Some Guidelines of Golf are straightforward to recollect and you’re feeling assured when making a ruling. Others are difficult. Right here’s one which has modified all through historical past and it’s a great one to brush up on.
Golf ball strikes on the placing inexperienced
Tim and Jim are on the sixteenth inexperienced. They’ve a match going and it’s shut. Tim has marked, lifted and changed his ball on the placing inexperienced. Simply as he’s about to deal with it, the wind picks up and the ball rolls an inch off its spot.
Jim, who’s on the lookout for any edge he can get at this level, informs Tim that he has to take a one-stroke penalty as a result of his ball moved.
What’s the ruling?
Your flip to be the Guidelines official. What’s the ruling right here?
A) Tim should change the ball on the spot it was moved from with out incurring a penalty.
B) Tim should play the ball from the brand new spot and take one penalty stroke.
C) Tim should play the ball from the brand new place with out incurring a penalty.
The right ruling
Sorry, Jim. You’ll have to discover one other method to seize a stroke on Tim coming down the stretch.
As soon as Tim has marked, lifted and changed the ball on the placing inexperienced, if pure forces (wind, water or when one thing occurs for no obvious cause akin to the consequences of gravity) trigger the ball to maneuver, Tim should change the ball on its unique spot. No penalty.
Selection A is the proper ruling.
Rule 13.1d states there isn’t a penalty if the participant, opponent or one other participant in stroke play unintentionally strikes the participant’s ball or ball marker on the placing inexperienced. The participant should change the ball on its unique spot (which, if not recognized, have to be estimated) or place a ball marker to mark the unique spot.
If pure forces trigger the ball to maneuver, it have to be performed from the brand new location except, as in Jim’s scenario, the ball is marked, lifted and changed.
If the pure forces then trigger the ball to maneuver, it have to be changed.
Nevertheless, should you’ve learn the Guidelines of Golf, that they’re by no means easy and there are many “what ifs”.
That’s why there’s a separate and exhaustive accompanying quantity titled “Official Information to the Guidelines of Golf.”
What if the ball strikes throughout Tim’s again stroke?
So long as Tim didn’t trigger the ball to maneuver throughout his again stroke, there isn’t a penalty. If the ball strikes throughout your again stroke and also you full the stroke, the ball have to be performed from its new place
no matter the reason for motion. In the event you cease the swing earlier than impression, chances are you’ll change the ball with out penalty, supplied you didn’t trigger the motion.
What if Tim didn’t change the ball?
Now, let’s say Tim’s ball rolls these two inches and he figures he’ll simply play it from the brand new location. That’s a violation. Tim had marked, lifted and changed his ball earlier than pure forces induced the ball to maneuver so he should change the ball on the unique spot.
If Tim as an alternative makes a stroke from the brand new location, he has performed from a mistaken place. The penalty for taking part in from a mistaken place in breach of Rule 13.1d is a basic penalty beneath Rule 14.7b.
What if the ball hadn’t been marked but?
If the ball hasn’t been marked, lifted and changed on the inexperienced and it strikes as a result of pure forces (like wind, water or one thing else like gravity), the ruling is slightly totally different.
On this case, you could play the ball from its new spot. You might even see this occur if you’re taking part in a placing inexperienced with a slope in entrance and, as you might be strolling as much as the inexperienced, the ball begins to roll again down the hill.
It is a scenario the place you could play the ball from the brand new spot because it lies.
The place this Rule got here from
Earlier than the discharge of the 2019 Guidelines of Golf, gamers may get penalized for a ball shifting on the placing inexperienced as a result of figuring out whether or not a ball moved was primarily based on the “extra probably than not” check.
Beneath the present Guidelines, the participant will likely be discovered to have induced the ball to maneuver solely when it’s recognized or nearly sure (which means a minimum of 95 %) to be the case.
You might recall that Dustin Johnson was concerned in a well-known controversy on the 2016 U.S. Open. His ball moved on the placing inexperienced. He wasn’t positive if he’d induced it to maneuver.
Nevertheless, after dialogue and evaluate, he obtained a one-stroke penalty for inflicting his ball to maneuver, a penalty that sparked debate amongst gamers and followers. (He nonetheless received the Open.)
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