Johanna

Hi Dabzy and Fourputt, That's the way to play golf! In fact we tell starters to either ask if it is a Provisional Ball or advise players to play a P.B. if the tee shot goes wayward. Referees will do the same. Regards, Johanna

Hi Dabzy, Just make sure you announce your intention of playing a provisional ball off the tee. If you forget, the ball played becomes the ball in play.

There must be plenty of Marshals on the course. It amazes me that they don't warn the shouters just once and then kick them off the course for misbehaviour. The organizers should print a warning on the tickets about the etiquette for spectators.

Nothing in the rules says you may not kneel when putting, so you may. Have you tried standing on your head? the eye contact with the ball will be really good

Here's an interesting bit, copied from the R&A; Website: Ian Pattinson, Rules of Golf advisor for the BBC this year, talks about his first few days on the job. Every Referee on the course (there are 72 from 18 countries) keeps a record of the time taken by his or her group for each hole, the cumulative time for the round (against a ‘time par’) and any rulings given. Some referees also keep a score, although there is no requirement to do this. At the end of each round the Referees return their rules decisions record to David Rickman (Director of Rules and Equipment Standards for The R&A;) and there is a short de-briefing so that any issues or trends that might be relevant to the day – or might be helpful in the planning for the next day — can be discussed. Each evening after play ends, Shona McRae of The R&A;’s Rules team analyses the rules decisions and prepares a summary to help the referees know what to look out for the next day. First thing each day, I collect a copy of this from the Rules office to give me a heads up. In the first round, about a quarter of the 56 walking referees gave no rulings. The analysis shows that the rest gave a wide selection of other rulings. Free drops away from Temporary Immovable Obstructions (e.g. TV towers, grandstands etc) were taken by less than ten golfers. The summary for round two tells a different story, with nearly 40 rulings given for casual water – many in bunkers. There has been a lot of interest in the water in the bunkers. We take the view that the Championship can properly be played under the Rules of Golf and that where there is casual water in bunkers there is somewhere in the sand to drop without penalty which is not nearer the hole. So far I haven’t heard of anyone having to drop outside a bunker under a one stroke penalty. Another tell-tale sign of the benign conditions has been the fact that in two days, 156 golfers have played 5,616 holes and there have been less than twenty unplayable balls. As I am a bit of a hoarder of rules stuff, I have the records of the rulings going back to the 1995 Open and can see that unplayable balls were easily the most often “popular” rulings given in both the ’96 and ’01 Lytham Opens.

Normally you wouldn't get a free drop from such a place, but did the Local Rules on the score card mention the drain and the area immediately above it? Your fellow competitor should keep his hands off your ball, and he shouldn't drop his ball from divot holes. Each time he did so should've cost him 2 penalty strokes!

He may hit his provisional with whatever club he likes, but not until he hits it from a spot at least as far, or closer to the hole from the spot where his original may lie, does the provisional ball become the ball in play. If he does not find his original ball, the clever Alec has to add all the strokes he's made with his provisional ball to his score for the hole.

Did he use a ball to practise his wedge shots, or just swing the club ? More information is needed to give you a correct answer.

The drop should be as close as possible to the original spot. After the correct drop, the ball may roll up to two clublengths, but not nearer the hole.

From the information you have given, I think your second ball was the ball in play but you should have added 1 penalty stroke. What do you mean with a "natural area"?

That's exactly why the Ruling Bodies advise that rakes be placed outside bunkers: From the Decision Book: Miscellaneous 2 Q. Should rakes be placed in or outside bunkers? A . There is not a perfect answer for the position of rakes, but on balance it is felt there is less likelihood of an advantage or disadvantage to the player if rakes are placed outside bunkers. It may be argued that there is more likelihood of a ball being deflected into or kept out of a bunker if the rake is placed outside the bunker. It could also be argued that if the rake is in the bunker it is most unlikely that the ball will be deflected out of the bunker. However, in practice, players who leave rakes in bunkers frequently leave them at the side which tends to stop a ball rolling into the flat part of the bunker, resulting in a much more difficult shot than would otherwise have been the case. This is most prevalent at a course where the bunkers are small. When the ball comes to rest on or against a rake in the bunker and the player must proceed under Rule 24-1 , it may not be possible to replace the ball on the same spot or find a spot in the bunker which is not nearer the hole - see Decision 20-3d/2 . If rakes are left in the middle of the bunker the only way to position them is to throw them into the bunker and this causes damage to the surface. Also, if a rake is in the middle of a large bunker it is either not used or the player is obliged to rake a large area of the bunker resulting in unnecessary delay. Therefore, after considering all these aspects, it is recommended that rakes should be left outside bunkers in areas where they are least likely to affect the movement of the ball. Ultimately, it is a matter for the Committee to decide where it wishes rakes to be placed.

I agree with all Rulesman says. The problems with rakes in bunkers has led the Ruling Bodies to advise that rakes be kept outside bunkers, but greenkeepers don't like that because they have to get off their grass mowers to remove the rakes when mowing. Note that during very important tournaments like the Masters, The Open etc. a greenkeeper follows each match with a rake in his hand, so you'll see no rakes at all in- or outside bunkers during these events!

I think he meant his wife!

I agree with Zeg's answer.

The original questioner talks about an opponent, so presumable it was Match Play. In dropping and playing a ball somewhere near to where he thought the original ball was lost, he played from a wrong place and looses the hole in match play, see Rule 20-7b.

There is no penalty when the ball moves after taking away a movable obstruction. The ball must be replaced on its original spot. See Rule 24-1.

MEfree - Rule 26-1 is indeed about balls ending up in Water Hazards. If the WH/LWH is marked not only as a WH but also as an ESA, even if the ball is playable the ball MUST be dropped outside the WH/LWH with 1 penalty stroke. If the area isn't a water hazard in accordance with the definition of a WH/LWH, and just marked as GUR (free drop), just drop the ball in accordance with Rule 25-1b. ESA areas are probably permanently on a golf course in order to protect rare species of plant and/or animal life. GUR should indicate temporary areas under repair; for example newly sown grass or turf, a new tee, a new or renovated green, young trees or shrubs planted close together etc.

The Royal Golf and Country Club of Calcutta (India) has Out of Bounds marked with orange stakes !

No, that would be confusing players. The margins are line of sight between one stake and the next.

MEfree - if blue stakes are used to mark environmentally sensitive areas (ESA's for short) it would be helpful to players to add for example a red or yellow band round the top to indicate what kind of hazard it is, lateral or normal water hazard. When play is not allowed from these areas, the player cannot escape the one stroke penalty according to R. 26-1.

@ Rulesman - the only reason we have blue paint in my club is to paint the stakes blue. On grass blue paint is practically invisible.

Hi Fourputt - in my club we mark GUR in two different ways: 1) with blue stakes, play prohibited, installed by the green keepers for areas they want to protect (newly sown grass for example) and 2) with white lines installed by the competition committee or referees to indicate bad patches from which the player MAY drop the ball, or play the ball as it lies. The course where I play is a woodland course and sometimes the white-lined areas where in such a spot that when the player had to drop his ball in accordance with the Local Rule, he had to drop it in a far worse place than the GUR. We therefore marked the GUR in two ways, the green keeper doing the blue markings, and the Rules Officials or Competition Committee the white markings. This method of marking GUR is now widely used in Europe and is printed on the score card as (for example): "GUR - marked in blue, play prohibited, GUR marked with white lines, play allowed". Everybody happy Johanna

Fourput, The original question came from a member situated in the UK. I'm from the Netherlands and in Europe blue stakes are normally used to indicate GUR play prohibited. Regards, Johanna

The area you decribe is called GUR (ground under repair), and what you should have done is find the nearest spot outside the GUR where interference ceased to exist for your stroke and stance, and from that spot drop the ball within one clublength, not nearer the hole Rule 25-1b. The spot where you dropped the ball would have been correct if your ball was lost in GUR.