The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
My ball came to rest just off the fairway, under a pine tree whose branches extended to the ground. It was a windy day, and those branches were sweeping back and forth, repeatedly moving my ball a few inches. Every so often, there’d be a short lull where it seemed possible to bunt the ball back out to the fairway. Taking a drop wasn’t really an option due to the tree — but I can’t make a stroke at a ball that’s (usually) in motion, correct? I also can’t lay my bag on the branch to try and stop it from moving, right? —Kevin O’Connell, Orlando, Fla.
It all sounds rather hypnotic and lovely, albeit a difficult situation to extricate oneself from.
What we have is a ball moved by an outside influence — the tree branch. Per Rule 9.6 and Clarification 9.6/1, the player needs to estimate the original spot, replace the ball (don’t worry, there’s no penalty), and make their stroke.
While holding the branch back deliberately is indeed not allowed, you may fairly take your stance by taking the least intrusive method of getting in there to play the ball — and then play, quick!
For more wind-based guidance from our guru, read on …
Rules Guy: Is it a penalty to gauge the wind’s direction by your partner’s cigar smoke?
In a four-ball match on a windy day, I marked my ball on the green and cleaned it with my towel, which an opponent then asked to borrow. Sure, no problem — I’m up first. The ball has barely left my putter when the wind blows the towel on top of my ball, stopping it dead. Chuckles all around … and I end up three-putting for bogey and a halve. I argued, unsuccessfully, that my towel was our opponents’ towel when it impeded my shot, and that they should be penalized somehow. Everyone else said it was my towel, and so my fault. —Tom Noga, Huntingdon Valley, Penn.
You were wrong to throw in the towel so soon, Tom. Under Exception 2 to Rule 11.1b, the stroke was canceled, with the ball replaced and the stroke replayed, since it was made from the putting green and accidentally hit a movable obstruction.
If your playing partner and your opponents agreed that you should play on from the point of the towel incident, that agreement stands; otherwise, you should have proceeded in the way you thought was right, and your opponent would have had until a player teed off on the next hole to request a ruling.
Had this happened in stroke play, and you erred by not replaying the stroke, the general penalty of two strokes would be added to your score. Next time, don’t be so generous with your towel — and try to find a partner who won’t throw you under the bus!
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