(1) A Late Arrival

Foremost was late for his tee time.

He arrived as his group was playing their second shots on the Par 5 Hole #1. Realizing his error, F raced to the tee box and hit his drive without touching his toes, putting on a glove, or taking a single practice swing. His next two shots were hit in similar fashion, and he finished the hole making a snappy 5, net 4. He wishes the rest of the day had been this easy!

“Well, we’re one-up”, said Reader RF after advising F that they were partners.

“Oh no!”, said opponent Reader TB. “You guys lose the hole since F was late for his tee time.”

“I made a net 4, too”, replied RF. “We won anyway.”

“You had already lost the hole”, insisted TB.

Issue

Did the F/RF side incur the General Penalty (Loss of Hole) due to F’s tardiness?

Ruling

“The side may be represented by one partner during all or any part of the round.” (R23.4). A player who arrives late during the play of a hole may start play for the side only between holes.

While F’s fine par didn’t count, RF’s Net 4 won the hole.

(2) Advice?

As the players debated who won the first hole, opponent Reader EC hit first (out of turn it seems) into the long, difficult Par 3 Hole #2. A fine shot into the back, left corner of the green.

“What did you hit ?”, said F’s partner, RF. “I withdraw that question”, he added quickly, as a couple of heads swiveled.

“It’s too late to withdraw the question”, opponent TB declared. “That’s a penalty. We win the hole.”

“The question and the withdrawal were almost simultaneous”, said RF, shaking his head in disbelief that this could be an infraction.

Issue(s)

1. May a request for “advice” be withdrawn?
2. If not, does the side incur the penalty?

Ruling

A player must not give or “ask” advice subject to the General Penalty (LOH). (R10.2a). F finds no case for mitigation of this penalty based on an effort to “withdraw” the question which gave rise to the violation.

In fact, the Rules of Golf disallow “withdrawals” elsewhere – note that a “concession”, for instance, is final and cannot be withdrawn. (R3.2b(2)).

F would add, however, that the New Rules of Golf do offer limited opportunities to correct mistakes (See, for example, R14.5 “The Eraser Rule regarding incorrect drops or placements, or R8.1c, which concerns “restoring conditions” to avoid a penalty. * But while F finds some accommodation in the Rules for physical mistakes, he finds no such accommodation or “do-over” (as they say in the mountains) readily available for verbal errors leading to a penalty.

And no, TB, this penalty did not extend to the side. When a player gets a penalty other than disqualification, the penalty normally applies only to the player, and not his partner. (R23.8a).

(3) An Animated Exchange

Another brief rules discussion took place on Hole #3. (This was turning into a good rules day for F!). RF called a penalty on TB for taking an improper drop away from an irrigation box. F had observed the drop as well, from across the fairway, and it seemed that TB had started to drop from shoulder height, but then had corrected himself somewhat, managing an awkward, leaning drop from somewhere between his waist and his knees. (A player incurs a one-stroke penalty if he fails to drop “in the right way” which must be from “knee- height” from a standing position).

TB, frankly, did not appreciate the suggestion of this infraction by RF. He noted that he had extensive knee issues and couldn’t bend very well, and that he didn’t really give a damn about the rules anyway and, for that matter, he was going to cheat like hell whenever felt like it.

F reminded TB that he was the one who had been the stickler of the rules, as he had called the penalties on Holes #1 and #2. F added, however, that he did feel somewhat sympathetic with TB’s position as he had to debate rules violations not only with F, a world-renowned rules authority, but also with RF, the Club President.

TB said he wasn’t worried about F’s bs in the slightest, and for that matter, he wasn’t worried about RF either, since he had yet to complete the final “Change Order” he was working on as project manager for BMCC’s multi-million dollar facility expansion.

” I won’t be losing any money”, he promised emphatically. “I’ll handle you, too”, he told his partner, EC, as they were down a couple of holes at the time.

(4) A Player Is Unmasked

A certain player in this group, sporting a 19 handicap, played holes #8, #9, #17, and #18 in even par (gross) to win 5 bets… a difficult task at any skill level!

“I found something!”, he exclaimed, as his three wood approach crawled onto the 18th green.

The Handicap Committee has been alerted and F understands a bi-partisan investigation has begun.

Although F would never ‘unmask” a fellow golfer who is under investigation, by releasing his name for publication, he can assure all BMCC members that they don’t need to worry about any padding of the “Change Order”… at least, from this player after this competition!

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,

F

*Readers might wish to consult their copy of “Don’t Be a Club Short! Learn the New Rules of Golf 2019” (available on Amazon.com) to review examples where these Rules might be helpful).