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.
Our club is a 50-plus community and many players struggle to retrieve their ball from the cup. We installed that ball-lifting contraption attached to the pin. Improper usage can raise the surrounding ground, creating a volcano cup that repels slower putts. I repair this damage by tamping down around the cup with my putter, making sure not to create a funnel hole. Yet some say this is illegal or that I must declare that I see damage before tamping. —Fred Reininger, Tucson, Ariz.
The “volcano hole” question generally makes Rules Guy erupt.
In our not-so-humble opinion, too many who ask are trying to procure permission to tamp impermissibly. Your inquiry seems legitimate, however, and per Rule 13.1c(2), if the hole is clearly damaged and that damage was created by a person or outside influence (such as by someone using the ball-retrieval device) then the damage may be repaired.
If, instead, the player goes beyond reasonable actions to restore the green to its original conditions, then Rule 8.1 applies.
For more guidance from our guru, read on …
I was recently caddying for a fellow club member at the club. His tee shot initially landed in ground under repair, picked up a ton of mud, then eventually settled in the fairway. We knew for certain that the mud came from the GUR. Is he thus allowed to clean his ball, or must he play it as it lies? – Mike DeAngelo, Miami, FL
Does your mudroom care where the mud on your shoes came from? Neither do the Rules of Golf, lest its waters be irredeemably muddied.
The player is allowed to clean the ball when it is lifted except in four specific cases (see Rule 14.1c), but you only get to take advantage of that penalty-free cleaning when you’re allowed to lift the ball. In the situation you’ve described, your player didn’t have the right to do so.
If he did lift the ball, he’d be in breach of Rule 9.4b, earning himself one penalty stroke (and replace the ball, please), but, hey — he’d get to clean it.
To stay penalty-free, the mud must stay put. Were he to attempt to clean the ball while it’s on the ground and managed to successfully do so without deliberately touching the ball — good luck with that! — he’d still potentially be guilty of a breach of Rule 8.1 by improving his conditions affecting the stroke.
Just play the ball as it lies and right after impact yell, “Mudball!” with one’s best Bubba Watson impression.
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