A Solemn Farewell

The family was leaving. Foremost shed a few tears with the grandkids as they said good-bye. He then rushed to lock the gate behind them as they pulled out of the driveway.

But what a fun week of hiking, swimming, and fellowship it had been …. the week had even included a little golf! F was delighted to play the gracious host, at least when such duties did not conflict with the Rules of Golf:

(1) Ball on Incline

Facts

The Par 4 3rd hole at HCC is a dog-leg right offering a generous landing area from the teeing area, from which players face a steep incline to the blind landing area of the green complex. With an adequate drive, the hole is usually a second shot hole as most drives funnel to the bottom of the fairway at the bend.

F probably should have shared this course knowledge with young match-play opponents, guests BF and DS, who were seeing the course for the first time. Both of them misjudged the distance off the tee and blasted their drives through the fairway and beyond the cart path as it made a sharp right turn up the hill. BF’s ball hit the incline beyond the cart path, and rolled back across the cart path towards the fairway, leaving him an uncomfortable shot out of the rough with the ball below his feet. But at least he had a shot!

DS followed and hit his drive in almost the same spot beyond the cart path. Unfortunately, as his ball rolled back to cross the cart path, it was caught by a small stick which pinned the ball on the cart path against the edge of the steep embankment.

As DS lifted his ball and walked across the cart path to drop in the vicinity of BF’s ball, F reluctantly advised him that his “reference point” in taking relief from an “abnormal course condition” (a definition which now includes “immovable obstructions”) was “the nearest point of complete relief” which would instead require him to drop on the incline. (R16.1b).

“But I can’t even stand on the incline!”, said DS, exaggerating only slightly.

Nevertheless, he attempted two drops which quickly rolled out of his relief area. After his second failed drop, F advised DS that he should place his ball at the “nearest” spot at which it would stay. (R14.2e). DS then began to try to place the ball, successively moving higher up the incline with each attempt. After several unsuccessful placing attempts, he fluffed the grass before placing the ball. This time the ball stayed in place, and DS declared his ball in play.

F and BF exchanged glances. As DS returned to his cart to select a club, however, the now-placed ball quivered and started rolling again, gathering steam and picking up its pace as it reached the cart path. It rolled another 20 yards down the cart path, finally coming to rest on grass at the bend of the cart path between the cart path and a lovely bush (perhaps one of Highlands’ spectacular rhodedendrums), a bush which unfortunately impeded his backswing.

Although DS was entitled to stance relief from the cart path, he was advised that any relief would require dropping in the bush. He quickly took a whack at the ball entangling his club in branches of the bush , advancing it only several hops. He then said some harsh words in general, and then some other rather unkind words directed specifically at F and BF, somehow blaming them for an injured wrist and a new dent on his eight -iron from hitting the cart path with his club.

Just as DS settled down, F reluctantly advised him that he had, also, incurred a penalty for disturbing his relief area prior to placing his ball.

DS asked F if this was how he always treated his guests.

The players then consulted each other to determine what DS was lying as he prepared his next shot from his now-excellent position at the bottom of the fairway.

Issue

What did DS now lie?

Ruling

Before dropping or placing a ball, a player may not improve the conditions affecting a stroke (“CAS”) in a relief area( R8.1). DS clearly breached this Rule by fluffing the grass prior to placing his ball.

The penalty for breach of R8.1, sadly, is the General Penalty which in match-play, of course, is Loss of Hole. F relayed this verdict to DS as gently as he could.

(In retrospect, F finds that the “nearest” point to the original spot (at which DS correctly tried to drop) might have been back across the cart path where DS wanted to drop in the first place … as he might have had to move several feet up the slope before finding a secure spot to place his ball . The Rule requires only that the spot for placing must be nearest, and no nearer the hole, and in the General Area (R14.2e)…nothing says he had to stay on the incline side of the cart path in determining this nearest spot. F regrets that he was unable to offer this advice to his guest on such short notice.)

(2) Ball at Rest Accidentally Moved in Penalty Area

Facts

On this same hole at HCC, within yards of the same bush referenced above, Reader AS reports an issue which arose in the HCC M/G.

AS reports that an opponent’s drive had found the Penalty Area left of the cart path (this is before the cart path bends uphill to the right). The player had spotted and identified his ball in the PA (a large ditch) and had retrieved a club to attempt to play the ball out of the ditch. (Readers struggling to grasp the location of this ditch may recall that it is the same ditch which leads to the small pond below the Par 3 Hole #2 teeing area, which is the same pond, Readers may have heard, into which Reader KBP topped his drive eliminating his team during the shoot-out of this same M/G).

But F digresses. Back to the incident at hand, as the player had entered the ditch, he had slipped and caused his ball to move.

Several issues were debated by the players and called to F’s attention:

1. Did the player incur a penalty by accidentally causing his ball to move?
2. Should the player have replaced the ball in the PA at the spot from which it was previously at rest and moved?
3. Once the ball was accidentally moved in the PA, was the player then required to take penalty relief outside the PA?
4. After the ball had been moved, could the player have avoided the additional penalty for moving the ball, by simply stating that he had intended to take penalty relief anyway?

Rulings

A player has the right to take reasonable actions to “find and identify” his ball. If the player suspected it was his ball, but had not yet confirmed its identity, there would have been no penalty (R7.4) as identifying the ball is part of the search, and there is no penalty under the New Rules for a ball accidentally moved during a search.

As this player had previously confirmed that the ball was his, however, the fair search was over, and he should have been assessed a penalty stoke (R9.4b) for causing the ball to move. He was required to replace the ball in the PA at the spot from which it had been moved (R9.4a), unless he elected to lift the ball and take relief under a different rule (i.e., R17 relief from PAs). If he lifted and took relief outside of the PA under R17 he would have, of course, received an additional penalty stroke under that Rule.

If the Player had stated that his intent all along had been simply to retrieve the ball and take relief under R17 (thus avoiding the additional R9 penalty for causing his ball to move), AS would have had to decide whether he wanted to seek a Ruling from the Committee and contest this declaration of intent by his opponent as a matter of fact. A player has to protect his own rights and interests (R3.2d(4)), even it means ruffling, or fluffing, a few feathers from time to time!

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F

Note: F’s book, “DON’T BE A CLUB SHORT! Learn the New Rules of Golf 2019”, is now available on Amazon.com as an E-Book as well as in paperback