Before One Knew The Rules - Common Error

[bkuehn1952]

I imagine some have studied or known the Rules for so long that they can't recall what transgressions they may have committed in ignorance.  I have been generally aware of most significant and/or common Rules issues for a long time but there was one point where I definitely had a blind spot.

Until relatively recently it never occurred to me that when I was in a sand bunker filled with leaves, that I should not touch the leaves with my club until making a stroke.  I wouldn't consider touching a stick or other loose impediment but I was perfectly comfortable with leaves.  Of course, a well tended course won't generally have piles of loose leaves filling the bunkers but in our area, it is a definite issue for a couple months.

Anyone recall a moment when the "Rules Lightbulb" went on and you had to admit you'd been trampling of the Rules in ignorance?

 

[DrvFrShow]

That's when you replace that 3W with a leaf blower.

Well tended courses also tend not to have branches in bunkers from winter storms. Or I should say sometimes people end up getting ahead of the grounds crews that are picking up the debris.

And on a day like today it would be nearly impossible with 20 mph winds. You could be in that bunker and the leaves in the bunker could blow up against your club. Do you take a two stroke penalty? I say no. Then anyone playing today can add about 10 strokes to their normal score.

[iacas]

I can't say that I have had any of those, but I was kind of obsessive about golf. I'd probably read the Rules of Golf four times before I played an official round. That's what happens when you get a 7-iron in the fall and have all winter to think and dream and read about golf.

I remember an opponent of mine, whom I prevented from standing on his teammate's line while he putted, being shocked that you can stand on an opponent's line while they putted but not your own teammates. It made no sense to him why a teammate couldn't effectively help you, but an opponent could.

* Of course, in high school matches they weren't really teammates in the "partner" sense of the word in the Rules, and you can't stand on an opponent's line per etiquette anyway. Though I never cared about that rule if you're well, well back.

[Patch]

No specifics on my transgressions, but I am sure during the 45+/- years I played this game I have committed more than few stinkers.  My fair share anyways. Most of those have probably been on the greens. Stuff like picking up a ball really close to the hole calling it good and/or gimme putts.  I do add the strokes for those. I am also sure I have teed off from the wrong part of the tte box. Definately some bad drops while still adding 2 strokes. Stuff like this.

I do know that the majority of amateurs have made mistakes. Even some who were rules gurus make mistakes as I have golfed with a few during my golfing road trips. 

Now when playing in some sort of sanctioned event, I have a pretty good record of playing with in the rules. I do have a decent knowledge of the rule book, and not afraid to use that knowledge as needed. 

In the end I dont think it matters how individuals play with regards to the rules. Not every golfer goes out to play for the same reasons. Some just want to go out and hit the ball without any regards to anything other than just having fun. So they shoot 100, but card a 90.  Others will be sticklers for the rules at all costs everytime they play. We all pay our fees to enjoy what we do, how we want to.. 

[turtleback]

My most common error, in my first 2-3 years when I blatantly cheated, was in thinking that my scores had any meaning, divorced from following the rules and counting all the strokes.

[newtogolf]

The light bulb rule for me also involved leaves.  My golf buddies had me convinced there was a local rule that allowed a golfer to just drop a ball without penalty if a ball hit the fairway but rolled off and was lost in the leaves.

[Martyn W]

37 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

The light bulb rule for me also involved leaves.  My golf buddies had me convinced there was a local rule that allowed a golfer to just drop a ball without penalty if a ball hit the fairway but rolled off and was lost in the leaves.

There is such a LR:

33-8/31

 

Local Rule Providing Relief from Accumulations of Leaves Through the Green

The Committee may make a temporary Local Rule declaring accumulations of leaves through the green at certain holes to be ground under repair (see Definition of "Ground Under Repair") and Rule 25-1 will apply.

The Local Rule should be restricted to the hole(s) at which trouble with leaves occurs and it should be withdrawn as soon as conditions permit. Particular attention is drawn to the opening paragraph of Rule 25-1c; unless it is known or virtually certain that a ball that has not been found is in the leaves, it must be treated as lost elsewhere and Rule 27-1 applies.

[newtogolf]

I knew there was such a rule, but our course never utilized it.

[No Mulligans]

For me it was a misunderstanding of where I could drop when I went in a lateral hazard.

I thought it was anywhere on an imaginary line from where you hit your last shot to where your ball crossed into the hazard.

[sjduffers]

Sort of a rule break, I guess. When I first started, I didn't comprehend the fact that a "gimme" (sometimes from 5 feet or more to speed up play after I had reached double-par) would actually have to be counted as a (extra) stroke!  If it was a gimme, after all, what should I have to "pay" for it on my scorecard?  Of course, I now know there are no gimmes in stroke play...

It just goes to show that some golf jargon needs to be explained to the newbies, or they can get really confused.  And my friends were going: "make your grip stronger, don't set up so open, etc..." What the hell does it all mean? 

[newtogolf]

1 hour ago, sjduffers said:

Sort of a rule break, I guess. When I first started, I didn't comprehend the fact that a "gimme" (sometimes from 5 feet or more to speed up play after I had reached double-par) would actually have to be counted as a (extra) stroke!  If it was a gimme, after all, what should I have to "pay" for it on my scorecard?  Of course, I now know there are no gimmes in stroke play...

It just goes to show that some golf jargon needs to be explained to the newbies, or they can get really confused.  And my friends were going: "make your grip stronger, don't set up so open, etc..." What the hell does it all mean? 

That was another one I learned the hard way too.  A bunch of the guys I used to play golf with thought they were entitled to gimme's and as such never took the stroke for them.  Your score can get low pretty quick when you're not counting 7-12 strokes a round.

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, sjduffers said:

Sort of a rule break, I guess. When I first started, I didn't comprehend the fact that a "gimme" (sometimes from 5 feet or more to speed up play after I had reached double-par) would actually have to be counted as a (extra) stroke!  If it was a gimme, after all, what should I have to "pay" for it on my scorecard?  Of course, I now know there are no gimmes in stroke play...

It just goes to show that some golf jargon needs to be explained to the newbies, or they can get really confused.  And my friends were going: "make your grip stronger, don't set up so open, etc..." What the hell does it all mean? 

This is a good one to admit to having done. Many rounds ago, when I first started, I did the same thing for a few rounds. After all it was a "gimme" and they even tossed the ball back to you. 

I also had no idea what someone meant by taking a mulligan, moving the ball up in your stance, etc.

Now, I get a smile out of it when some beginner moves the ball away from themselves as their "instructors" get increasingly frustrated stating to "Move the ball forward." Again and again. Actually, I lied, I get a big cough/laugh out of it.

[DaveP043]

This has been bubbling along in the back of my mind since I first read the post, and one particular misunderstanding has finally come to the surface.  I think one of the most common  mistakes (and one I know I made) is for a ball hit into a hazard.  Many players believe they can drop anywhere along the path that the ball followed.  It takes a significant amount of retraining to get them to understand the concept of keeping the place the ball entered the hazard between them and the hole.  I absolutely guarantee that this is one rule that I unknowingly broke with regularity early in my golf life.

[Lihu]

5 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

This has been bubbling along in the back of my mind since I first read the post, and one particular misunderstanding has finally come to the surface.  I think one of the most common  mistakes (and one I know I made) is for a ball hit into a hazard.  Many players believe they can drop anywhere along the path that the ball followed.  It takes a significant amount of retraining to get them to understand the concept of keeping the place the ball entered the hazard between them and the hole.  I absolutely guarantee that this is one rule that I unknowingly broke with regularity early in my golf life.

People get this wrong all the time, and in one really complicated case, the ball can go lateral then in bounds then lateral then in bounds yet again. There are curves along the bank of a pond where it is clearly marked with red paint, but the ball path could go in and out a couple times. . .some people just play from inside the water because they are too tired to figure it out or argue.

 

[DrvFrShow]

I didn't even know about "lateral hazards" until I joined a league. I just knew about the yellow kind and treated all of them like the yellow kind.

[ColinL]

2 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

I didn't even know about "lateral hazards" until I joined a league. I just knew about the yellow kind and treated all of them like the yellow kind.

At least you wouldn’t have done anything wrong. 

[Fourputt]

4 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

I didn't even know about "lateral hazards" until I joined a league. I just knew about the yellow kind and treated all of them like the yellow kind.

The downside to this is that for a lot of lateral water hazards, your only option would have been stroke and distance.  I've seen many water hazards which paralleled the hole, with out of bounds just past the hazard.  That would usually leave no line to drop on which was both in bounds and not in the hazard.  This is the reason that the lateral water hazard rule was written, and why a hazard should only be marked as such when a significant part of its expanse has this issue.  

If the hazard or the hole is laid out in such a manner that the regular water hazard rule will be be effective for a significant part of its margin, then the marking should change from red to yellow for the section where that is reasonable. 

[mvmac]

Fortunately it didn't happen to me but I was playing in a junior tournament and one of the guys I was playing with hit a provisional that was a different brand that the one he originally teed off with. I hadn't been playing"seriously" for that long and wasn't really aware of the one-ball rule. The third player in the group called him out on it and the kid was penalized.