Category: Rules of Golf

Ladies:
No Ladies play Day eh? Oh well, have more fun with this Rules quiz……………hopefully!

Enjoy.

2015 Golf Quiz #2

1. Felicity marks the position of her ball on the putting green with her marker and causes her ball to move. What is the penalty?

A. One stroke penalty

B. Two stroke penalty

C. No penalty

2. Helen tees her ball on the teeing ground and while practicing her swing she knocks the ball off the tee. What is her penalty?

A. No penalty

B. One stroke penalty

C. Two stroke penalty

3. Brenda’s ball lands next to a red stake marking the margin of a lateral water hazard. Before she makes her next stroke she removes the stake as it restricts her intended swing. What is her penalty?

A. One stroke penalty

B. Two stroke penalty

C. No penalty

4. Delilah’s ball lands “in bounds” but her swing is restricted by a white out of bounds stake. Before making her next stroke she removes the stake. What is her penalty?

A. No penalty

B. One stroke penalty

C. Two stroke penalty

5. Annie’s ball is on the putting green and before she putts she brushes away loose sand on her line of play. What is her penalty?

A. One stroke

B. Two strokes

C. No penalty

6. Penelope’s ball is on the fringe of the putting green and before she putts she brushes away loose sand on her line of play. What is her penalty?

A. No penalty

B. One stroke penalty

C. Two stroke penalty

Answers

1. C. No penalty. Rule 20-1, states if a ball, or ball marker, is accidentally moved in the process of lifting the ball, or marking its position, the ball or marker must be replaced. There is no penalty provided the movement of the ball or marker was directly attributable to the specific act of marking or lifting the ball.

2. A. No penalty. TheDefinition of a “stroke” is the forward movement of the club with the intention of striking at, and moving the ball. As the ball on the teeing ground is not in play until a “stroke” has been made, the ball may be re-teed without penalty, Rule/Decision 18-2a/19

3. C. No penalty. Under the Definition of Water Hazard it states that stakes used to define the margins of a Water Hazard are Obstructions. Rule 24-1a, Movable Obstruction, states that if a ball does not lie in or on the Obstruction, the Obstruction may be removed without penalty.

4. C. Two stroke penalty. TheDefinition of Out of Bounds states that objects defining out of bounds are NOT Obstructions, therefore they must not be moved. If a player removes them they are improving the area of their intended swing breaking Rule 13-2, Ball played as it lies. The penalty is two strokes.

5. C. No penalty. Under the Definition of Loose Impediments sand and loose soil are loose impediments on the putting green but not elsewhere. Rule/Decision 23-1/1 states that loose impediments may be removed by any means except that, in removing loose impediments on the line of a putt, a player must not press anything down. Rule 16-1a (i)

6. C. Two stroke penalty. As we read in the answer for question 5, sand and loose soil are only loose impediments on the putting green. Removing sand from the fringe of the green breaks Rule 13-2. A player must not improve their line of play by removing or pressing down sand or loose soil. The ball must be played as it lies.

I hope this helps you.
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