Dear Linda:
I am one of your blog followers and I will appreciate
if you can give me your opinión about the following situation:
In Stroke Play, four players arrive to the green. One of the
players takes out the flag and deposits it on the ground of the green at the side.
Nobody is attending the flag.
One the players putts his ball too strong and the ball goes
to the flag. So if the ball is stopped by the flag he is penalized by 2 stokes
[Decision 17-3/3 (a)].
But what happens if:
1) one of the other players who was at 10m. distance from
the flag running very quick, without being asked, pick up the flag, and
the ball do not hit the flag, avoiding the penalty to the other player
2) one of the other players, who was at 1m, distance from
the flag, without being asked, pick up the flag, avoiding the penalty to the
other player. The difference with Decisión 17.1/7 is that here the player was
different from the one who took out the flag, and was not attending the flag
3) The player who putted, seeing the situation, ask very
fast to the nearest player, (he was at 4m.) to attend the flag and he did it,
avoiding the penalty....
4) The player who putted, run very fast, and he is able to
remove the flag.
Are they penalized for removing the flag from the ground? As
you can guess the doubt came from R 17-1 (second paragraph) and from R 24-1
(last paragraph).
Thank you very much in advance and best regards,
Lou from Spain
Dear Lou,
When the flagstick has been removed from the hole and laid
on the ground, it is deemed to be “attended,” even though no one may be
officially “standing guard” over the flagstick. An attended flagstick may be
moved by anyone, from any distance, at any time (including when the ball is in
motion after a putt). This is alluded to in Rule 24-1 (last paragraph), which
was amended in 2008 to allow a player to move an attended flagstick while the
ball is in motion.
Since the flagstick lying on the ground is considered “attended,”
the answer to all your questions is that there is no penalty to anyone. An
attended flagstick may be moved while the ball is in motion.
Keep in mind that anything else (other than equipment of the
players) that might influence the movement of the ball may not be moved while a
ball is in motion. Such action would result in a two-stroke penalty under Rule
1-2.
Linda
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