Author: Hilary

Ladies:

This coming Tuesday the format for our play day will be Points, Putts, and Low Net (PPLN), and some of our new members may not have played this format before. PPLN is individual stroke play where you record your score for each hole, and your putts for each hole too. If you don’t complete every hole you will be disqualified

Under the Rules of Golf for stroke play you must always finish every hole you play, (Rule 3-2). However, on occasion in different formats or situations, the score you write on your card may be “adjusted”.

In the USGA Handicap Manual there is a section which covers “Adjusting Scores”.

There they list the following two ways you are allowed not to finish a hole, still put a score on your score card, and not be disqualified.

The first is: Incomplete Holes.

When you are playing with a partner as a team, and you are using the better score for the competition, you may decide to pick up your ball and not finish the hole as you are playing so badly, especially if your partner is playing well. This is allowed but you must record the score you would most likely have made.

This most likely score is the number of strokes (including penalty strokes) taken thus far, plus the number of strokes it would take you to complete the hole from that point.

On the scorecard you put an X in front of your score, i.e. X8. The most likely score cannot exceed the player’s Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) which is determined by their index.

The second is Holes Not Played.

This is rarely done, but sometimes a hole maybe under construction, or in casual play the players ahead are very slow so you want to skip a hole, or for some reason you cannot complete your round due to bad weather etc.

Your score for that hole is calculated using Par, plus any handicap strokes, aka “Pops”, to which you are entitled on that hole. If you get two “Pops” on a par 5, then your score would be 7. That is the score you put on your scorecard.

The bottom line is:

If you start a hole, and then pick up, you have to honestly calculate what your score would have been and put it down with an X. If you post scores that are below your ability level you will falsely lower your index. Not smart.

If you do not play a hole then you calculate your score for that hole using Par plus “Pops”.

Two ways, no mixing them up is allowed!

Hope this helps you.

Hilary

Ladies let’s start this year of my Golf Rules e mails by covering some of the possibly misunderstood situations that can happen during play.

1. Rebecca has a fantastic shot to the green of hole #2 of Discovery Bay Country Club and she’s excited to make a birdie. She makes her putt but ball rolls right over the hole and fails to drop in. The ball comes to rest on the other side of the hole. Rebecca reaches across the hole with her putter and taps the ball in the hole.

Does Rebecca incur?

a) A one stroke penalty
b) Two stroke penalty
c) No penalty

The misconception is that Rebecca is not allowed to putt her ball from across the hole but… ….she is.

Rebecca would have been a breach of Rule 16-1e if she had stood “astride” the line of her putt but in this situation her ball was on the other side of the hole.

In the Golf Rules “Definition” of Line of Putt at the end it states “……….The line of putt does not extend beyond the hole.” So, no penalty for Rebecca, and sadly no birdie either!

2 a) Bessie is putting her ball on the green of hole number 4 and the removed flagstick is lying on the putting surface, and her ball in motion is about to hit it. Can one of the other players move the flagstick?

2 b) Bessie is putting her ball on the green of hole number 7 and her ball in motion is about to hit a wedge that another player has left near the green in the fringe. Can one of the other players move the wedge?

Well Bessie is in luck, both answers are YES.

Rule 24-1b.

When a ball is IN MOTION, an obstruction that might influence the movement of the ball, OTHER THAN EQUIPMENT OF ANY PLAYER OR THE FLAGSTICK WHEN ATTENDED, REMOVED OR HELD UP, must not be moved.

So the wedge and the flagstick can be moved, but a movable obstruction such as a pine cone, stone, leaf etc may be moved before you make your putt, but NOT once your ball is in motion.

3. You accidentally touch your ball that is in play with your club and you move your ball. Are you always penalized? This can be another golf rule misconception.

If the ball does not move from its spot and just rocks from its original spot but it returns to the same place, IT HAS NOT MOVED. Crazy eh, must be a time warp?

According to the Definition of “Moved”

“A ball is deemed to have “moved” if it leaves its original position and comes to rest in any other place.” If the ball does not “move” there is no penalty.

This is a test of a player’s integrity, but if you are certain that every dimple of your ball came back to its original position then there is no penalty.

I hope this helps you.

Hilary

When do you take a ONE stroke penalty, and when do you take TWO strokes???

However well you know the Rules of Golf at times you can be uncertain of the penalty you have incurred. You stand there and ask yourself, “Should what I just did be a one or two stroke penalty?”

Certified Rules Officials learn from the NCGA “Big-Little Book” in which almost a whole page is devoted to when you get a ONE stroke penalty. Many Rules Officials quake at memorizing these, and even after learning them they still make mistakes. I’ve certainly been there…..done that.

So how does the everyday golfer decide?

I’ve been giving some thought as to how I can explain it to you all, as I know you don’t want to memorize a whole page. Hopefully this will help you. It’s not set in stone; it’s a guide to help you make the correct decision.

Let’s start by looking at the REAL world……According to the law of the land if you break the law you can be charged with a FELONY, or a MISDEMEANOR.

Let’s move this thinking over to the golf world, but don’t worry there’s no jail time!

If you break a golf Rule, as in moving your ball to a different place and hitting it from there, that’s like a FELONY, bad, bad, bad so it’s a TWO stroke penalty.

You took an advantage and cheated. A felony.

If you do anything in the course of play to help you play better, like getting advice from someone, or grounding your club in a bunker, and thereby testing the surface of the sand, it’s a FELONY, you’re a bad, bad girl, and you deserve a TWO stroke penalty.

Now the ONE stroke penalty, this is like a MISDEMEANOR.

You did something you shouldn’t have but it’s more like an accident, not a deliberate action to gain an advantage in the golf world.

You accidentally hit you ball in the water hazard; it was a mistake, so just a ONE stroke penalty.

You hit you ball out of bounds, again not a deliberate act, so a ONE stroke penalty.

You are a klutz and on your swing you accidentally hit your ball twice……you take a ONE stroke penalty. Ouch!

You move your ball in play by mistake, an accident, ONE stroke …UNLESS you don’t move it back and then it’s a deliberate act to cheat for distance and so it’s a TWO stroke penalty.

Very simply put………….and a basic guide for you all……..

When you do something wrong on the course think to yourself, “Was it an accident, or did I do a really bad thing? Was it more like a misdemeanor or a felony?”

Accidental, with no advantage but you should not have done it…….then a ONE STROKE PENALTY.

If you gained an advantage in your play by what you did, breaking a Rule, then it’s a TWO STROKE PENALTY.

I always end my Rules’ e mails by saying “I hope this helps you”, this time I really hope this helps you decide correctly if you take a one or two stroke penalty, and if you really can’t decide you can always ask me, or look it up in the Rules of Golf.

Hilary