s052017

Reports
THE CAPTAIN'S
CORNER
DEC DUNN / CLUB CAPTAIN
Most Misunderstood
At the start of every golf season, there is
always that period of time when you
have to work on your muscle memory,
not just for hitting the ball, but for
managing your game and
remembering the rules. In my last two
articles, I took the opportunity to
explain a couple of the more confusing
golf rules. Let's now review 6 of the
most misunderstood golf rules:
1. MYTH: It counts as a stroke if a ball is
touched and falls from the tee after
being addressed.
FACT: This does not normally count as a
stroke and the ball can simply be teed
up again without penalty. However, if
the ball was already in play (if you
skimmed it on your first attempt, for
example), this would count as a stroke.
2. MYTH: A golfer whose ball is off the
green should always play before
someone on the green.
FACT: Regardless of the lie of the balls,
the player whose ball is farthest from
the hole should always go first. Say, for
instance, one player has a 10-foot chip
and another has a 50-foot putt, the putt
would be played first.
3. MYTH: When your ball finds a water
hazard, you can play a provisional
before looking for the original.
FACT: If you're practically certain that
your ball is in the water, you can't hit a
provisional. The next shot you play is
considered the ball in play (with an
added penalty stroke). When hitting
your ball into a hazard, proceed
according to Rule 26. If you think there
is a possibility that your ball could be
outside the hazard, you can hit a
provisional. If it turns out that the ball is
actually in the hazard, you have to
abandon the provisional.
4. MYTH: If your ball is in an unplayable
lie, you're allowed to drop in a spot
which makes it 'playable'.
FACT: You have three options, each with
a penalty of one stroke, after declaring a
ball unplayable.
1. Replay the previous shot.
2. Drop another ball behind the spot
where the ball lies, keeping it directly in
line with the hole, with no limit as to
how far behind that point the ball is
dropped.
3. Drop inside of two club-lengths from
the spot where the ball is positioned,
making sure to be no closer to the hole.
5. MYTH: You can take an out-ofbounds
stake out of the ground, or take
relief from any marker of the course's
boundary.
FACT: You are not allowed to take relief
from any marker of the course's
boundary. Play it as it lies or take it as an
unplayable lie, proceeding under those
options.
6. MYTH: You cannot ask for another
player's ball to be marked unless it
affects your ball, swing or stance.
FACT: If you think that another ball may
interfere with your ability to play a shot,
you can ask that it is marked and lifted.
However, the marked ball cannot be
cleaned unless it is on a putting green.
Opening Field Days
The season has officially opened with
the Men's, Women's and Weekday Field
events behind us. Weather has been an
issue over the last couple of weeks, but
even with fewer attendees than
previous years, we still managed to
bring out 44 women and 66 men for the
Men's and Women's opening days.
The Women's Opening took place under
a sun and cloud mix, with a high of 13
degrees. The men dealt with a high of 7
degrees with cloud, and our typical cool
Whitevale winds. Neither day was the
optimum golf weather forecast. The
weekday event had the worst day,
steady rain causing the event to be
called after nine holes.
Congratulations go out to Cindy
Alexiou, Pamela Cooper, Anne Hill and
Reg Wordtmann taking the women's
event, and Mark Crerar, Colin Dunne and
Brad Haley walking away with the men's
event. As the weekday wasn't
completed it was decided that all the
prizes would be drawn from a hat. I
would like to thank all those members
that braved the elements to make these
events both fun and successful.
Coming up:
" All the Match Play events, including
Men's Single, Women's Single, Women's
Four Ball, and Mixed Match Play have a
sign up deadline of May 14th.
" Women's draft night is May 23rd
" First Men's night shotgun followed by
their draft night is May 24th
" Spring Derby is May 27th & 28th
" Junior Opening is May 28th
" Women's League opening May 30th
" Men's League opening May 31st
" Phantom Tournament June 3rd
5 / WHITEVALEGOLFCLUB.COM / MAY 2017