(Rules 18.2; 9.4; 7.3; 14.5; 3.2; 11; 16.1; 1.3; Def. “Lost”; Int.18.2)  Foremost borrows a title from the Taylor Swift song catalogue to summarize one of his recent golf outings. The opponent, a good friend who shall remain nameless (although he has connections at the very highest level) made a loud point of criticizing F’s boring insistence on the ROG, a criticism which, in retrospect, might have been justified in this case (F usually reserves his Rules comments, questions, or corrections for players who are interested in and, perhaps, even enjoy a friendly rules discussion, but F clearly misread his audience in this game!)

I. Facts. A Long Hole

Let’s call the unnamed friend and opponent, “Travis”. After playing the back nine first, and witnessing some fine play by his opponents, F watched as Travis hit a long drive left on the Par 5 Hole #1, a drive which rattled in the trees and disappeared. Travis called and hit a provisional ball which, also, rattled into the trees long and left. No one saw either ball on a ricochet.

Travis began a trek into the tree line on the left side and quickly found a ball about a 100 yards from the teeing area. “This is my second ball”, he loudly proclaimed. He then proceeded another 100 yards or so up the tree line where F joined in and all searched 3-10 minutes for the other ball to no avail (a search complicated by trees, a bunker, a culvert, and a large ground cover mat laced with practice balls). Travis eventually went back and played the ball he had found, although since he had picked it up, he actually dropped a ball at this location.

He played this ball left of the rough over the edge of a practice area (a common play for balls left off the tee), a ball which was found by his cart companion after a search in the vicinity of a drainage culvert which was marked as a Penalty Area. From a vantage point in the fairway, F saw Travis pick up and drop this ball as well. Apparently the ball was not within the red lines marking the PA. Travis told F later he had lifted the ball for identification purposes.

His next shot was a line drive left of the green. The search commenced short and left of the green by Travis and his cart companion, although F had already reached the green by this time. From the elevated green, F didn’t see a ball anywhere…short, long, or behind the green. Travis eventually couldn’t find a ball behind the green either; nor could he find it on a brief return to the front side of the green. As Travis continued his search, the other players quickly continued play as this hole was beginning to take a long time.

F was putting and asked the other opponent to mark his ball. The opponent bent down to comply. As F stroked his putt, however, Travis yelled “I found it”. The opponent straightened up without marking his ball and, of course, F’s putt struck the unmarked ball dead center 4 feet short of the hole. (Yes, of course it was going in!).

As the players on the green scratched their collective heads over this development, Travis played up from the location of his ball found well beyond the green. F and his opponent conceded their remaining putts for bogeys. As they started to kick back Travis’s ball, he stopped them. “Hey, that’s for a par 5”, he said.

“How can that be?”, asked F politely. “You identified the ball you played as your provisional ball.”

“Well, I realized that was my first ball”, said Travis who seemed annoyed by F’s question, “but I’ll take a 7”.

A crisis was averted, but a couple of pesky Rules might garner further exploration:

1) The Three-Minute Searches

(a) For the original tee ball and provisional ball

Ruling.

F finds that the ball found under the tree 100 yards from the teeing area was the ball-in- play (since it was subsequently declared the original ball) even though it was initially misidentified and picked up. This search was completed within the three-minute time limitation. (R18.2a(1)).

However, in addition to finding his ball, a player must “promptly” and within “a reasonable time” identify said ball (R18.2a(1); Int. 18.2a(1)(3)) or the ball is deemed “lost”. Accordingly, F finds that by continuing a search for several minutes prior to returning to and identifying his original ball, Travis was subject to the General Penalty in Match Play, Loss of Hole. (For discussion of other infractions below, F will overlook his conclusion that a GP here effectively ended the hole).

(b) For the ball eventually found behind the green

While most golfers self-enforce the three-minute search (“I guess I’m done here”), a few will abandon their search only when they find themselves abandoned and left behind by their playing companions. F finds it interesting that everyone carries a range finder, but no one carries or uses a watch to time a search (ok, excluding tournament golf). In F’s experience, R18.2 is enforced by mutual agreement or by abandonment of the player conducting the search …not by reference to a timer!

Ruling

While F suspects this search well-exceeded three minutes, he didn’t have a clock on it. No violation!

(c) A Hypothetical

Suppose both the original drive and the provisional had disappeared in the same general search area (as could have happened here). Is the player allowed a six-minute search for both balls, or is he allowed a six-minute search if he declares which ball he is looking for, and declares it lost after three minutes before commencing a search for the second ball (even if both balls were suspected to be in the same general locale?).

Ruling

A search for two balls is limited to three minutes if the balls are in the same general search area, but an additional three minutes would be allowed if the second ball was across the fairway. ( See, Def. “Lost”, “Lost/4”).

2) Dropped Balls

(a) Ball found off the tee and dropped)

Issue – May a player drop a ball and put it in play after it has been picked up mistakingly?

Ruling

If a player lifts a ball at rest (when not permitted under another rule) he gets one penalty stroke if the ball is replaced on the original spot. (R9.4).There is no allowance under this rule for a mistake.

(For “mistakes”, however, there is relief under the the “erasor rule” (R14.5) for a ball replaced, dropped, or placed in a wrong place, in the wrong way, or with a procedure that did not apply).

(b) Ball found by culvert and dropped

Issue- May a player lift his ball to identify it?

Ruling

A player may lift a ball to identify without penalty, so long as the ball is marked, not cleaned, and replaced.

Assuming he marked his ball, and the ball ended up in its original spot, Travis would be assessed one penalty stroke in this instance for dropping instead of replacing. (R7.3).

3) The Declaration

Although Travis had promptly declared the ball found 100 yards from the tee “his second ball”, he announced upon reaching the putting green that he was mistaken in his earlier declaration, that the found ball had been his original ball (which he had dropped in the same location) and that his next shot was for a Par Five. After a couple of surprised and quizzical looks from his opponents, he said he would take a 7.

Issues- Was the correction (that the ball played was the first drive and not the provisional) delivered timely when delivered only on the putting green of a Par5? Do players have a right to know the running score of their opponent, and may they rely on a status or score declaration given in error? (In defense of Travis, his play on the hole had been in the left rough with distant vocal communication lines).

Ruling.

When asked the number of strokes taken, or when giving that information without being asked, the player must give the right number of strokes taken. The player gets the General Penalty, Loss of Hole, unless the player corrects the mistake in time. (R3.2d).

F finds that the advisement on the putting green by Travis that he had a shot for par was untimely given his prior declaration that the ball found and played off the tee was his provisional.

4) Putt On Green Strikes Unmarked Ball

Issue- Is there a penalty if a player’s putt strikes another ball on the green which wasn’t removed upon request?

Ruling

Unfortunately, there was no remedy for F as the incident and interference was entirely unintentional. The opponent was simply distracted by the exciting revelation by Travis that he had found his ball. There is no penalty to either player. R11.(a).

Note , however, that in Stroke Play F would have received a two-stroke penalty for playing from a putting green and hitting another ball on the green at rest. (See, Exception).

II. Facts. Location, location, location.

The 7th Hole at BMCC is a difficult Par 4 hugging Richland Creek along its right side. F was on the fringe of the green in regulation.

The cart path meanders in a line some 30-40 feet distant from the left side of the green before curving around the green to the #8 teeing area. Travis had hit his second shot onto the cart path at a location hole-high and perpendicular to the hole location. As F watched from his own cart, now up ahead at the teeing area, Travis took a meticulous drop perfectly executed from knee height after stepping off the path towards the hole, instead of dropping on the other side of the path away from the green. He pitched onto the putting surface nicely and two-putt for his five. F followed with a three-putt for his five.

Before the players teed off on #8, and in friendly competition, F reluctantly told Travis that he was going to have to call a penalty on him.

Travis exploded. “What the hell for?”

F said, “You dropped off the path closer to the hole.”

Travis went ballistic, jumping on F like another well-known Travis recently jumped on Andy Reid, although F doesn’t recall an actual chest bump or any direct physical contact.

“I knew you were going to come with some b…s…”, said Travis. “I thought about this drop and I made sure it was a lateral drop no closer to the hole. You’re screwing up a lovely day! I just wanted to play golf!”

“Well”, said F in response to this dramatic and unexpected turn, “that was a pretty easy call. There was no way you could take a lateral drop on the green side of the cart path given the location of your ball and the hole.”

Alas, F should have let the situation drop. The verbal onslaught continued. He soon felt like Taylor must have felt as the other Travis loomed over Jim Nance repeatedly shouting “Viva Las Vegas!” … what the heck did I get myself into?

F finally said that in the event of a factual location dispute, the player is given the benefit of the doubt, and the hole would stand as tied.

Ruling

A player is entitled to free relief from an Abnormal Course Condition (which by definition includes an Immovable Obstruction , such as a cart path). (R16.1a). The player is entitled to free relief into a “relief area” which must lie within one club-length of the “reference point “ which is the “nearest point of complete relief”. This relief area has a couple of limitations, in that it must be no closer to the hole than the reference point, and it must provide complete relief (including stance) from the ACC.

The Rules often require a player to determine a spot or location under the Rules. As long as the player does what is reasonable in determining a location under the applicable rule, his reasonable judgement will be accepted. (Int. 1.3b(1)/2(2)). In a dispute between opponents as to reasonable judgment of a location, the player wins.

The Reader will be delighted to know that no further penalties were called on the final two holes! (This despite free drop relief taken by Travis from the practice range off Hole#9 although it’s been played as a part of the General Area as long as F knows for about 100 years … but good for F for keeping his mouth shut!)

Wow, that was fun! Some people don’t want to have a Rules discussion, and that’s perfectly fine! F needs to do a better job figuring out what kind of game he’s in. Both can be fun! F’s goal is to never have heated rules discussions…just polite, academic give and take. F takes full responsibility for any flying sparks!

So onward! As Taylor Swift expresses so eloquently in song, it’s time to “Shake It Off”!

As usual, all comments and corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F