"Ball in hand"

[ronbo25]

I just heard Kelly Tilghman on TGC coverage of Deutsche Bank say that players are playing ball in hand in anticipation of bad weather. What does "ball in hand" mean?

[Space Cowboy]

I think it means lift, clean, and place.

[ronbo25]

Yep, you are correct. As soon as I posted the question, they used the term again and mentioned cleaning the ball and placing on turf. thx.

[Mrd19abhs]

  Space Cowboy said:

I think it means lift, clean, and place.

But on if they are in the fairway.

[JWL1957]

Its the same thing that the so called purists were complaining about in a previous subject on here...... "prefered lies"

[bwdial]

Lift, clean and cheat. :p

[DarkPrince]

Lift, clean and place, but only if you are in the fairway....and the CORRECT fairway :P Just cuz you sliced the ball 1 or 2 holes over and ended up in THAT fairway doesn't mean the rule applies lol

[chriskzoo]

Did they do that in the morning round as well, before any of the weather hit? If so, I think that's some major BS. Not only would those guys have gotten the better part of the weather, they now had perfect lies all day long. Compare that to the afternoon guys who were playing on a wetter course (less roll) and had to deal with moist greens as well.

No wonder the morning scores were so low.

[Shorty]

  bwdial said:

Lift, clean and cheat. :p

Should players be playing balls covered in mud?

[bong_crosby]

...is worth two in the bush.

[Zeph]

  DarkPrince said:

Lift, clean and place, but only if you are in the fairway....and the CORRECT fairway :P Just cuz you sliced the ball 1 or 2 holes over and ended up in THAT fairway doesn't mean the rule applies lol

That depends how the rule is stated. By using the recommended version, it does not specify such a thing. I don't see why you should not be allowed to use the rule just because you are on the wrong fairway.

Source: Appendix I "A ball lying on a closely mown area through the green [ or specify a more restricted area, e.g., at the 6th hole ] may be lifted without penalty and cleaned. Before lifting the ball, the player must mark its position. Having lifted the ball, he must place it on a spot within [specify area, e.g., six inches, one club-length, etc.] of and not nearer the hole than where it originally lay, that is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.

I have not seen the rule applied this week at the tournament, so it may of course state something like that.

[DarkPrince]

  Zeph said:

That depends how the rule is stated. By using the recommended version, it does not specify such a thing.

Hmm, I haven't played in since high school golf, so maybe we used a local rule version. The coaches just told us we can lift clean and place as long as it is in the fairway on the current hole, granted now the coach is an actal PGA professional (and my instructor lol) so dunno how its going now :P