Rules

Morgan gets assistance from gallery

James McAfee

Thanks to an alert gallery, Gil Morgan was able to make par on the par-3 17th at the Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, WA in the second round of the U.S. Senior Open.

Morgan thought his approach shot had ended up in the water hazard and walked over to the drop zone to take a drop under penalty of one stroke. Thank goodness, before he dropped the ball, the crowd yelled that the ball wasn’t in the water, but instead had embedded in the rough.

If Morgan had dropped his ball, he would have had to go ahead and play it, hitting three. Instead, with a local rule in effect that allowed for relief for an embedded ball through the green (anywhere on the course except in a hazard, putting green or the tee of the hole in play) Morgan got to lift his ball and take a drop.

Making things a little more interesting, there were two balls embedded inches apart that were the same model and number. Thankfully, Morgan always puts an identification mark on his ball and he was able to accurately identify his ball as the first one he lifted. The other ball was considered a movable obstruction.

Another player had not been as lucky as Morgan to realize that his ball was embedded in the rough instead of in the hazard.

Without the ID mark and unable to tell which ball was his, Morgan would have had to accept a penalty for a lost ball and return to the tee.

Morgan had to be careful with his drop since he was not allowed to fix the holes where the two balls had been embedded. His first drop left the ball on the hazard line, considered part of the hazard. So he had to re-drop. This time the ball rolled past the hazard line before his caddy stopped the ball before it got wet. This is permitted. Then he was able to place the ball on the spot where it first hit a part of the course. He chipped on and made the putt.

So if you think there is a chance your ball may be on the other side of the hazard, you can not play a provisional ball and then go look. When that ball is dropped, you have accepted the penalty. Yes, even if you find the ball on the other side.

If you think your ball may be lost outside the hazard, then you can play a provisional ball and check to see if you can find it. If found, it is the ball in play and you abandon the provisional.

In the recent British Open, Mark Calcavecchia suffered a 9 on the fifth hole at St. Andrews in the third round when he ran into a problem dealing with a provisional. He hit a provisional when he hit into the deep rough. Then it appeared his ball was found. So he picked up the provisional. However, it turned out that the ball found was not his. He had to go back in the area where the provisional ball had been and add a penalty stroke.

Don’t break off that branch

By James McAfee

The fundmental principle of golf is to play the ball as it lies except as provided otherwise in the Rules of Golf. In this regard, a player needs to be careful not to improve or allow to be improved the position or lie of the ball, the area of his or her intended stance or swing or the line of play plus a reasonable extension of it or the area in which the ball is to be dropped or placed.

This might occur by moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed, creating or eliminating irregularities of the surface or removing or pressing down sand, loose soil, replaced divots or other cut turf, or in removing dew, frost or water.

For example, deliberately moving, bending or breaking branches with the hands, a leg or the body to get them out of the way or in making a stroke would result in a penalty. So would standing on a branch to prevent it from interfering with the back swing or stroke.

An exemption permits a player to do so in fairly taking his stance—in the least intrusive manner that results in minimum improvement only. So a player can back into a branch or young sapling if that is the only way to take a stance for the selected stroke even if this causes the branch to move or the sapling to bend or break.

On the teeing ground, a player may actually kick up a piece of turf to place his ball on, but this would not be allowed anywhere else.

There is no penalty involved for removing sand and loose soil if your ball is on the green, but doing it with your ball on the fringe would be a violation.

Placing your feet firmly in taking a stance is OK, but building a stance is not. As Craig Stalder once found out, using a towel on the ground when he had to hit a ball on his knees from under a tree resulted in a penalty. Taking his pants off—not a thing most players with the exception of a Swedish pro who’s name I can not remember would do on television—or putting a pair of rain pants on would be OK.

A player off the green can not get relief from his own pitch mark, but could if it was created by another player after—not before–his ball was at rest.

A player can not remove a white stake defining out of bounds. He would be subject to a penalty even if he replaced it before making his stroke. However, red and yellow stakes defining hazards can be moved if they interfere with a player’s stance or swing.

A player can ground the club lightly through the green, but may not press down in a manner that would improve the lie. Of course, a player can not touch the sand in a bunker or the water in a water hazard. The exceptions are if it happened as a result of trying to prevent from falling into the water, if it was done in the process of identifying the ball—now required–or in just placing clubs in the hazard. A player may also touch an obstruction, like a bridge, when playing from a hazard.

Rules-Knowing color of stakes helps

By JAMES MCAFEE

It definitely helps pay attention to the color of the stakes or lines when you hit a ball into a water hazard or toward an area that is off the course or out of bounds.

Here is a quick guide to help you figure out your options after taking a one-stroke penalty, plus distance in the case of OB:

For water hazards with yellow stakes or lines, you have the option of replaying the stroke from as close as possible to where you played the previous shot or taking a drop and keeping the point where the last shot entered the hazard between your ball and the hole.

Remember there is no limit to how far behind the water hazard you can drop. I saw one of the college girls in a tournament at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Marble Falls three years ago end up dropping on a downhill lie because evidently she did not realize she could go back and find a level lie. She repeated the process two more times after hitting into the water, taking a 9 on the hole.

Watching The Open qualifying at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano earlier this year, I noticed a couple of pros actually opted to drop on a level cart path rather than doing it on a severe slope.

For lateral hazards with red stakes or lines, you have the added option of dropping a ball within two club lengths of where your last shot crossed the margin of the hazard, but no closer to the hole. Don’t forget you can actually go to the opposite side of the hazard, too, making sure that it is the same distance from the hole. This is exactly what HP Byron Nelson winner Jason Day did on his final hole.

If the red line is very close to the green, you can actually drop the ball on the green as long as you stay within the allowed two club lengths. I can remember getting to do despite objections–”you can’t do that”– from my fellow competitor. A quick look at the rule book showed him it was OK.

Another option is to play from the hazard, but you have to be very careful not to ground your club or touch the ground as Michelle Wie did or to move or touch a loose impediment as Brian Davis did in the playoff at the Verizon Heritage event. A wiser course of action many times is to accept the penalty and take the drop.

Sometimes rules committees at clubs or for tournaments give golfers an extra option by creating a special ball drop area, some even on the other side of the hazard. Check the rules sheet before playing in a tournament to see if there are any ball drops being used.

However, there is no such thing as a provisional ball for a ball that might be in a hazard. Therefore, you can not use a ball drop on the other side of the water if you have already used another option. This is also true if you happen to find your ball on the other side of the hazard. Go and look first before using one of the other options.

Another thing to remember is that if one of these stakes (red or yellow) interferes with your swing or stance that you can actually remove them.

That isn’t the case with white stakes used to define out of bounds. White lines are sometimes used between the stakes to make it easier to determine if the ball is in or out. I’ve had cases where the ball has been on the line. The ball is not OB unless all of it is out.

White lines are sometimes used to mark ground under repair, but it’s usually easy to tell the difference between this and OB. Material piled for removal and a hole made by a greenkeeper, even if not marked, are considered ground under repair. Grass cuttings and other material left on the course that have been abandoned and are not intended to be picked up for removal are not GUR unless so marked.A ball is considered in ground under repair even if only part of it touches.

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