DaveP043

Rule 1.2b refers you to a section in the Committee Procedures (Section 5I) that helps explain what a Code of Conduct may (and may not) do. Defining acceptable behavior (including smoking) and applying Stroke of DQ penalties are certainly within the Committee's authority. That Code of Conduct certainly should be available, either in written form or in a webpage accessible to all. It may not show up on the "standard local rules" for an organization, the "hard card", as it sounds like its a policy of this particular golf course. Assuming that's the case it should show up on the Notice to Players for this particular event. If you can't find it, ask someone, send an email, try to find out. In summary, yes the Committee can DQ (or withdraw) a Player for smoking, even before or between rounds. But its up to you to go from there, communication is the key here.

High school golf coaches are often not really knowledgeable about the rules, I have an issue when a coach tells a player NOT to follow A specific rule. As for the "stupidity" of this particular rule, I can't see a way to allow SOME stuff on the club face without allowing everything on the clubface.

A report from day 2 of the event, an unfortunate situation occurred. One player noticed that one of the other players in his group had what appeared to be stickers on several of his clubs, the ones on the face used with certain launch monitors. Word got back to the rules staff, and we (surreptitiously) confirmed the presence of the stickers. Those stickers are "external attachments", and their presence renders a club non-conforming. If a Player uses a non-conforming club to make a stroke, he is DQ. That's the easy part, the rule is pretty straightforward. The tough part, how to handle it. We considered having a quiet talk with the player while the round was still going on, but decided against it. We didn't want to DQ a player in the middle of the round, having him walking back to the parking lot on his own, as well as changing the pace and rhythm of the other players in his group. Instead, the Official in Charge, a young employee of the Middle Atlantic PGA who will be heading up their junior program this year, had a discussion with the player at scoring. The player took it with good grace, said he never knew they were a problem. He works with a swing coach, who was the one to help him put the stickers on in the first place, and apparently the coach never told him he needs to take them off. Ther4e are a few things that a player may do once in his golfing career. I think failing to identify his ball and consequently playing a Wrong Ball is one of those. Getting DQ for stickers on a club face is another.

I'll try to post a bit more here as the season moves on. Yesterday was my first "referee gig" this year, the first of a two-day event for juniors. No real unusual rulings, but a couple of slightly complicated situations with two consecutive drops. There's a hole with a Red Penalty Area down the right, with a cart path running parallel. On a couple of occasions a player had to take Penalty Area relief. Two clublengths from the point of entry required dropping no further left than the center of the cart path. Once that relief procedure was completed, he took relief from the cart path. Due to the relatively small distance between the path and the PA, the Nearest Point of Complete Relief was to the "fairway side" of the path. I made the Player consider a drop to the PA side, with the player's feet clear of the path (i.e. complete relief from interference), but that would have put the drop in the Penalty Area, which isn't acceptable. Something which I now see as common, this 36-hole event is defined as four 9-hole stipulated rounds. This is done so that, if bad weather sets in, there can be legitimate results if everyone has completed at least 9 holes.

I do agree with this, its pretty much impossible to make a definitive ruling based only on a typed description. In addition to the factors listed, it would also depend on the intended line of play, whether it was more perpendicular to the path (interference more likely), or more parallel (less likely). I based my initial response on the OPs claim that there was indeed interference. But based on his description, my best guess is that his relief area would have been into the bushes.

I'd have taken relief, probably. You decide what interference is, they don't. Unless you're in a competition, and an official can help make sure you get it right. Or you might play two balls, under Rule 20.1c(3), if you're in a competition and want to be certain you get it right. Of course, your Nearest Point of Complete Relief and Relief Area might have been further into the bush, in which case I'd have played it as it was.

Its been almost 10 months since my back problems arose, and I'm still working on getting back to "normal". Between the 10 weeks of forced idleness, and the lingering nerve impingement, my strength and stamina is still not where it once was. I've played a fair amount of golf, with no apparent ill effects, but every round has been played while riding in a cart. Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I managed to walk the first 9 holes, before riding for the back 9. Sure, I'm tired, but I played reasonably well, my handicap is creeping down. All I need now is decent weather and a bit of practice!

This reminds me, I'm not a retired geotechnical engineer. My new career as volunteer golf rules official typically pays me a ham sandwich and a soft drink, but its more fun.

You're WAY too young! You should have to wait until you can only hit your driver 280.

I'm with @iacas, relief from the Obstruction seems likely to be available. As tor relief from Temporary Water, that only becomes available only when actual water is present, not just mud. from the Definition of Temporary Water: "It is not enough for the ground to be merely wet, muddy or soft or for the water to be momentarily visible as the player steps on the ground; an accumulation of water must remain present either before or after the stance is taken." Relief from Temporary Water can get complicated, once you decide to take relief, you MUST find the nearest point of COMPLETE relief (NPCR). The NPCR from an Immoveable Obstruction is usually pretty close, but could be 10 or 20 or sometimes 50 yards away for Temporary Water. It could be into the tree line, or further from the hole. My recommendation is to ALWAYS figure out where your NPCR will be before you decide to take relief and lift a ball in play. Edit to add....If you realize that you do NOT want to play from the appropriate Relief area after lifting the ball to take relief, you MAY replace the ball, with one stroke penalty under Rule 9.4. Or you MAY decide instead to directly take Unplayable Ball relief for two total penalty strokes. So figure out what your best option is before you decide to lift the ball.

Yeah, what brought the idea to mind was a birdie on hole 4, an uphill par 3. Normally its about 175 yards, but from the forward tees it was only about 115. I'd have felt guilty posting that one.

I'm in a bit of a transition, at my home course I play the Blue tees most of the time, the regular men's tees. But many weekdays I play with a group of retired players, and play the "senior" tees, close to 600 yards shorter. I've set up two lines in the "home" compilation page, one for the regular tees, and one for the senior tees.

One thing that came right to mind was: OK "This fairway slopes left" Not OK " Aim right, this fairway slopes left"

Missouri? What happened to Texas? @Rick_D, he's a really good guy, and a really good player. And a tip on using this site, if you type the @ symbol and start with the rest of the name, you'll see a list of members. Click on the one you want, and he'll get a notification that he's been "tagged"

Something just popped into my head, based on your mention of the folks who "know the rules" but are generally wrong. Another comment I read was "the Rules ALWAYS said.....". When I come across those I often go to www.ruleshistory.com to see if the rules ever said that. You can find every (almost?) version of the rules since the first set in 1744. Its fun to return to the conversation and say "You're a little bit right, the rules said that at one time, but that changed in 1984. You've been playing under the wrong rule for 40 years!"