the fellow-competitors search.
Player B replays from the tee and walks forward to where the fellow-competitors were searching. Player B is informed that his original ball had been found before the five-minute search-time had expired.
**Player B’s second ball played from the tee is his ball in play. The permission to play a ball provisionally requires a statement of intent prior to going forward to search and prior to playing the second ball. Since Player B did not satisfy both requirements, the second ball played is his ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance as noted in Rule 27-1a. [Also, see Decision 34-3/6.]
3. Player C’s second shot from the fairway heads right of the fairway into the desert. Player C drops a second ball with no comment. Prior to Player C’s stroke at the dropped ball, a fellow-competitor asks Player C if this is a provisional ball. Player C responds, “Of course this is a provisional ball”. Player C plays the dropped ball and goes forward to search. Player C finds his original ball within the 5-minute search-time.
**Player C’s original ball is his ball in play. Rule 27-2a required Player C to announce his intent to play a ball provisionally prior to playing another ball. Player C met the requirements of the announcement of intent prior to playing the second ball as well as the requirement to announce the intent prior to going forward to search. The second ball played was a provisional ball and since the original ball was found, the original ball was his ball in play.
Doubts
Player A experienced a complex set of situations on hole #6. Here are the relevant facts as explained by Player A to the Rules Official:
1. Player A hit his tee shot right towards a fence and a public road and properly played a provisional ball.
2. Player A found his original ball between a 10″ high cement curbing and a black steel fence (about 8″ of space exists between curbing and the fence).
3. Player A was unsure if ball was OB or on the course, invoked Rule 3-3, and stated that he would complete the hole with provisional ball in case the original was OB and complete the hole with the original ball if the original ball is ruled to be in bounds.
4. Before proceeding with the original ball, Player A was unsure if he was entitled to relief from the cement curbing and announced that he would play two balls, one under Rule 24-2 with no penalty and another ball under Rule 28c under penalty of one stroke.
5. Player A completed the hole with all three balls.
6. After teeing off on Hole #7, Player A called over a Rules Official to explain the facts of Hole #6. The Rules Official clarified that the black fence defines out of bounds and the concrete curbing is an obstruction. The group, in conversing with the Rules Official, all agreed that part of Player A’s original ball was on the course side of the fence posts and was not OB. They also all agreed, including Player A, that Player A could not have played the original ball in the absence of the concrete curbing due to interference from the fence.
7. Player scored 7 with the provisional ball, 5 with the ball played under Rule 24-2 and 6 with the ball played under penalty of one stroke under Rule 28.
**Player A scored 6 on the hole. There were two separate doubts to resolve.
Doubt #1 – Was the original ball OB? If so, the provisional ball would be the ball in play. As determined by the official, the original ball was on the course, therefore the provisional ball must be abandoned.
Doubt #2 – Is relief available from the concrete curbing or is the ball dropped under Rule 28c the ball that would count? The Exception to Rule 24-2 is relevant; Player A would not be able to play the ball near the fence if the concrete curbing had not been present, therefore the ball dropped under Rule 28 must count for hole #6. The ball dropped under Rule 24-2 was not played in accordance with the Rules. See Rule 3-3.