TOPICS NEWSLETTER - South Florida PGA Golf

education
rules with drew
Double Rules
Dilemma
SFPGA TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR ANDREW MILLER
Some interesting rulings came up during last month’s
Championships. The first happened during the Pro-
Scratch Championship played at TPC Eagle Trace and
the second at the E-Z-GO South Florida Open at Tiburon
and Pelican Marsh.
The Pro-Scratch Championship is four-ball stroke
play event in which a PGA Professional partners
with an Amateur competing under a better ball
format. During the Championship a player hit
his partner’s ball. The partner realized the error
right away, retrieved his ball and dropped it from
where his partner had played. What is the penalty?
Well, let’s start with the most obvious penalty first.
Rule 31-5 tells us, “If a competitor is in breach of
Rule 15-3b for making a stroke at a wrong ball,
he incurs a penalty of two strokes and must correct
his mistake by playing the correct ball or by
proceeding under the Rules. His partner incurs
no penalty even if the wrong ball belongs to him.”
It is important to note that when the player played
the wrong ball, he took a divot with the swing. He
also took a divot with his practice swing. In short,
this means that the spot from which the wrong ball
was played was determinable and the partner should
have placed the ball instead of dropping it from which
it was previously played. Decision 20-6/1 states, “A
player placed a ball when he should have dropped
it or dropped it when he should have placed it.”
Before playing a stroke, may the player lift the ball,
without penalty, under Rule 20-6 and proceed correctly?
Yes. Otherwise the player would lose the
hole in match play or incur a penalty of two strokes
in stroke play for a breach of the applicable Rule.
Some of you might be saying, “Wait a minute Drew.
You’re telling us the partner needed to place the ball
from where it was just played even though that exact
spot is now a sand filled divot?” The answer is yes,
well, sort of. Rule 20-3b tells us, “If the original lie
of a ball to be placed or replaced has been altered:
except in a hazard, the ball must be placed in the
nearest lie most similar to the original lie that is
not more than one club-length from the original
lie, not nearer the hole and not in a hazard.” So, to
recap, the player got a two-stroke penalty for playing
a wrong ball and the partner got a two stroke penalty
for dropping a ball when he should have placed it.
The second situation I wanted to share happened
during the E-Z-GO South Florida Open on the 18th
hole at Tiburon. A player hit his second shot into the
later water hazard which runs parallel with the left
side of the hole. The player measured his two club
lengths, dropped his ball, which rolled into the water,
re-dropped under Rule 20-2c with the same result and
then finally placed the ball on the spot from which it
was re-dropped. At that moment the ball rolled into
the hazard. The player looked up, noticed I was sitting
behind the 18th green and motioned me over.
How should the player have proceeded? The first
question we need to determine is if the ball was
in play after the player placed it on the spot from
where it was re-dropped? Rule 20-4 states, “If the
player’s ball in play has been lifted, it is again in
play when dropped or placed.” This rule implies
that the ball comes to rest when dropped or placed.
Decision 20-2c/3.5 can help clarify when a ball
is in play. It states, “A player’s ball comes to
rest against a boundary stake. He deems the
ball unplayable and drops it within two clublengths
of where the ball originally lay, as prescribed
by Rule 28c. After the ball has been at
rest, it rolls and comes to rest out of bounds.”
What is the ruling? If a dropped ball comes to rest
but subsequently moves, the ball must be played
as it lies. In this case the ball is out of bounds and
the player must proceed under Rule 27-1. Since the
ball was at rest before moving, Rule 20-2c is not applicable.
The same is true for a ball which is placed.
Once you place the ball and remains still without moving,
that ball is then is play. If it subsequently moves,
you then must play it from its new position. Another
example is Decision 20-3d/1 which states, “A player
replaces his ball on the putting green three feet
from the hole.” As he is about to address the ball, it
rolls into the hole. Should the ball be replaced or is he
deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke?
The answer depends on whether the ball, when replaced,
came to rest on the spot on which it was
placed before is started rolling. If it did, the player
is deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke.
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