Repairing plug mark on fairway

[TheDoc]

A players drive lands on the fairway, plugs but spins back a short distance, say around five inches. Is he permitted to repair the plug mark before hitting his next shot?

[14ledo81]

I am not sure, though I doubt you can.  Why would you want to do this?

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by TheDoc

A players drive lands on the fairway, plugs but spins back a short distance, say around five inches. Is he permitted to repair the plug mark before hitting his next shot?

Decision 13-2/0.5 says yes, as long as it does not improve your lie.

You can't repair it if it could improve your lie, which means the repair would not be allowed if it was a few inches in front of your ball and you were playing a low running shot or putt. (That's why I always try to repair pitch marks around the green, assuming they're not near my ball.)  But if there's no chance of your shot being affected by the repair, no problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Why would you want to do this?

Same reason you'd repair a divot - so another golfer doesn't end up having their ball come to rest in it.

[Motown88]

I'm going to ask the question agani, why would you repair it first.  What benefit to do you gain by repairing it?  If the plug mark is a few inches in front of my ball I more than likely will tear it out of the ground with my divot anyway and thus making repairing it first useless.

[14ledo81]

I'm going to ask the question agani, why would you repair it first.  What benefit to do you gain by repairing it?  If the plug mark is a few inches in front of my ball I more than likely will tear it out of the ground with my divot anyway and thus making repairing it first useless.

This is what I meant. Why first?

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motown88

I'm going to ask the question agani, why would you repair it first.  What benefit to do you gain by repairing it?  If the plug mark is a few inches in front of my ball I more than likely will tear it out of the ground with my divot anyway and thus making repairing it first useless.

This is what I meant. Why first?

If I'm waiting to play the shot because someone else is hitting first, I might want to repair it while I'm waiting in order to save time. That's the only benefit I can imagine.

[Motown88]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

If I'm waiting to play the shot because someone else is hitting first, I might want to repair it while I'm waiting in order to save time. That's the only benefit I can imagine.

But if you take the plug mark out with your divot anyways then what is the point in repairing it in the first place?

[luu5]

Originally Posted by Motown88

But if you take the plug mark out with your divot anyways then what is the point in repairing it in the first place?

This was not the OP question. OP asked can he fix a plug hole which is quite short distance ahead of your ball. There was no talk about divots at all. Of course here on WRX, all the shots from fairway are done with wedges and nice divots. But sometimes I have to take a long iron or even a fairway wood to advance from fairway. Then I do not wish to take much of a divot.

[Motown88]

Originally Posted by luu5

This was not the OP question. OP asked can he fix a plug hole which is quite short distance ahead of your ball. There was no talk about divots at all. Of course here on WRX, all the shots from fairway are done with wedges and nice divots. But sometimes I have to take a long iron or even a fairway wood to advance from fairway. Then I do not wish to take much of a divot.

Read the rest of the posts in this thread...This was not my first response to the OP

[Ignorant]

I think there are some sidetracks going on here, even though sacm3bill already explained the issue and even gave the correct Decision. Questions like 'why would he do it' have no relevance after having read that particular Decision (which apparently some did not bother to do...).

[Motown88]

Originally Posted by Ignorant

I think there are some sidetracks going on here, even though sacm3bill already explained the issue and even gave the correct Decision. Questions like 'why would he do it' have no relevance after having read that particular Decision (which apparently some did not bother to do...).

The reason I bring up the divot argument is the fact that more then likely the plug hole will be taken out by a divot without repairing it.  By repairing the plug hole you risk improving your lie.  We've all hit bad shots and if you top a ball badly then it could be argued if the plug mark were still there it would have effected where the ball ended up.  Thtat is why I feel it is of no importance to fix the plug hole prior to hitting.

[Dormie1360]

Although D 13-2/0.5 goes along way in adding some help and common sense to Rule 13-2 (Improving lie, area of intended stance or swing, or line of play.) it's still somewhat subjective. I've read discussions on this topic by Officials and there are still differences of opinion on what is considered improving and what is not when talking about line of play.

This really is an easy infraction to avoid.  Just don't fix anything until after you play your stroke, period.  If you really think you need to fix or repair something before your stroke, it's probably a breach.

[TheDoc]

Many thanks for the interesting replies.

I agree that it is better not to do anything that might be construed as an infringement before playing a shot.

My reason for asking the original question was that my playing partner asked for a ruling after he had repaired the plug mark first before playing his next shot, which incidentally was a long fairway shot.

I seemed to remember an incident on the USPGA tour where a player was penalized for doing something similar, I would appreciate it very much if anyone remembers this incident as it was seen on TV.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by TheDoc

Many thanks for the interesting replies.

I agree that it is better not to do anything that might be construed as an infringement before playing a shot.

My reason for asking the original question was that my playing partner asked for a ruling after he had repaired the plug mark first before playing his next shot, which incidentally was a long fairway shot.

I seemed to remember an incident on the USPGA tour where a player was penalized for doing something similar, I would appreciate it very much if anyone remembers this incident as it was seen on TV.

You may be thinking of the Camilo Villegas incident from last year - he hit a bad chip that was rolling back down the hill to the area he had just hit it from. He (absentmindedly it appeared, but that doesn't matter as far as the rules are concerned) flicked away the divot he had just made while the ball was still moving. That violated rule 23-1 that says, "When a ball is in motion, a loose impediment that might influence the movement of the ball must not be removed". He didn't realize his error, so didn't add the required two penalty strokes, so was DQd for an incorrect scorecard.  More into: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/07/camilo-villegas-disqualified-tv-viewer_n_805995.html