Q & A
A few people have asked questions using comments in the About page. For now, put your question in the Comments for this page. I’ll put my answers on this page. The full questions can be found in the comments below.
23) Kyle asks about double paint guns that have two cans and paint a double strength line.
Kyle, I know the USGA has some of these, but I’m not sure if they bought them somewhere or just made them. I’m at the US Amateur and I’ll try to speak with Mike Davis or Jeff Hall and find out more about their guns.
22) Ernie asks if he can change the loft on his putter during the round.
No, you may not change the loft during the round. If you do, the putter must be immediately declared out of play. See Rule 4-2a. If you used it again during the round, you would be disqualified. You are not even allowed to change the loft and then put it back to the way it was. Once you change it, that putter is done for the day.
21) Jason asks if a player who hits a ball OB from a bunker must drop in the divot. Also, if a player who hit from the fairway must do so.
When the player has hit from the bunker, he can rake the bunker before dropping. Rule 13-4 Exception 2 says that once the ball is not in the bunker you can rake without restriction. As for the player in the fairway, if he is playing a provisional he can’t replace the divot. If he replaces the divot and then goes forward and finds out the ball is OB, he is no penalize for having replaced the divot.
Of course, if the ball was properly struck the divot should be in front of the where the ball had been resting so a ball which is dropped and ends up in a divot would probably be in front of its previous location and would need to be re-dropped. If the shot had been hit fat, it could be possible to be in the divot and not in front of the location.
20) BIG asks if a player who is penalized for carrying too many clubs should include those strokes when he posts his score.
I checked with our Director of Handicapping and he should include the four strokes in his score.
19) Kyle asks if there are any publications/websites available in regards to the set-up and marking of a golf course.
Kyle, the best one is the USGA’s “How to Conduct a Competition.” It is available as a pdf or you can purchase a copy through their website. It does a very good job on how to mark the course, select hole locations and what local rules you might want to have.
18 ) Andrew asks if there are any decisions that I disagree with or think should be changed.
I don’t think that I disagree with them, but there are some I think are unfair. The way the rules read now, they probably correct without somehow trying to be fair or equitable (as opposed to using “equity”).
The one I dislike the most is Decision 27/6. In it, a player can’t find his ball so after 5 minutes he heads back to the tee. On the way, he finds another player’s ball and realizes that the other player had played his ball by mistake. His ball is lost, but the guy who hit the wrong ball can continue play with his original with the two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball. The way the rule is written, it is the correct decision but it seems so unfair to force the player to have a lost ball in this situatino.
17) Mark asked about the rules regarding double greens.
If your club takes no action in the local rules, a double green is considered one large green. Such is the case at The Old Course in St. Andrews. All the double greens there add to up a total of 18 such that the 4 and 14th are shared. One interesting take in this that was thought of by my good friend Dr. Bob Hooper at this year’s Curtis Cup was that a player who finished putting out at the 4th hole could go over and practice putting or chipping on the 14th as long as they weren’t holding up play. One way to cure that would be to prohibit practicing on the green of the hole just completed.
Some modern double greens I’ve seen are really two greens connected by a thin strip of grass cut to green height. If they were played as one green, there would be frequent instances of balls being chipped on the green. To prevent that, clubs may put a stake on each side of the neck between the two halves and declare that the other half is not part of the same green and is to be played as a wrong putting green under Rule 25-3.
As for right of way, St. Andrews declares that an inward bound match (back 9) has priority over the outward bound one (front 9).
16) Mike asks “During a friendly (and very windy) game with my dad, I was having trouble getting the ball to sit still on the green. To remedy the problem I simply just pushed down on the ball and sort of “stuck” it into the ground. Is this legal? I would assume not. “
Mike, you are correct that it is not legal. You can not alter the lie in order to make the ball stay at rest. If the ball will stay there, but just oscillate in the wind, you have to play it. If the ball will not stay in place you will have to find the nearest place, not nearer the hole where it will stay at rest.
15) Andrew asks about having out of bounds within the boundaries of the golf course.
Andrew, there is no problem with having out of bounds within the boundaries, but many tournament Committees prefer not to have OB around when it is not needed. The only time they might have an area marked as OB is if a player could play that way and get a significant advantage (ie cutting a dogleg) or it was a safety issue. Removing OB from areas such as you described gives the players the maximum room to play. I assume that the area in question does meet the definition of a water hazard for the tour staff to have marked it that way. Many times courses mark OB just to keep players from wasting time searching for ball that is unlikely to be found.
The classic example of this was the clubhouse at Firestone when Tiger hit his shot into it.
14) Chris asks where a player gets a stroke if in a net handicap match if the difference is 1 handicap stroke.
Strokes always start with the number 1 handicap hole. If the difference between handicaps is 1, the player with the higher handicap gets the stroke on the #1 handicap hole regardless if they are a 0 and 1 or a 9 and a 10 playing each other.
13) Syed asks “Marker writes down a score by asking the caddy of the player. The score card is submitted duly signed by both. Result announced by the committee, Marker comes to the committee and complains that he wrote the score less than what it actually was. Committee calls in the player puts up the question the player replies that it was the score which was written on the card”
Normally in a situation where a player’s score is disputed by someone else, it is up to the Committee to determine the facts in the situation and make a ruling. Decision 34-3/9 was added in 2008 to help guide the Committee. In this case, the player, the marker, the caddies and anyone else with some information should be interviewed. In the end, the Committee must make the decision which is tough. Having each player recall all the strokes on the hole is probably the best way to start. Once the decision has been reached, if the Committee decides the marker was correct, the player has signed for an incorrect score which is too low.
Your question states that the result has been announced. If, by that, you mean that the competition is over, the player would be disqualified if the score was wrong because of anything other than a penalty he didn’t know he had occurred. If it was due to a penalty he didn’t know he incurred, the results would stand. If the competition was still going on, the player would be disqualified.
12) Steve asks about a player who watches another player break a rule in order to call it on him.
Your question confused the two forms of play. You have an opponent in match play, but you get penalized two strokes in stroke play. I’ll assume you are talking about stroke play. If I heard of a competitor purposely watching a fellow-competitor violate a rule just to call it on him, I believe I would disqualify the player under Rule 33-7 which gives the Committee the power to disqualify a player for any reason.
11) Schultz asks about taking relief from an obstruction where when a hazard is next to it.
In taking relief from an obstruction under Rule 24-2 that is through the green, you must determine the nearest point of relief that is not in a hazard or on a putting green. Therefore, you can not ever find your nearest point of relief in the hazard in a situation like this. You get a good break if the hazard had very long grass as you mentioned. I have seen this many times at courses. The other part of it is that if the hazard was a lateral water hazard and your two club lengths was on the cart path, you would have to drop on the path and then if you still had interferece take relief from it under Rule 24.
10) John asks about his ball coming to rest in a squirrel or other animal hole.
John, The definition of “Abnormal Ground Condtions” includes “any … hole, cast or runway on the course made by a burrowing animal, reptile or bird.” If you know your ball is in the hole, you get free relief. Normally you should lift and drop that ball within one club length of the nearest point of relief no nearer the hole, but if it is not immediately recoverable or you have reason to believe that attempting to recover it would be dangerous, you can drop another ball.
9) Barry asks about where the tees should be set for an NCGA qualifier
There is no requirement in the rules where the tees must be set, but there are a few guidelines:
- Keep them near the permanent markers.
- Put them on flat areas with some good grass.
- Keep the overall length of the course close to that on the card, so if you put some tees back 10 yards, put some others up 10 yards. If you change the overall distance of the course significantly you should see the table in the USGA Handicap System Manual for adjusting the course rating and slope. An overall change of 22 yards in the length of the course could change the rating and slope.
- If you are using a tee other than the standard one and are using TPP or some other program to create the score cards, it is good to make sure the score cards reflect that.
- Make sure they aren’t so close to the back of the tee that they player doesn’t have two club-lengths behind them to tee the ball. I usually take three large steps from the back and never put them further back than that.
Sometimes the official in charge of the qualifier might come early and determine where he or she would like the tees. For all our events where a staff person is on site, we always determine the hole locations and the tee locations.
MacAfrican asks about why it is ok to drop from the rough to the fairway and then get to lift, clean and place.
Mac, I have no problem with the first part of this in that there is only one distinction in the Rules of Golf between rough and fairway. It may be the case that an area where relief is to be granted is large enough that a player who wasn’t allowed to move to the fairway would have to move substantially further to stay in the rough. This might be a bigger change in his next shot than otherwise. Also, there could be an area of what would normally be fairway that couldn’t be mown due to conditions. If it is now longer grass and the player couldn’t drop in the fairway he would have to move all the way to the rough on one side or the other or we’d be writing local rules for this to allow him to drop in the fairway.
As for the opportunity to get his hands on the ball after a drop, I don’t like it, but I don’t like lift, clean and place in general. I understand why the PGA Tour needs it at times in order to finish a round or a tournament, but I also think they do tend to overuse it.
7) Andrew asks about the difference between Decisions 14/2 and 14/3 and why one counts as a stroke and the other doesn’t?
Decisions 14/2 and 14/3 both discuss a clubhead coming off as he is swinging. 14/2 happens during the backswing and 14/3 happens during the downswing. The stroke is defined as the forward motion of the club with the intention of hitting the ball. When the clubhead comes off the shaft, the thing in your hands no longer meets the definition of a club. So, if it happens on the backswing, the act of swinging the shaft is not a stroke because it isn’t a club. If it happens on the downswing, you started the stroke with a club in your hands so it was a stroke the moment that forward motion started and unless your intent changed and you diverted your path or stopped your swing, it does count as a stroke.
6) Jason asked what is the principle behind letting a player who played earlier caddie for another player?
Decisions 6-4/8 and 6-4/9 allow a player who played earlier or one who has withdrawn to caddie for another player. I think the thinking on this is that the player still has to execute the shots and that he or his caddie could have walked the course earlier to get similar information. Also, it might be a quirk of history. In the early days of golf in Scotland, professionals also frequently worked as caddies so they might play in the morning and then caddie for a wealthy patron in the afternoon in the same competition. There is a Condition of the Competition in Appendix I Section C-3 that says the Committee could restrict who a person has caddie for them and it specfically mentions someone else who is playing the same competition.
5) Adam asks what “solidly embedded” means and is a twig which gets run over by a mower solidly embedded?
This is, at some level, a judgment call. My take on this is if the portion that is below ground doesn’t move easily when you wiggle the top part, it is solidly embedded or if a light pull on it fails to move it. A twig which gets run over by the mower probably isn’t but it could be if it had been somehow twisted to push it down into the ground.
4) Drop as near as possible to where the ball was. This is the case when you moved your ball in play and didn’t know the exact location. You are getting a one stroke penalty under Rule 18-2a and in order to get it back in play you drop on the estimated position of the ball.
When no penalty is involved, there are three dropping locations:
1) Within one club length of the nearest point of relief – Relief from Immovable Obstructions, Wrong Putting Green or Ground Under Repair
2) As near as possible to the spot where the ball lies – Embedded ball, ball moved by someone else and the spot is not known etc.
3) Dropping outside one club length and inside a second for relief from Temporary Immovable Obstructions – TIOs.
There may be others but I can’t think of them right now and will update this as possible.
3) Adam asks about the general statement that when it is a free drop you get to drop within 1 club length and when it is a penalty drop you drop within 2 club lengths and when this might not be true.
When dropping a ball with a penalty there are four kinds of dropping locations:
1) Point where the ball was last played from (stroke and distance). If the last shot was from the tee you can tee it up, otherwise you drop as near as possible to the spot where the ball was played.
2) Keep the point between you and the hole. This is for water hazards, unplayables and getting away from obstructions or abnormal ground conditions in bunkers. In this case you must drop on the line or as near as possible to it.
3) Drop within 2 club-lengths of a specific spot. This is the case for option (c) in a lateral water hazard or option (c) in an unplayable ball situation.
2) Andrew Brown posted a comment on dropping a ball on the green in which he asked,
“I did ask some fellow posters on another site for contributions, and one has proposed a situation similar to D25/10.5, where the reference point is immediately below where the ball lay in the tree. If that point is on a putting green, I think that the decision has to override the wording in the rule regarding NPR not being on a putting green.”
That is an interesting case. The decision says, “In this case, the reference point for taking relief is the spot on the ground immediately below the place where the ball lay in the tree.” Note, that it says the “reference point”, not the “nearest point of relief”.
Rule 25-1b says that “If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift and drop it … within one club length of the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on the putting green.”
Since the putting green does not extend upwards, the ball is not on the putting green and is still through the green.
Given that, I think you must find the nearest point of relief to the “reference point” that is off the green and drop within one club length, not on the green.
I’ve sent an e-mail to someone at the USGA for his opinion on it and will update this when he replies. UPDATE: I have confirmed with someone who is much smarter than me on the rules.
1) Adam asked about TIO relief that Greg Norman got at The Western Open a few years ago.
At the time that Greg got his relief, the rule read that the TIO had to be directly between the ball and the hole. This year there was a change that now says interference occurs when the TIO “intervenes directly between the player’s ball and the hole and on his line of play”. This means that if you wouldn’t be playing towards the hole, you don’t get relief just because the TIO happens to be on the line. For example a par 5 where you are laying up to the fairway in a direction that is away from the hole.
There are also a couple of exceptions that say:
“It is clearly unreasonable for him … to make a stroke such that the ball could finish on a direct line to the hole because of interference by anything other than the TIO”
and
“In the case of intervention, it would clearly be unreasonable to expect the player to be able to strike the ball far enough toward the hole to reach the TIO.”
Enforcing these can be tricky as it calls on the official to use his judgement in determining if there is reason to deny relief. If you remember David Frost at the Open at Carnoustie in 1999, telling a player he can’t do something can be very confrontational.
I have heard that the R&A used to have a “give it a go” way of interpreting this rule. The player could try to reach the TIO. If he did, they gave him relief and let him replay the shot.
John, The J.B. TIO piece recalled an incident I witnessed many moons ago. It was a Saturday at The Western Open and I was standing in a hospitality tent that Greg Norman indicated to the Rules Official was in his line of sight to the hole. While this may have been true, at ground level, the shot required carrying a stand of trees nearer the green. So, Greg had to hit it high to reach and this tent was not in his way. His ball happened to be in the rough, but with the free drop ended up in the fairway. It was obvious Greg would not have been able to go for the green without the fairway drop. Is the rule strictly about line of sight or does the balls flight matter in making a decision? Is the LOS to the Flagstick, only?
Whether it was legal or not, Greg paid for what he did. At that moment, on the eleventh hole at Cog Hill, he had a six stroke lead yet lost the tourney on Sunday. Ain’t Karma a bitch?
John, It was once explained to me that when a penalty is involved the distance to drop is two strokes. Conversely, when a free drop situation occurs, the distance is always one club length. Recently, I saw reference to a situation where this axiom is incorrect.
Could you please describe the situation where this general rule of thumb is NOT correct? (two club lengths when a penalty stroke is involved, one club length on a free drop)
P.s. I’m hoping that’s clear enough, if not just ask me to try harder to explain.
John, I’m thinking it’s that last TIO relief that is the exception to the general rue of thumb I was referring to. Since it appears to only be applicable to the pros, when TV towers and stands are in close proximity, I won’t worry too much about it. Can you think of any TIO’s everyday golfer’s at non-competition courses might face? Would unattended maintenance vehicles be one?
Adam, No unattended maintenance vehicles would not be TIOs. They are just immovable obstructions (no line of sight relief).
TIOs are items that were constructed or erected for a tournament so there would be none on a “non-competition” course.
John,
Could you point me to a higher-rez copy of your banner photo? I recognize Tim Moraghan and Jeff Hell from the lowrez but I can’t name the others.
Thanks and continued good luck with your blog.
–dph
There is another ‘no penalty dropping location’ — under a cancel and replay (e.g., Rule 19-3, Rule 5-3 when the ball has broken into pieces, the power-line Local Rule). That spot is, of course, as nearly as possible to the spot of the canceled stroke.
Thanks David. I knew I’d miss something.
I’ll e-mail you a copy of the picture when I get back home.
John,
A full field PGA tournament has 156 players. Splitting them into waves gets morning and afternoon fields on 78. Which is 39 players off of each starting tee. At 3 players each, that is 13 groups.
The only logical solution for pace of play is to have a smaller field of 144 players, but I don’t think the independent contactors would vote for that solution.
144 is a much better number, but even at that you have 12 groups per 9 per wave which is 1:50 from first to last.
Last week in Puerto Rico they went with 132 but did 11 minute tee times so that they didn’t gain much.
John:
With tournament season approaching, what are the top 10 rules mistakes you see amateur tournament participants make?
Jason,
Good question. I’ll answer it as a post on the main page.
JVB- Could you help clarify the definition of “solidly embedded”? Is a twig which gets run over by a greens mower solidly embedded?
I am very surprised at the decision below. In a state mid am a few years ago the player who won the tournament used as his caddie a person who played early in the day if the first round. It seemed like a unique advantage, particularly on a course with tricky greens.
Any insight as to whether there is a principal behind this decision or is it simply a technical reading of the rule?
6-4/8 Player in Competition Caddies for Another Player in Same Event
Q: Two players playing in the same competition at different times on the same day caddie for each other. Is this permissible?
A: Yes.
I was just reading decisions 14/2 and 14/3. They seem contradictory to me. Can you explain the difference between these two decisions and the reasoning for one being a stroke and the other not? Thank you.
The player’s ball ends up on a sprinkler in the rough (nasty rough too in this case). Under the one club length rule he drops his ball, but in this case that means he drops his ball on the fairway.
Surely this is absurd?
To make it worse the local rule permitted placing on fairways, so he then places it very nicely and plays his second from there.
much appreciated!
More of a course set-up question than a rule question:
Our club is having the qualifier for the NCGA four ball tournament. Some members insist the teeing ground must be where (near) 5-10 yard s of the NCGA course permanent markers are. (ie. The white teeing ground can not be back where the blue marker usually are) I can not find anywere this is addressed. Can you clarify this situation or provide any guidance or reference to proper placement of the location of the teeing ground if there is any. I did find where the markers should be moved to allow different length shots on all the par three, but not on placements of teeing ground.
Thank you
I enjoy reading your blog — good stuff.
Why did you remove the Oakmont photo?
Is the new photo your yard with Photoshop?
Just curious.
Thank you.
I was playing in a match this weekend and used a broken tee to tee off. My opponent pointed out that because I was using equipment that was not mine I am assesed a 2 stroke penalty. Is this true?
Thanks
Marty,
No, I took the picture at Sierra View Country Club in Roseville, about 5 weeks ago while running a qualifier for the California Amateur.
Rob, there is no problem with using a broken tee. The only thing you can not borrow from someone else or use is a club that is being used by someone else on the course at that time.
You can even get a ball from someone else. If the “one-ball” rule is in effect it would have to be the same type, but otherwise there is no restriction.
Hi John
On Sunday my ball ended up in an animal hole and dropped quite far in. We could all see a small part of the ball but all were a bit concerned about putting our hand in to pull it out.
How do you rule on something like this? Unsure if the opening housed a snake, squirrel mole or whatever. Inserting ones hand in did not seem like a good idea.
Thanks for the help and keep up the great work
John
John,
I recall that you have experience as a starter, so a question – one I haven’t found an answer for.
Note to R6-3a in effect. A player is 4 minutes late to the tee. Say the tee time is 9am, and they get away from the tee finally 9.05am.
If the group intervals are 10 minutes, then the next group will go at 9.15am I assume. Is there then a 5 minute delay through the rest of the tee-times until the buffer tee time is reached?
I am assuming the starter will not be trying to get groups back to their alloted time by shrinking the interval???
Can you elaborate a bit about this occurrence?
Regards
Andrew
John,
Random question from a friendly match this weekend. We were playing a course where the cart path (immovable obstruction) actually abuts directly to a staked lateral WH. Nearest point of relief was in the WH, so it was decided that that the ball should be dropped in the rough (further from the hole). In reading the rules (13 or 14, IIRC, but can’t remember), I think this was right, but it strikes me that this is a huge break for the guy (ok, it was me. ) Because the stakes were right up against the path, there was no way to drop clear of the obstruction and still be out of the WH. As an aside, the WH had really high grass that made it virtually impossible for a ball to roll into the WH.
I’ve never seen a stake (except OB) right up against a path. Seems like a design flaw that lead to a huge break.
Q & A:
I unknowingly tee a ball in front of the tee marker in breach of the rules. My opponent knows this and does not say anything until after I have made my swing. I incur the penalty of 2 strokes and replay my ball from the teeing ground. Is my opponent in breach of any rule for knowing that I was in breach and allowing it to happen?
John:
You haven’t added any rules thoughts in a while. Are you giving up on that idea?
Regards,
Marty
Marty,
I haven’t quit, just been very busy lately.
Dear John,
Hi, How r u? sequeal to S#13, The committee on the basis of the facts, decided that the player had birdied the hole, so the score of that hole stands as it is, giving bnefit of doubt to the player.Is this correct?
If the Committee decided that it was a birdie and the score on the card was a birdie or higher, then the card stands. If the card had an eagle recorded on it, then the player would be disqualified unless there was a penalty that he didn’t know about.
thanx
What was the ground situation and rule was used to give Sergio Garcia relief on the second playoff hole at the Barclays on August 24?
Hi John,
Lets say you’re playing a net match play event. In one match, your opponent is a 10 handicap and you are a 9 handicap. Does your opponent get his stroke on the 10th handicap hole or the 1st handicap hole? Thanks!
cm
I was just at the Barclays last week at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey. There were several holes where tree lines on the outside of the course that play as out of bounds for members and regional tournaments were changed to be lateral hazards for the PGA Tour (3, 4, 17 for that routing). This also happened for the 2001 Senior PGA Championship.
The rumor I’ve heard is that an area cannot (or should not) be out of bounds unless it’s outside the property line of the club. The places that are changed from out of bounds to lateral hazards are all at the edge of the course, but the club owns the woods past the tree line. There are other places where there is a property line boundary and those stayed as out of bounds (7, 13, 15 for that routing).
Is there any truth to this rumor regarding why certain areas were changed from out of bounds to a lateral hazard? If so, is it an actual rule or just a guideline? Is it documented anywhere? If that’s not true, do you have any explanation of what’s going on?
Thanks, as usual.
John,
I have a question about marking your ball in windy conditions. During a friendly (and very windy) game with my dad, I was having trouble getting the ball to sit still on the green. To remedy the problem I simply just pushed down on the ball and sort of “stuck” it into the ground. Is this legal? I would assume not.
It kind of reminds me of testing the sand by digging your feet into it.
Hi
Could anyone direct me some rescource that would answer several questions that my club has about shared or double green ie right of way, order of play, is the “other” green considered an other green etc.
kind regards
John, Any chance you could explain the Anthony Kim situation in China recently? He inadvertently broke his driver, failed to notice it and was DQ’d.
Thanx
Adam
John, out of curiosity, are there any Decisions that you disagree with and think should be changed?
John,
I was wondering if there were any study guides available for the USGA/PGA Rules test? I know of all the websites and online quizzes but was wondering if there was a more comprehensive study guide. Thanks
Kyle, the USGA sends out a study guide when you enroll in a class. There is nothing online.
John,
I was wondering if there are any publications/websites available in regards to the set-up and marking of a golf course.
I watched Tiger get relife from behind a tree because there was a electrical box between his ball and his line to pitch out to the fairway. It did not interfer with his swing or stance, only his line of play. This appears to me to be an incorrect decision. Am I wrong?
Ron,
I’ve answered this on the home page at Tiger at Bay Hill
http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/columnists/2009/03/20090327rosaforte
John, did you catch this bit about Erik Compton (the last item on page 1 of the story in the link above)? I remember watching it and thinking he got away with a definite penalty there, but I don’t understand the explanation. Any ideas?
Andrew,
I didn’t see it, but it sounds like he could have been ruled to have two caddies. In this case, some common sense might have prevaled as it was done without any intention on anyones part to make the youngster a caddie. A strict reading of the rule would result in a penalty. I suppose Decision 6-4/4.5 that says the casual act of assisting the player does not constitute a breach of Rule 6-4 could be used to get out of the penalty.
Hey John,
Last week I was in a match where my partner shot 74. He announced at the end of the round that he had 15 clubs in his bag.
The loss of hole penalty didn’t effect the outcome, my question is should he have posted 74 or added the 4 stroke penalty for more than 14 clubs?
I feel like he shot the 74 and that’s what he should post.
Love your Blog, keep it up, we’re reading.
B.I.G.
John:
In a competition last week a friend of mine hit a ball out of bounds from a bunker. In such a situation, the player is supposed to drop as near as possible from where the last shot was played with a stroke and distance penalty. Because his divot marked the location of the shot precisely, is he required to drop in the crater he just created? (He did.)
Does the analysis change at all outside of a hazard?
Based on my quick read, it appears the player would need to drop in the crater in a bunker or in a divot through the green. Rule 20 allows the original lie to be recreated when a ball is placed but not when dropping.
It probably makes little difference from a bunker because the ball is likely to bury a bit anyway, From the fairway, however, it seems pretty harsh.
John,
Can it ever be permissible to drop a ball on the putting green after taking a lateral water hazard penalty? Recently, on an island green, the nearest relief point was determined, and the two club lengths included some area on the putting green. Is the player permitted to drop on the green? Or place it on the green?
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitchell,
Yes, in taking relief from a water hazard or for other penalty drops, the player is permitted to drop on the green. When taking free relief from something like ground under repair or an obstruction that is off the green you can not drop on the green. In this case you drop the ball since it was off the green to start (in the hazard). If the ball started on the green and you take relief from something like GUR or casual water, then you would place it even if that took you off the green. The one time you would place a ball on the green when it wasn’t there to start is if you were going under stroke and distance (say you putted it from the green into the water hazard and chose to go back to where you putted from).
If I have a putter with an adjustable loft, can I adjust the loft during play ?
Ernie,
No, you can not adjust the loft of the club during a stipulated round. If you did and subsequently used the club, you would be disqualified for violating Rule 4-2.
John,
I am traveling the country this summer with the AJGA and one of our main jobs is to completely mark the tournament course. The one thing that always seems to be a problem is that our lines fade and we end up having to refresh them. I was wondering if you have heard of some sort of “double paint gun” or something like it?