Coach Holds Pine Tree Branch Back for Player

[CoachB25]

We had our All Area Coach's Meeting tonight and so, I brought this up.  One gentleman there has been a rules guy before at some PGA events and so, he said immediately, 2 stroke penalty.  He also said he had seen it done before by a caddie.  He pointed out that when a player attempts to enter a tree/shrub, they can insert themselves into the bush but they have certain concerns in doing do.  They can't drastically embed themselves into that bush.  IOWs, they can bend the branches to gain access but that is in a very limited capacity. 

This gentleman is older now and has "seen it all" according to him.  I had a couple of other questions for him but he was making the rounds and so, he soon wandered off to another group. 

[Rulesman]

As described here

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-13,d13-2-1

[JerseyThursday]

On 10/20/2016 at 9:27 AM, 14ledo81 said:

Somewhat related question.  What if the player is moving branches to access his ball (to identify), and a branch breaks?  What would that ruling be?

 

On 10/20/2016 at 0:43 PM, Martyn W said:

The player would be in breach of 13-2 if the action improves the lie of the ball, stance, area of intended swing or line of play. General penalty (2 strokes or loss of hole)

At that point, wouldn't it be smarter to take an unplayable lie rather than take a two stroke penalty and still be trying to whack it out from the tree?

[dennyjones]

On 10/18/2016 at 11:31 PM, CoachB25 said:

First, the broken branch is a 2 stroke penalty.  I wonder if a coach holding the branch back is considered building a stance?  I know that I would never consider this as a coach.  My first thought was that this would be a DQ.  I don't know how this was decided since I had a family emergency and had to leave when my player signed her card.  (My daughter was hit in the face by a line drive in softball and was unconscious.   She was taken by ambulance to a hospital and I was 2 hours away.  I had to get home fast.  She has sustained a major concussion and, as recently as yesterday, which was 3 days later, she was still throwing up due to dizziness etc.  She will be evaluated again tomorrow.) 

So sorry.   Hoping she improves soon.