Broken Equipment?

[StuM]

This week on league I broke my driver during my tee shot.  I re-teed it and took Stroke & Distance.  My playing partners tried to tell me not to take a penalty since it "was not my fault".

It totally ruined my round but I felt the S&D penalty was appropriate.

Specifics:

I was on the 9th tee.  I hit my driver and really thought I hit it well but the ball went only 20 yards into a waste area in front of the tee box.  So I re-teed it and said "I'm hitting 3".  On the 2nd tee shot I again felt I hit it crisp but the ball shot weakly to the left going next to the #8 green and during my follow though the shaft shattered @ 8 inches above the club head.  So I head over to my ball "Hitting 4" (I need to verbalize these penalties or I may fail to count them) and that is when they all said to not count any penalties because it was very possible the shaft was breaking on the 1st tee shot. One guy even tried to sound authoritative and said "There was no intent to play a broken club so the shot does not count".  They even tried the "Its not fair, if the club had not broke you would likely be in much better position so do not penalize myself".

I did take the S&D penalty and played my 4th from where the 2nd tee shot ended up and finished with an 8 on the Par 4 and lost my match by 1 stroke.  I know it sucks, but in my mind I see no way around the S&D penalty.

Comments? 

[iacas]

They were wrong and what you did was correct.

Though, if I were you, I'd have checked the club after the first swing.

[Rulesman]

11 hours ago, StuM said:

 

I did take the S&D penalty and played my 4th from where the 2nd tee shot ended up and finished with an 8 on the Par 4 and lost my match by 1 stroke.  I know it sucks, but in my mind I see no way around the S&D penalty.

Comments? 

Not sure what matchplay format you were playing but you got the score for the hole right

[StuM]

On 5/23/2025 at 10:39 PM, iacas said:

They were wrong and what you did was correct.

Though, if I were you, I'd have checked the club after the first swing.

Good point

On 5/24/2025 at 1:35 AM, Rulesman said:

Not sure what matchplay format you were playing but you got the score for the hole right

Strokes play

[Rulesman]

8 hours ago, StuM said:

Strokes play

?  lost my match ? 

[StuM]

Yes, my net score for the 9 holes was higher than my opponents net score for 9 holes, so I lost.

[iacas]

8 hours ago, StuM said:

Yes, my net score for the 9 holes was higher than my opponents net score for 9 holes, so I lost.

HIs point is that you called it a "match," which heavily implies match play, not stroke play.

[StuM]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

HIs point is that you called it a "match," which heavily implies match play, not stroke play.

Got it.

[ChetlovesMer]

On 5/23/2025 at 10:39 PM, iacas said:

Though, if I were you, I'd have checked the club after the first swing.

Obviously, you hit far fewer terrible tee shots than I. 

I (much like what I'm guessing @StuM did) would have probably assumed it was I who made the terrible tee shot happen and not the club. 

Having said that. Good for you @StuM. We are all proud of you for playing the proper rules.