Dear Linda,
A player in our league has picked up a new habit lately which I suspect is illegal but can’t find a specific rule against it. She determines her target line in front of her ball and then pounds her club into the ground – and I mean POUNDS – several times on the spot she’s picked out. She then aligns her clubface using the decimated spot. She does this on the tee box and in the fairway. I hope that I can tell her that it’s illegal because it’s annoying as hell watching her do this 80 times a round… Regards, Lulu
Dear Lulu,
In addition to being annoying and time-consuming, placing a mark to indicate the line of play is specifically prohibited by Rule 13-2. That would include, for example, placing a leaf or inserting a tee OR pounding a hole in the ground.
The specific wording that pertains to your question is as follows: “A player must not improve…his line of play…by pressing a club on the ground.” The penalty is two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.
Linda
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