Facts

The greens were recently punched at BMCC which led to a conversation that was overheard by Foremost.

“That was an awful putt,” said the Yank to opponent EC who had bounced a six-footer up two feet short.

“Well, I had to hit it out of a hole,” replied EC.

“Why”’ said the Yank.

“I found my ball in an aeration hole, marked it, and replaced it in the aeration hole,” said EC. “If I moved the ball to the side outside of the hole, F probably would have called a violation on me.”

“Well that was dumb,” said the Yank. “You don’t have to stick the ball in the hole.”

Issue

Must a Player who finds his ball on the putting green in an aeration hole replace his ball, if marked, directly in the aeration hole?

Ruling

EC was correct. An aeration hole is not a hole made by a greenskeeper entitling a player to relief under R25 for abnormal ground conditions. Dec.25/15. In the absence of a Local rule, a ball that is to be replaced on the putting green must be placed on “the spot” from which it was lifted. R20-3. If a ball is placed other than on “the spot” from which it was lifted, and the error is not corrected under R20-6 (the “Eraser Rule”), the Player incurs the general penalty which is LOH in match play.

Note, however, that a Local Rule may be adopted when a course has been aerated. The suggested Local Rule states that on the putting green, if a ball comes to rest “in or on an aeration hole,” it may be placed at the nearest spot not nearer the hole that avoids the situation. App I, Part A3d. (No one checked to see if BMCC had adopted the LR).

Commentary – A Disturbing Trend?

One of the serious problems affecting our young adults on college campuses these days is their exposure to “microaggressions.” A “microaggression” is defined by Wikipedia as “the casual degradation of a marginalized group.” In golf, a microaggression might be a seemingly innocent spoken act which is intended to manifest a position of power in the speaker Side and induce discomfort in the hearer Side. Unfortunately, Foremost must report that microaggressions are taking place on the golf course as well as the college campus. The competition cited above offered several examples.

After Foremost uncharacteristically parred four of the first five holes to vault his Side into a two hole lead, opponent JS asked, “What is your handicap again?” The implication of this seemingly innocent question was, of course, that F had unethically padded his handicap. Then, as the Yank, tried to determine the yardage before hitting on the Par 3 6th, JS prodded further stating, “you guys are up,” which, of course, was a thinly-veiled attempt to accuse his opponents of slow play. The Yank, clearly hurried and uncomfortable, promptly pulled his tee ball into the WH. This pattern of microaggressive speech unfortunately continued throughout the day. EC was so rude as to say once that he’d “laid off an 8-iron,” when he knew fully well that everyone else in the group had hit a 7-iron. Any Reader can see the pernicious, hurtful effect of this comment.

Microaggressive speech should be distinguished, however, from the speech of common gamesmanship. The latter includes innocuous comments designed to disrupt the concentration of an opponent or raise his blood pressure, thereby affecting his game, without demeaning said listener as a person. Sports and politics are frequent subjects.

For instance, one might ask an opponent who is a UT fan, “What do you think of Butch Jones?”

Or, one might ask a Vandy fan, “Aren’t you excited about moving football games to a soccer stadium at the fairgrounds!”

While F finds both of these forms of speech intimidation reprehensible in a competition, he concludes reluctantly they do not violate the Rules of Golf.

As usual, all comments are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,

F