6Aces

Decision 14-1a/1 Playing Stroke with Back of Clubhead Q.May a player play a left-handed stroke with the back of the head of a right-handed club? A.Yes. A player may play a stroke with any part of the clubhead, provided the ball is fairly struck at (Rule 14-1a) and the club conforms with Rule 4-1.

Yes. Rule 26-2a indicates that the ball must be played from outside the hazard. Further, if the player actually drops and plays from the hazard, he is playing from a wrong place and will incur a penalty of two strokes for that and a further penalty of 1 stroke for taking relief from the water hazard. This assumes that no serious breach has occurred. See Decision 20-7/2

Age: 71 Height: 5' 10" Where are you from: Ottawa, Ontario How long have you been playing: 57 years Best Scores: 63 and 64, Both 8 under par Favorite club in the bag: Driver Golf Books / DVD's that have helped you: "Double Connexion" Where do you play: Greensmere GC Best courses you've played so far: Doral CC Things you enjoy most about golf: the challenge; the satisfaction of hitting a great approach shot close to pin Goals for 2017: Have shot my age or less 10 times and would like to add to that total. Had handicap down to 1 last season and would like to return to that number. Improve short game.

While probably not applicable to the situation in the original picture, gambling on making a low percentage stroke, eliminates the stroke and distance option of Rule 28 for the original lie. Kevin Na learned this the hard way.

A player hit his tee shot into some trees after which I went to this area and asked if he wanted help looking for his ball. I found a TMP 3, which is the same kind as he said that he hit. He chipped the ball out, hit his approach shot to the green and then called me. The ball was not his. I sent him back to the tee to start over again, with a 1 stroke for the lost ball and 2 strokes for the wrong ball. My two mistakes: (1) I did not give him the unused portion of the 5 minutes to continue search for the original ball. (2) I was unaware that and did not ask if he had hit a provisional ball. He had and had actually picked it up. Consequently, he incurred an additional penalty for picking up the provisional ball and so would have hit stroke 8 from the tee. Decisions 27-2b/10 covers this scenario.

Your statement in bold suggests that, hypothetically, if there was a sprinkler head in the tree, (or perhaps some other abnormal ground condition or immovable obstruction) that you would be entitled to free relief. The exceptions in 24-1b and 25-1b indicate that you would not get free relief.

As a wise Rulie once said, "There are two kinds of Rules Officials; those who have made mistakes and those who will."

I talked about this in post #47. Perhaps a simple description is that the line of putt is a subset of the line of play.

Decisions 8-2a/2 and 8-2a/3, as mentioned previously, confirm that placing any mark, club, etc.,...on or near the actual line of play, to aid alignment, is an infraction. To verify that the overwhelming majority of us are correct, perhaps the poster should send his point of disagreement to the USGA and request an official ruling and then post both the question and USGA answer here.

Marty. (1) Where in the definition of the line of play does it say that it does not include a stroke made from the putting green? To quote: The line of play is the direction that the player wishes his ball to take after a stroke. There is no indication that the stroke excludes one taken from the putting green. (2) In reading Decision 16-1a/4, a player whose ball is ON the putting, removes casual water from the hole. The ruling is "...the player is in breach of 13-2 which prohibits improving the LINE OF PLAY by removing water." So, the line of putt is always a line of play, but the reverse is not always true.

Maybe have a look at this decision. 3-4/1 Competitor Not Given Opportunity to Lift Ball Assisting Fellow-Competitor Q.In stroke play, A's ball lies near the hole in a position to assist B, whose ball lies off the putting green. A states his intention to lift his ball under Rule 22-1. B mistakenly believes that A does not have the right to lift his ball and plays before A has an opportunity to lift his ball. What is the ruling? A.B is disqualified under Rule 3-4 as he intentionally denied A's right to lift his ball. It is irrelevant that B did so in ignorance of the Rules.

If players were allowed to repair spike marks then some would state that every perceived imperfection on a putting green was an "old" spike mark and tap them down on their line of putt: (a) giving them a advantage, and (b) significantly slowing up play. The spike mark solution is simple: (1) After you putt out, tap down all spike marks in the vicinity of the hole so that all of the following groups won't have any interference by them. (2) Pick up your feet.

One club length is a specific distance, that is, up to 48", and because the ball is first marked, there is little opportunity for the golfer to inadvertently, or deliberately, place his ball farther from the original lie than this distance. In rolling the ball with no marking, there is no original starting point and if 6" is the maximum allowable distance, one knows very well that many golfers will roll the ball, again, inadvertently or deliberately, more than 6" and there is no effective way a fellow competitor can accurately supervise the move. Using a scorecard for the preferred lie is not a standard length. Yes, a club length is generous, but it is more fair, measurable, and superviseable, if that's a word, than any other distance.

You may rake the bunker. Rule 13-4 Exception 2 2. At any time, the player may smooth sand or soil in a hazard provided this is for the sole purpose of caring for the course and nothing is done to breach Rule 13-2 with respect to his next stroke . If a ball played from a hazard is outside the hazard after the stroke , the player may smooth sand or soil in the hazard without restriction. Also, Decision 13-4/37.

What other rules have you deemed unfair and refuse to play by? If you and I are playing a match or a stroke play game and you LOSE your ball as you have described above, how is it fair that you get to just take a FREE drop?

Would you clarify that what Fourputt said above is incorrect? Is he not saying, "I think my ball is in a hazard. I am going to play a provisional." This is not permitted so is what he said not correct? If a player says that his ball may be in the hazard or maybe outside the hazard, he may play a provisional, as you have stated.

It was felt by some that the ball mark could be a "mental distraction," similar to 24-2a/1, for which there is no relief and for which, there would then be a 2 stroke penalty. Also, in 27-2a/1.5, the RofG include a specific maximum distance that a player can go forward to search, 50 yards, beyond which he cannot go back to play a provisional ball. Similarly, if a ball mark may be repaired 5 yards in front of the ball in play with no penalty, then a ball mark only a yard in front would be too close to allow it to be repaired. As a player, I would use the ball mark as an alignment aid so it's presence would not be a distraction, however, for other players, it might be. If no penalty, what distance from the ball would a repaired ball mark cause a penalty for a fairway wood stroke?

A scenario recently discussed by our Rules Committee. A player hits his drive into the middle of the fairway on a par 5 hole. On his line of play, one yard from his ball, is a ball mark which he repairs. He uses a fairway wood for his second stroke and his ball ends up short of the green. Considering the following from 13-2/0.5, would you assess a two stroke penalty? "Examples of changes that are unlikely to create such a potential advantage are if a player: repairs a small pitch-mark on his line of play five yards in front of his ball prior to making a 150-yard approach shot from through the green;"

Oops. Already answered.

The only commentator that seems to know something about the rules is Jerry Foltz. When you hear one of them refer to the person with whom a player is drawn as a "Playing Partner," or "Playing Competitor" which most of them do, you know their rules knowledge is minimal. The U.S. open telecasts are great because they have a rules person in the broadcast booth.

Correct. This is the first line of the original post: "Had a situation in a bunker today that had me and my playing partners scratching our heads about how to proceed." Since 3-3 is entitled "Doubt as to Procedure," it follows that if the player did not know what to do that a second ball could be played. Since they were not sure whether the ball was embedded through the green or lying in the bunker, why do you feel that 3-3 would not be applicable?

Actually, I do. But having played golf for 54 years, that's only 1 every 9 years. Always a shock when the ball goes in.

On the outside chance that you are interested in learning what to do under the circumstance that you described, I would suggest that you ask a simple question. Where else could the ball be? If no where else, then choose an option under Rule 26. If some where else, the ball is lost. Since your ball "hit a tree," and could not be found, it is lost. End of story. As an official, I also ask the question, "Where did the players look?" If they looked in the rough or some distance from the hazard, then I know that they are NOT "virtually certain" that the ball is in the hazard, so again, the ball is lost.

1. Players have to be careful when making a decision like this. By playing a shot that is close to being unplayable, the player may end up in with a worse lie than the original and in so doing, 28a, from the original stroke, is no longer one of the available options. 2. From the original discussion, with the player uncertain about what to do, he should have invoked 3-3, played a second ball and indicated that he wanted to score with the ball that would have given him free relief ( from the "embedded" lie.) Then, get a ruling later from someone who knew the rules.

Every opportunity you can get to practice your chipping and putting, whether playing by yourself if that is possible, or before or after you play, take it. Your scores will lower the better you are on or around the greens. BTW: The handicap system is such that you cannot establish a handicap factor/ index, until you have played a minimum of five games. But I would not at all be concerned what that number is until you can consistently hit the ball in the air. I would also suggest that you try to learn the basic rules so that the scores that you achieve are a true reflection of how you are playing. Often beginners do not count penalty strokes because in some cases, they don't know that they have incurred a penalty.