Category: Rules Knowledge

Rules: Player Misses the Ball on Purpose

Players A and B, partners in a foursome competition, were faced with a difficult shot over a pond.  Player A, a poor player, swung but purposely missed the ball. Player B, an expert player, then played the ball to the green.

Is this permissible?

No. Since Player A had no intention of moving the ball, he did not play a stroke — see Definition of "Stroke" — and it remained his turn to play.
 
When Player B played instead of A, A and B incurred a penalty of loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play — Rules 29-2 and -3. In stroke play, Player A must play a ball at the spot from which B played. If Player A did not do so before the side played from the next teeing ground, A and B were disqualified — Rule 29-3.
 
Definition of Stroke – a "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball, but if a player checks his downswing voluntarily before the clubhead reaches the ball he has not made a stroke.

Rules: Ball Found After 5 Minutes

A player searches for his ball for five minutes and does not find it.  He continues to search, finds the ball and plays it.

What is the ruling?

The ball was lost and therefore out of play when the five-minute period allowed for the search expired.

When the player played a stroke with a ball out of play, he played a wrong ball and incurred a penalty of loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play — Rule 15-3.

In stroke play, he was disqualified if he did not correct the error by proceeding under Rule 27-1 before playing from the next tee — Rule 15-3b.

Rules: Stones in a Bunker

Your ball goes into a bunker with numerous pebbles and stones and sure enough, your ball comes to rest right in front of a stone.  Can you remove the stone?

Short answer is NO because it is a natural object (known as a loose impediment).

Good news is that very often there will be a Local Rule that says, “Stones in bunkers are movable obstructions” because it is considered that the stones could represent a danger to players if they are hit during a stroke.

However, during tournament play, the Tournament Committee must allow for the local rule.  If there is no tournament rule allowing you to take advantage of the Local Rule then you should not remove the stone.

During the Blue Rock "East" tournament in 2010, an unnamed player was in the bunkers a few times and was the victim of stones behind the ball which is normally not removable. The player played the ball as-is.  The player did not realize that our tournament rules sheet for this tournament stated that the player could have used the local rule which DID allow for the stones to be removed.  Because the player did not read the rules sheet, it ended up costing him at least 2-3 strokes and out of the money.

Rules: Bunker to Bunker – Now What?

Q. You're on a hole that has two bunkers similar to Poplar's hole #1.  Your approach shot ends up in the front left bunker.  You attempt your bunker shot only to skull it over the green and into the back bunker.  Can you rake the first bunker after the first shot?

Short answer is NO.

Rule 13-4 says: Except as provided in the Rules, before making a stroke at a ball that is in a hazard … the player must not:
 
a. Test the condition of the hazard or any similar hazard;…

Note the key phrase – similar hazard.

Unless a tournament rule allows it, you cannot rake the first bunker until your ball is out of the second bunker because they are similar hazards.  It can be deemed that you are "testing the surface".

This happened to Stewart Cink in a tournament where his ball was outside a bunker but he had to put one foot in the bunker to make the shot.  His shot went into another bunker.  The first bunker was raked although it's unclear if Cink or his caddie raked the bunker.  The next day someone told Cink neither he or his caddie could rake the first bunker.  Cink told the rules officials and he was DQ'd for not assessing a 2-stroke penalty before turning in his scorecard.