Rules Question

[john_stiles]

From USGA decisions.................


"  18-2a/20.5
Player's Practice Swing Moves Loose Impediment Which Moves Ball

Q.  In making a practice swing near his ball, a player moves a loose impediment (e.g., a stone), which causes his ball in play to move. What is the ruling?

A.  The player is deemed to have caused his ball in play to move in breach of Rule 18-2a; he incurs a one-stroke penalty and must replace the ball.

This ruling differs from that in Decision 18-1/8 both because it is reasonably foreseeable that a practice swing will move loose impediments that may in turn cause a ball in play to move, and because a player can, through reasonable care, avoid taking practice swings that might produce such a result. "


So taking a swing and carving out sod that could hit your ball ......is reasonably foreseeable.

[JESII]

To clarify my response a few posts ago...

If you go to your ball, not on the green, and clear away some loose impediments and the ball moves any time between then and you striking your ball you are deemed to have caused it to move. I'm only 99% sure this is accurate...but have been penalized for it.

If you don't move anything I guess grounding your club at address is the trigger, right?

[Greg Taylor]

So, back to the original rules question.....has anyone in authority actually said its a penalty if your practice swing divot from yards away moves your ball?   Surely there must be justice somewhere.....not only have you not addressed the ball, you aren't even near it. 

The justice lies in the fact that you took a divot with a practice swing. That in itself should be grounds for disqualification.

Sounds about right to me.

It's a penalty shot, and replace the ball.

Failure to replace the ball results in two penalty shots.

[Brent Hutto]

I believe unnecessarily damaging the golf course by making divots with ones practice swing(s) is discourteous in the extreme.

But I'm realistic enough to know that the Rules of Golf can't concern itself with minor things like players casually doing 3x the necessary wear and tear on the course through their discourteous "routines".

The Rules must worry about important things like how ones putter shaft is or what information shows up on a player's smartphone app.

P.S. I myself have been guilty on rare occasions of damaging the golf course while acting out in the throes of a temper tantrum. I think that sort of behavior should carry a DQ penalty, as well.

[MClutterbuck]

We only bring in The Guru in for the heavy stuff.  Besides, the cost of a cold beer is a bargain for good company.

Since we've already resolved this pretty routine question, I'd like to divert the topic to the practical application of the rules for club events.

Scenario:

Playing in a club championship, a fellow competitor grounds his club besides his ball causing it to roll down the hill a couple revolutions.  Without missing a beat or coming out of his stance, he just hits the ball from the new location, two putts and reports his score to his marker without adding the two penalty strokes.  His marker, a longtime member and friend, clearly saw the ball move but wrote down the reported score.

A third player in the group also saw the ball move.  He is a new member, didn't know his fellow competitors and did not contest the erroneous score.  Under the rules, he has a responsibility to protect the field.  In practice, he decides "not to rock the boat" as the fellow competitor didn't gain an advantage and he, ahead by a couple strokes and likely to win his flight, is theoretically most harmed by overlooking the rules infraction.

Questions:

Did the third player who was not the offending golfer's marker do the practical thing?  Or should the rules be sacrosanct and all three players disqualified?  How many of us would have recommended to the fellow competitor after he hit from the wrong place to either add two strokes to his score or play a second ball under 3-3?   

This is why the rules of golf are broken beyond repair.  I will call a penalty every time with zero regard to where they stand in a tournament, which is exactly why I don't play in stroke play tournaments.  I can not see the equity in forcing my group to play at a higher standard than 95% of the other groups participating.

John, agreed. Any time a player is playing a tournament and commits a rules violation, even if a small 18 hole club affair, I will call the penalty or have him talk to the Committe about it.

What you can do John to compensate, is make sure you do give favorable rules help as well when you see the chance, as in "you are entitled to a free drop because ...".

[Bill_McBride]

We only bring in The Guru in for the heavy stuff.  Besides, the cost of a cold beer is a bargain for good company.

Since we've already resolved this pretty routine question, I'd like to divert the topic to the practical application of the rules for club events.

Scenario:

Playing in a club championship, a fellow competitor grounds his club besides his ball causing it to roll down the hill a couple revolutions.  Without missing a beat or coming out of his stance, he just hits the ball from the new location, two putts and reports his score to his marker without adding the two penalty strokes.  His marker, a longtime member and friend, clearly saw the ball move but wrote down the reported score.

A third player in the group also saw the ball move.  He is a new member, didn't know his fellow competitors and did not contest the erroneous score.  Under the rules, he has a responsibility to protect the field.  In practice, he decides "not to rock the boat" as the fellow competitor didn't gain an advantage and he, ahead by a couple strokes and likely to win his flight, is theoretically most harmed by overlooking the rules infraction.

Questions:

Did the third player who was not the offending golfer's marker do the practical thing?  Or should the rules be sacrosanct and all three players disqualified?  How many of us would have recommended to the fellow competitor after he hit from the wrong place to either add two strokes to his score or play a second ball under 3-3?   

This is why the rules of golf are broken beyond repair.  I will call a penalty every time with zero regard to where they stand in a tournament, which is exactly why I don't play in stroke play tournaments.  I can not see the equity in forcing my group to play at a higher standard than 95% of the other groups participating.

John, agreed. Any time a player is playing a tournament and commits a rules violation, even if a small 18 hole club affair, I will call the penalty or have him talk to the Committe about it.

What you can do John to compensate, is make sure you do give favorable rules help as well when you see the chance, as in "you are entitled to a free drop because ...".

I've always had a high opinion of Brad Faxon.  25 years ago I saw him tell a tour rookie that he had to take complete relief from GUR, couldn't stand on the line like was doing while ready to play.