What a week in the news! Golf has almost taken the backstage. Foremost is happy to review the highlights and some of the hot-button issues of the day:

Brexit. The fate of the free world and democracies everywhere may lie with F favorite, Boris Johnson, who is championing the English people and their proud nation against the ultimate swamp of open-border world bureaucrats, global financiers, and liberal media, an alliance which is having a little trouble understanding national identity and accepting a Brexit vote. (Sound familiar?)

Downton Abbey. F hears Donald and Melania are visiting…or is it Barack and Michelle?

Impeachment. The latest allegation is that Trump asked the President of the Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, and by doing so, he interfered with a future election. The always-reliable Adam Schiff is on top of this, and Mitt Romney tweeted that this was troubling, if true. Romney was referring to the conversation, and not the substance of the conversation concerning pay-offs to the Bidens. F has to agree. How could anyone think Biden’s son wasn’t worth $50k a month to serve as a director of a Ukranian gas company? Heck, he had previously proven his worth! Reports are that the Chinese had paid him a $1Bn on some big deal. (On a related subject, have we finished the 2-year investigation of the Trump kids for meeting with a few Russians?).

Saudi Oil Strike. Darn those Houthi rebels.

UT Football. The ultimate success of their whole season and any measure of progress now hinges on the Vandy game.

Climate Change. Thank you, Greta. We learn that it is too late to save the planet. We face mass extinction (F is referencing the human race here, not UT Football). F is being cheated out of his retirement years.

Bunkers. Confusion reigns:

1. Reader DJ: Is it true that under the New Rules a Player may now ground his club and take a practice swing in a bunker?

Ruling—No. Not exactly. While a player may now touch the sand in a bunker with his club, so long as he is not testing the surface, he may not touch the sand directly in front of or behind the ball unless he is removing a Loose Impediment or Movable Obstruction. Further, he may not take a practice swing in the bunker, or touch the sand during his backswing. Otherwise, a player may place a club in a bunker, lean on it, or strike it in anger after a botched shot, which is nice to know. (R12.2b (1) and (2); See also, R8.1b(7)).A player incurs the General Penalty for a violation of R12.2.

2. Reader PT: Before taking his shot, another player straddled my ball taking his stance, creating rises and indentations. Am I allowed to repair my original lie? Drop or place? May I clean my ball?

Ruling—A player is allowed to restore the original conditions worsened after his ball came to rest. He may clean his ball if material was deposited on it, and “replace” it in its original spot. R8.1d. Note that the “original” condition does not provide an improved condition.

3. Reader TS: What are a player’s options if I find my ball plugged under the lip of a bunker with no shot?

Ruling—A player now has four options. First, he may play under penalty of stroke and distance from the location of the prior shot. Second, under penalty of one-stroke, he may play in the same bunker from a two-club lateral relief area. Third, under penalty of one-stroke, he may play from the same bunker back-on-the-line dropping in a one-club relief area. And the new rule…fourth, under a two-stoke penalty, he may now take “extra relief” dropping back-on-the-line outside of the bunker using a one-club relief area.

4. Reader JB: What did Matt Kuchar do at the Porsche European Open?

With his ball in what appeared to be a “bunker”, and with a rules official close at hand, MK quickly removed several (actually, many) Loose Impediments” from the vicinity of his ball. Th tv announcers criticized his ”gardening” and suggested he had to be violating the Rules, as the LI’s looked like sand kernels or clumps of sand. (Sand is not a LI; See Def.”LI”)

Ruling – A clarification was later issued noting that MK was actually in a “waste area” which is part of the General Area, rather than in a Bunker. Further, it was later noted that under the Local Rule, “crushed marble” (although it looked like sand) was deemed to be a LI.

Apparently then, despite the hoopla, MK was within the Rules removing LI’s , although it looked like he was removing sand and effectively eliminating the depression in which he found his ball, effectively teeing it up in a waste area. A central principle of the game is “play the course as you find it.” R8. More than a few observers had a little trouble with this result!

Ball Substitution and Repair. Playing under the Local Rule of “lift, clean, and place” Reader and partner BM examined the ball he had lifted, and noted a scrape mark on the surface which had appeared after its encounter with a cart path. He asked if he could substitute another ball during his play of the hole.

Ruling— “when taking relief” under a Rule, or when playing a ball from the spot from which a previous stroke was made, a Player can play his original ball or a substitute ball. A substitute ball is not allowed when replacing a ball on a spot (F suspects this would include “lift, clean, and place”) unless the ball is “cut or cracked”. A scrape doesn’t suffice. R6.3a; R14.2a.

BM couldn’t get over the damage to his ball. He wondered if he should keep a file at home or in his bag, to file off scrape marks as this damage to otherwise good balls occurred all too often, and he said he had already purchased two dozen balls for the season, which was plenty.

Ruling—Nope. Under penalty of disqualification, a player must play a conforming ball, and not one whose playing characteristics have been deliberately altered “such as by scuffing”. R4.2a(2).

Voter Fraud and Suppression. Ok, McIlroy over Koepka is one thing, but there is no way Sean Spicer should have missed the cut in Dancing With the Stars! As to voter suppression in coming 2020 election, why even take a chance with an election? (See, “Impeachment” above).

As usual all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,

F