The post Rules Guy: Are you allowed to take a swing through a fence? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Are you allowed to take a swing through a fence? appeared first on Golf.

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.

A wire mesh fence separates my home course from the adjacent property, with no OB stakes. A local rule says you aren’t entitled to relief if your ball is in bounds against or near the fence. Because of the fence’s construction, you could swing the club from the non-golf course side — essentially, through the fence — and hit the ball back toward the fairway. Is this permitted?
—Jim Gallo, New Albany, Ohio

If the ball is indeed in bounds, you can play it from either side of the fence.

The Rules — in this case, Rule 18.2a(2) — care only where the ball lies, not where you stand to play it.

Caveat: If there are signs posted such as “No Trespassing. Or Else!” take a penalty drop.

For more lie-related guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

Rules Guy: Is it legal to remove a loose impediment behind your ball if doing so improves your lie?

By: Rules Guy

With all the rain we’ve had this year, the rough has been extremely hard to escape. I’ve noticed people basically flattening the grass behind their ball during their pre-shot routine. I am sure this is a penalty but don’t know which one, or what the penalty is. Yet this is okay to do on the tee box, yes? If so, why?
—John Bowman,
Westerville, Ohio

The teeing area is treated different under the rules because … well, it just is.

For starters, you’re allowed to tee the ball up there, and nowhere else, right? If you want to create some sort of irregularity of surface by, say, pressing down on the ground behind the tee, that’s kosher, too. So, let’s leave the tee box out of this because, once we’re past that, we’re playing the ball as it lies.

A player is allowed to lightly ground the club right in front of or behind the ball, which means just setting it down enough to support its weight. If that’s all a player’s doing, even if it creates an improvement to the lie there is no penalty — see Rule 8.1b. If, however, a player goes beyond that (say, from light tapping to mush-mush-mushing) and creates an improvement, under Rule 8.1(a) it’s the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

Should your opponent or fellow competitor disagree with your penalty call (we’ll assume he or she hasn’t called the penalty on him or herself), the committee will need to step in and adjudicate.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8 AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: Are you allowed to take a swing through a fence? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: In a four-ball match, do you have to share a wrong-ball penalty with your partner? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: In a four-ball match, do you have to share a wrong-ball penalty with your partner? appeared first on Golf.

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.

In a four-ball match, my partner hits the wrong golf ball. Our opponents claim we lose the hole. I say my partner is out of the hole, but I’m allowed to play my ball. What does Rules Guy say?
—Jacob Danquart, Denmark

As it happens, Jacob, Rules Guy collects Danish Modern furniture and would have loved a question about Hans Wegner or Finn Juhl. (We know our rosewood from our teak.)

Anyway, RG agrees with you. In four-ball, when a player plays the wrong ball, the partner is never penalized — even if it was the partner’s ball, and even if the partner got some sort of help, such as seeing the roll or bounce.

The exception to Rule 23.8a(2) informs us that the offending player gets a loss-of-hole penalty, but the partner gets no penalty and can fight on for the side.

Rules

Rules Guy: Is backstopping legal in four-ball match play?

By: Rules Guy

For more match-play guidance from our guru, read on …

In match play, my shot and my opponent’s land on the green. My opponent concedes my birdie putt, then putts my ball into the hole before attempting his putt to halve. Is this legal?
—Bill Dolbow,
West Palm Beach, Fla.

Golf, or at least its rules, can be a funny thing: Your opponent’s action is only legal if it wasn’t really putting. If he had merely been attempting to return your ball to you or get the ball out of the way and then the hole simply got in the way, he’s in the clear.

If instead he was performing some kind of trial run for his own putt, maybe hoping to glean information on, say, green speed or the break — i.e., practicing — he violated Rule 5.5(a), with the penalty being loss of hole in match play. Moral of the story: A gentle toss of the ball to your opponent is the safe way to go.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8 AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: In a four-ball match, do you have to share a wrong-ball penalty with your partner? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your match is interrupted and you forget to mark your ball? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your match is interrupted and you forget to mark your ball? appeared first on Golf.

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.

During the semifinals of the club match-play championship, I was injured when my opponent drove her golf cart into my left leg, knocking me over — yes, accidentally, but still. This took place during the fourth hole. Not knowing the extent of my injury, we jointly decided to halt the match. Thankfully, it turned out nothing was broken. We neglected, however, to mark our balls. When we eventually restart the match, can we jointly agree to start afresh from the first hole, even though the pin locations and conditions will have changed? Is this a tournament committee decision? — Kathleen Williams, Union Vale, N.Y.

Rules Guy was more intrigued by the prospective match between your respective lawyers, but we are glad you handled the situation peacefully.

That said, under Rule 5.7c, you must resume play from where play was stopped, even on a different day.

Don’t know the exact position of your golf balls? That’s fine — just estimate and replace (and make sure your opponent keeps her foot on the brake).

Rules

Rules Guy: How do you score a match when a hole plays as both a par 4 and par 5 from different tees?

By: Rules Guy

For more match-play guidance from our guru, read on …

In match play, my shot and my opponent’s land on the green. My opponent concedes my birdie putt, then putts my ball into the hole before attempting his putt to halve. Is this legal? — Bill Dolbow, West Palm Beach, Fla.

Golf, or at least its rules, can be a funny thing: Your opponent’s action is only legal if it wasn’t really putting. If he had merely been attempting to return your ball to you or get the ball out of the way and then the hole simply got in the way, he’s in the clear.

If instead he was performing some kind of trial run for his own putt, maybe hoping to glean information on, say, green speed or the break — i.e., practicing — he violated Rule 5.5(a), with the penalty being loss of hole in match play. Moral of the story: A gentle toss of the ball to your opponent is the safe way to go.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8 AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your match is interrupted and you forget to mark your ball? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your ball lands on a golf cart that drives away? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your ball lands on a golf cart that drives away? appeared first on Golf.

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.

Last night, I was playing with a buddy. He hit into the green, but the group ahead hadn’t quite pulled away yet. His approach was heading toward them, and we yelled fore. The ball hit the cart path and seemingly disappeared. Turned out, it had banked off a tree and landed atop their cart before they’d driven off to the next tee box, which was where we discovered this fact. Where does my friend drop the ball? —Don Walter, Kalispell, MT

Firstly, thanks for yelling fore but also tell your buddy to slow his roll.

Second, the cart is a movable objection; ergo, your friend’s ball came to rest atop a movable obstruction. And, yes, there’s a rule for that.

Under Rule 15.2a(2), you estimate the spot on the ground under where the ball first came to rest on top of the cart and drop within one club length, no nearer the hole than that spot. You’ll likely be on the cart path and could then play it from there or take cart-path relief.  

For more golf-cart-related guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

Rules Guy: What do you do if someone runs over your ball in a golf cart?

By: Rules Guy

Beautiful sunny day, match play. I drive up next to my ball in the fairway, and the shadow from my cart is over my ball. My opponent tells me I need to move my cart, that the shadow over the ball was improving my lie. Is he joking? He is not. I move my cart and play on. Is he right — or crazy? —Daniel Kramer, Scottsdale, Ariz.

So, your opponent threw shade at you, eh?

Let’s put it this way, Daniel: He’s half-right, at least in the rules sense. “Shading” the ball isn’t improving the lie, which relates to Rule 8.1.

But a player can’t deliberately position an object for the purpose of blocking sunlight; doing so breaches Rule 10.2b(5) [see interpretation 10.2b(5)1] and garners the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play. If you didn’t deliberately put the cart there for that purpose, there’s no breach under this rule.

In the future, though, find a parking spot farther away from your ball — a little more exercise never hurt anyone.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: What do you do when your ball lands on a golf cart that drives away? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to take a practice swing with the headcover on? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to take a practice swing with the headcover on? appeared first on Golf.

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.

While trying to keep my act together late in a round, I put my (normal) headcover on my driver and take several swings to try to keep/find my tempo, complete my turn, etc. The headcover adds some weight and creates some air resistance. I know I can’t use training devices during a round, and the rules specifically mention “weighted headcovers,” and I suppose I could instead swing two irons instead to a similar end — but I liked the feel of my “headcover” swing. Am I breaking a rule, or the spirit of a rule?
— Mike Kaestle, Winnetka, IL

Mike, so long as the headcover is indeed “normal,” you aren’t in breach of Rule 4.3a.

If, however, it were designed or altered in any way to add weight or to help assist in making a stroke as a training aid then it could not be used for a practice swing — it’s the general penalty for the first breach and disqualification for the second breach.

Here’s hoping your headcover isn’t a special head case.

Rules

Rules Guy: I hit my ball with a practice swing, after taking a free drop. What now?

By: Rules Guy

For more practice-swing guidance from our guru, read on …

I’ve heard that if your ball is in a bunker, you can go into another bunker to take practice swings that touch the sand. But I interpret Rule 12.2b as meaning that all bunkers are equally relevant. True? — Roy Shin, via email

Rules Guy is firmly of the opinion that “going bunker to bunker” should strictly refer to one’s terrible sand play rather than hopscotching between traps to test the surface. But neither of us make the rules, Roy, we just must play by them.

While there was a time when there was a clause specific to testing “similar hazards,” that restriction and terminology have gone the way of the hickory shaft.

Rule 12.2b applies to the bunker in which the ball lies, so nothing in the rules prevents one from taking practice swings in a nearby, similar bunker — except the annoyance of one’s fellow players and course maintenance workers.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate Golf Logix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to take a practice swing with the headcover on? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Can you move a loose impediment like an old tree stump to assist your stance? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Can you move a loose impediment like an old tree stump to assist your stance? appeared first on Golf.

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 landed close to a water penalty area where I had a very limited stance. There was a large tree stump at the edge of the water that I could stand on with one foot. Is it allowable to move the stump so that I can have both feet on the stump, or is that building a stance? —Randy Lavery, St. Augustine, Fla.

Rules Guy is a little, well, stumped: “Stump” doesn’t seem like the right word for something so easily moved.

Regardless, no, you aren’t allowed to move loose impediments into to position to assist with your stance. That would be, as you noted, building a stance and in breach of Rule 8.1a(2), incurring the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.

Had you realized that error before making the stroke you could undo the breach and move the … large piece of wood … back out of position and avoid penalty.

Rules

Rules Guy: Are large stones around a pond considered loose impediments?

By: Rules Guy

For more loose-impediment guidance from our guru, read on …

Under the new rules, are there any restrictions on the amount of loose impediment you can remove in a hazard? 
—Doug Walker, via email

The short answer is no … That said, you don’t come to Rules Guy for short answers, so let me expand a skosh. (Not that Rules Guy is paid by the word or anything!)

There are no restrictions on removing loose impediments, but be careful not to accidentally move your ball, which would result in a one-stroke penalty (except when the ball is on the putting green) and require you to return the ball to its original position.

Also, don’t take so long that you’re put on the clock, please.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: Can you move a loose impediment like an old tree stump to assist your stance? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What is the penalty for holing out with the wrong ball? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: What is the penalty for holing out with the wrong ball? appeared first on Golf.

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.

Club championship, second hole, I pulled my Titleist (with a black dot) into trees. We looked for three minutes but didn’t find the ball. As I was about to drop, a competitor said he saw a ball up ahead. Sure enough, Titleist with a black dot. I made birdie…but, upon closer inspection on the third tee, I realized it wasn’t my black dot Titleist. I assessed myself a two-shot penalty and played on but was later DQ’ed for playing wrong ball. What were my options, if any, when I first realized my mistake? —Steve Klapheke, Louisville, KY

Playing on: That was indeed the mistake.

Once you discovered you’d played the wrong ball in stroke play you received two penalty strokes and needed to fix the error by going back and proceeding with respect to your original ball.

This would either mean finding the original ball if you had any search time left (the search clock stopped when you identified the wrong ball) or proceeding under stroke and distance and going back to your previous spot.

Consider adding more dots, so that you’re sure next time.

For more wrong-ball-related guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

Rules Guy: If I hit from the wrong tee box but correct it, am I still penalized?

By: Rules Guy

A friend hit his shot into a creek bank inside the hazard line. The grass was thick, but his playing partner found the ball and helped him identify it. Without grounding his club, my friend swung and recovered back into the fairway. Only problem: It turns out he’d hit another ball underneath or somewhere very close to his original ball, which we found still back on the bank. What’s the ruling, and does the fact that this occurred inside a hazard impact it? —Craig Wolfgang, Arcadia, Ind.

Ah, the old switcheroo.

Penalty area or not (“hazards” no longer exist, per the 2019 Rules), there is no penalty for a stroke made at one’s own ball that happens to dislodge a concealed ball.

The stroke simply counts, and then the player goes back and plays his original ball … though given your friend’s recovery skills, he might want to consider taking a penalty drop on more forgiving turf.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: What is the penalty for holing out with the wrong ball? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to remove a loose impediment behind your ball if doing so improves your lie? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to remove a loose impediment behind your ball if doing so improves your lie? appeared first on Golf.

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.

A friend’s ball came to rest atop an area where the maintenance staff had dumped greens plugs from a recent course aeration. Beneath the plugs, in an area normally considered rough, was washed-out hardpan. At first, my friend asked to take relief for ground under repair, but it wasn’t marked as such — and I suggested, sincerely, that his existing lie was quite good and not likely to improve with a drop. He agreed but then decided to remove some plugs from behind the ball, leaving the ball resting in its original spot but now perched up. His justification for removing the plugs was the loose impediment rule. That seemed reasonable — but can removing loose impediments be considered a rules violation for improving your lie? Also, despite the lack of signage, could it ever have been legal to take a drop for ground under repair?
—John Harkins, Raleigh, NC

Keep friends with this one — he’s a wise guy.

Not only was he right about the aeration plugs being loose impediments but also that he could remove them in any way so long as the ball stayed put.

Rule 8.1 specifically states that it doesn’t apply to removing loose impediments, and so even if the lie becomes better as a result (and isn’t that really the point of removing loose impediments?) there is no penalty so long as the ball isn’t moved in the process.

As far as the drop goes, that depends: If the aeration plugs were piled for later removal, then the pile itself was by definition ground under repair and free relief permissible. If the plugs were in their final home then, no, free relief wasn’t allowed.

For more loose -impediment guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

Rules Guy: When playing under winter rules, can you tee up your ball with a loose impediment?

By: Rules Guy

On a gusty day, the wind had blown a branch just behind the hole on the low side of a sloping green. The first player up had a long putt from above the hole and wanted to leave the branch in place as a backstop. We agreed, thinking he wasn’t obligated to remove a loose impediment. The next player to go was below the hole, blocked by the branch, which he removed. You guessed it: The third player was above the hole, and he wanted the branch returned to where it had been to get the same advantage as the first player. We were baffled.
—Jimmy Jackson, Charlottesville, Va.

Jimmy, please allow me to un-baffle you: The third player can indeed have the branch put back.

Under Interpretation 8.1(d)1/2 (yes, seriously — the Rules are nothing if not thorough), a player is generally entitled to the conditions that existed when the ball came to rest. Since the conditions affecting his stroke had worsened, the stick could be re-stuck.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: Is it legal to remove a loose impediment behind your ball if doing so improves your lie? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: How do you decide who putts first when two players are the same distance from the hole? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: How do you decide who putts first when two players are the same distance from the hole? appeared first on Golf.

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.

In the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, Will Zalatoris’ ball ended atop Matt Fitzpatrick’s poker-chip ball marker—making it a touch farther away from the hole, given that you mark behind your ball. But what if the ball had stopped right in front of the marker, so that their balls had come to rest in the exact same place? Which player should putt first? My guess is a coin toss.
—Tomo Kirimoto, Cypress, Calif.

The odds of this happening are quite slim, Tomo, but then again Will and Matt proved never say never.

In any case, you answered your own question correctly. (Too much of that and I’m out of work.)

If the ball stopped in a position where both balls would be in the same spot, the order of play would likely end up a coin toss, or any other random method — unless the players can agree who’s going to play first.

Rule 6.4b tells us once the hole starts, if the balls are the same distance from the hole the ball played first is to be decided by agreement or random method. So random!

For more putting-green guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

Rules Guy: Can you refuse a playing partner's request to leave your ball mark near their putting line?

By: Rules Guy

While standing over my ball when putting, I put the putter head on the ground on the far side of the ball, then slide it on the surface toward me into place. I think I started doing this to ensure I didn’t hit the ball when moving the putter into position. I was recently told my method is illegal, as I’m “testing the surface of the green,” which never occurred to me. Is this right?
— Mykel Lefkowitz,
Los Angeles, Calif.

Mykel, Mykel, Mykel — is it so hard not to hit the ball when placing the putter behind it? Is this rigmarole really necessary?

The game surely makes much tougher physical demands. But we digress. As long as you’re not deliberately testing the surface by rubbing it, which would violate Rule 13.1e, there’s no rule being broken.

Hence, cleaning off mud, for example, isn’t a breach but rubbing one’s hand on the grass to see if a putt is with the grain or against it is.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: How do you decide who putts first when two players are the same distance from the hole? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Do you have to take a penalty if you hit a provisional with a different-brand ball? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: Do you have to take a penalty if you hit a provisional with a different-brand ball? appeared first on Golf.

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.

In a stroke-play tournament with a local one-ball rule in effect, a player accidentally grabbed a different make ball for a provisional. He then found his original ball but realized his mistake when picking up his provisional. Since the provisional wound up not being used, did he avoid a penalty? —Jay Grobes, Crystal Ridge, Pa.

Sartre and Camus, the Ballesteros and Olazabal of existentialism, would have enjoyed this question, which boils down to “When does a provisional become real?”

The answer is that there’s no penalty for making the stroke with the incorrect ball since it did not become the ball in play, as supported by Interpretation 4.2a(1)/2. If, as Sartre said, “Hell is other people,” then perhaps heaven is avoiding penalties.

For more provisional-ball guidance from our guru, read on…

Rules

Rules Guy: If you hole out your provisional ball, can you abandon your original?

By: Rules Guy

On a par 4, my buddy hit a drive into the trees. He topped his provisional down the fairway but managed to knock his next shot onto the front of the green. While looking for my own wayward drive, I found his original ball. Sure enough, his second shot with this ball hits his provisional on the fly and ricochets to within a foot of the hole for a tap-in birdie… I think. Does his provisional ball count as an outside agency and get treated as a rub of the green, or would it be considered part of his equipment and so subject to a penalty? —Sean Harvey, via email

As the noted Scottish golf rules expert Rod Stewart once put it, “Some guys have all the luck/Some guys have all the pain/Some guys get all the breaks/Some guys do nothing but complain…” Which guy is your pal? The lucky one (which, if this was match play, makes you the pained one).

Since the provisional was no longer in play, Rule 19-5 doesn’t apply.

In equity and by analogy to Rule 19-5a (check out Decision 19-5/5 if you’ve got a minute to kill) there’s no penalty and the ball is played as it lies. So it’s a strange bird, but a bird all the same.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

The post Rules Guy: Do you have to take a penalty if you hit a provisional with a different-brand ball? appeared first on Golf.