Cart Paths

photo credit: bradleypjohnson     Cart paths are considered immovable obstructions and you are entitled to move your ball off the path without penalty.   In rare cases, paths made of packed sand or wood chips are considered to be in play and the ball should be played where it came to rest.  

To move your ball from the cart path you must determine the nearest spot from where the ball came to rest that is no closer to the hole and also provides you with enough room to stand and swing without interference from the path.  

You must remember that the club you are hitting for your next shot will affect   how much space you need.   You are entitled to take a drop in an area that is one club-length but no closer to the hole.

Rule 28. Ball Unplayable

photo credit: bradleypjohnson      If  your ball is on the course and not in a water hazard, and you have identified it, you can declare it “unplayable.”   Options:   1)   Play your next shot from where the ball was last played (add one stroke).   2)   Keeping the spot of the unplayable lie directly between you and the hole, drop a ball as far back as you want (add one stroke).   3)   Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the unplayable lie, but no closer to the hole (add one stroke).

Use any club  to determine club-lengths.   If you take an unplayable lie in a bunker and choose option  two or three, you must take the drop in the bunker.    Technically, a  ball can be determined to be unplayable, even when on a putting green (rarely, if ever used).

Match or Medal Play ?

photo credit: danperry.com      USGA. Rules allow  contestants to play the game  in two different ways, match  or medal.   Match play is when each golf hole is counted separately, meaning that whichever player gets the lowest score on  each hole, wins that hole.    Whoever wins  the most holes, wins.   Medal play is when the player with the lowest total strokes after 18 holes, wins.  

Match play was always the most popular method  until the middle of the 20th Century.    It was used in most of the Major Championships and was as popular as Medal play is today.

Match play is more suitable for different skill levels.   When wagers are placed, match play is the order of the day.    Match play also allows for more  variables when choosing partners.    Next time, try match play for more fun on the links  !

Marking Your Golf Ball

photo credit: lrargerich     There are no  hard-fast rules when it comes to marking your golf ball.   The official  USGA. Rules offer guidlines only.   Placing your golf ball on the exact same spot that it was in when you marked it, is required.   You are allowed to mark your ball with any object, in any manner you choose.

The USGA guidlines simply  state that the ball mark should be a coin or an object shaped like a coin.   It also recommends that the object you use should not distract other players.  

The marker should be placed immediately behing the ball.   Do not touch the ball until the marker is in place.    Once the ball is returned to it's original position  and the marker is removed, the ball is considered to be “in play.”

Determining the Point of Relief

photo credit: Samuraijohnny     In the game of golf, determining the nearest point of relief is critical.   It's a very simple procedure that, unfortunately, not all weekend golfers are familiar with.

In nearly every case, the nearest point of relief is determined by finding the spot that is no closer to the hole than where your ball came to rest and that allows you to stand and swing without interference from the spot or object that prompted you to drop.   The nearest point of relief is usually the starting point far an area that is triangular in shape, typically determined by one club-length, in which you may drop or place the golf ball.

In too many cases the ball is dropped in simply a convenient location.   Unless the above procedure is followed, the rules of golf have been broken.

USGA. Rule:4-3 Damaged Clubs

photo credit: Army.mil     (a.)   Damage In Normal Course of Play – If during a stipulated round, a player's club is damaged in the normal course of play, he may: (l)   use the club in it's damaged state for the remainder of the round.   (ll)   without unduly delaying play, repair it or have it repaired:   or (lll)   as an additional option available only if the club is unfit for play, replace the damaged club with any club.   The replacement of a club must not unduly delay play and must not be made by burrowing any club selected for play by another person playing on the course.   Penalty for Breach of Rule 4-3 is DISQUALIFICATION.

At any time during play, no more than 14 clubs are allowed to be in use.

Lost Ball?

photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives     While playing recently, my opponent's ball was taken by two young adolescents strolling across the course.   The ball was hit just over the green and they walked directly over it.   I was playing my shot without realizing they had picked up his ball.   I called to them but they kept on going.

Having the ball come up missing is a frequent occurrence but what is the procedure in this case?   – Take a drop as close as possible to the area where it was taken (or accidentally hit by another golfer) and no closer to the hole.   There is no penalty for this situation but you must be able to prove that your ball was not lost in another manner.   If, by chance it was lost, you have to replay the previous shot with a one-stroke penalty.

New USGA Groove Rule

photo credit: bradleypjohnson     The USGA announced revisions to the Rules, placing new restrictions on the cross sectional area and edge sharpness of golf club grooves.   The revisions are designed to restore the challenge of playing shots to the green from the rough by reducing backspin on those shots.   The focus of the new rule will be competitions involving highly skilled professional golfers and should have little impact on most golfers.   The new rule applies to clubs manufactured after January 1, 2010.  

“Our research shows that the rough has become less of a challenge for  the highly skilled professional and that driving accuracy is now less of a key factor for success,” said USGA Senior Technical Director Dick Rugge.   The grooves presently in use, make it too easy to play out of the rough because of greater spin and and steeper ball landing angles.

USGA Rule 26 Water Hazards

photo credit: kevindooley     One stroke Penalty and: Rule 26-1a, play the ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played or:   Rule 26-1b, drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped or:    26-1c, with a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the last ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard, or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.

USGA Rule 11 4-b. Playing From Outside Teeing Ground

photo credit: Heather Elias     If a competitor, when starting a hole, plays a ball from outside the teeing ground, he incurs a penalty of two (2) strokes and must then play a ball from within the teeing ground.

If a competitor make a stroke from the next teeing ground without first correcting his mistake, or in the case of the last hole of the round, leaves the putting green without first declaring his intention to correct his mistake, he is disqualified.   The stroke from outside the teeing ground and any subsequent strokes by the competitor on the hole prior to his correction of the mistake, do not count in his score  (end of USGA rule).

You  are allowed two club-lengths (any club) behind the tee markers in which to tee your ball.

« Previous Page — Next Page »