Ask Linda-No more questions until June 1

Dear readers,

I have to take care of my daughter and my new grandson from April 28 through the end of May. I will not be able to answer any of your questions during that time. Please check your rulebook and the Decisions book for information while I am unavailable. Both books are accessible online at the USGA or R&A websites – http://www.usga.org or https://www.randa.org). You may also try the search box on my website (http://lindamillergolf.blogspot.com).

I will look forward to receiving and answering your questions beginning on June 1.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Linda   

Ask Linda-No more questions until June 1

Dear readers,

I have to take care of my daughter and my new grandson from April 28 through the end of May. I will not be able to answer any of your questions during that time. Please check your rulebook and the Decisions book for information while I am unavailable. Both books are accessible online at the USGA or R&A websites – http://www.usga.org or https://www.randa.org. You may also try the search box on my website (http://lindamillergolf.blogspot.com).

I will look forward to receiving and answering your questions beginning on June 1.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Linda   

Ask Linda #1749-Player finds ball within 5 minutes but fails to identify it

Hi Linda

I’d like your ruling on this one...

In match play, a player hits his tee shot into the trees.

Believing it may be lost, he hits a provisional.

He walks to what he believes is his provisional ball and then proceeds to search for 5 minutes (unsuccessfully) for his original ball.

He then returns to what he believed was his provisional only when identifying it to discover it is his original ball (His provisional was further back in the rough).

An official rules that because more than 5 minutes had elapsed, his original ball was lost and he must play his provisional.

My question... As his original ball was found (albeit by him) inside 5 minutes but not identified, is Decision 27/5.5 relevant (that is, was he entitled to play the original ball)?

Many thanks for your always informative responses.

Cheers....

Lou from Melbourne, Australia

Dear Lou,

The official’s ruling was correct. The player’s ball was “lost” under the Rules. While he found the ball within five minutes, he failed to identify it (see “a” under the Definition of “Lost Ball”). By the time he returned to the ball, more than five minutes had elapsed. This is not the same situation as Decision 27/5.5, in which the original ball had not been found yet, so there was no chance for identification. The applicable Decision is 27/5, in which the player has the opportunity to identify the ball and simply fails to do so.

This player’s failure to identify his ball cost him two strokes. I imagine he will be more careful in the future.

Linda

Copyright © 2018 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.

Ask Linda #1748-Hit second ball for first that may be in hazard

Hi Linda,

Yesterday Jeff, John and I were playing a par 3 with a pond in front of the green. My ball went into the pond. We all saw the splash. I thought it might have bounced off the water and out, since it was a low shot, but a quick view of the 15 yards of land between the pond and the green did not reveal it. I played another ball from the tee, which landed right next to the hole, and when I reached the green I saw my original ball, which had bounced out of the pond and was hiding under a leaf. 

Nobody knew what to do. I decided I must finish the hole with my original ball, and then add a two-stroke penalty for either hitting the wrong ball or practicing during the round. Was I right or wrong?

Lou from Morganton, North Carolina

Dear Lou,

You are entitled to hit a provisional ball when a ball may be lost outside a water hazard [Rule 27-2a].  If this was the situation you faced and you had announced that the second ball was a provisional, you would have had to continue play with your original when you found it obscured by the leaf; you would be required to abandon the provisional, and would accrue no penalties.

Since there was no announcement of a provisional, the second ball you hit was played under penalty of stroke and distance; it was your ball in play, and your third shot on the hole [Decision 26/6]. Assuming you holed the short putt, your score would have been 4.

When you abandoned your ball in play (the second ball hit from the tee) and continued play with the original ball that was “lost” under the Rules [Definition of “Lost Ball”], you hit a wrong ball. The penalty is two strokes, and the error must be corrected, meaning you must complete the hole with the ball that was in play (your second shot from the tee that landed next to the hole). If the mistake is not corrected before you tee off on the next hole, you are disqualified [Rule 15-3b]."

Linda

Copyright © 2018 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.

Ask Linda #1747-Player refuses a request to move

Dear Linda,

A few months back one of our players in a Match asked his competitor if he would mind moving before taking his shot as the competitor was standing in a position within his vision.

The competitor refused to do so and claimed that there was no rule that compelled him to do so. The player was annoyed and felt this was a serious breach of etiquette but did not want to cause a fuss and so did not report the incident.

Can you confirm that the alleged action of the competitor as outlined is a breach of etiquette, and if you would consider it a serious breach, and if so how would you recommend the committee responds to the claimant and/or reminds members of their obligations. 

Many thanks,

Lou from New Zealand 

Dear Lou,

I would suggest that your first step be to talk to both players. Your narrative would indicate that all of your information is hearsay.

You need to find out what the player meant by “a position within his vision.” While the Etiquette section of the rulebook emphasizes that players should not stand close to or behind the ball (to the right of a right-handed player), or directly behind the hole, they do not suggest that players stay out of each other’s “vision.” Peripheral vision allows a player to see quite a bit of area. To be truly out of someone’s vision, everyone on the putting green (or elsewhere) would have to leave his position to gather behind the player’s back. So unless the opponent were standing behind the ball or behind the hole, the player’s request may have been unreasonable.

If you learn that the opponent stood where he should not have, meaning the player’s request for him to move was entirely reasonable, you have an etiquette violation to address. I would hope that a diplomatic explanation to the gentleman to not stand behind the ball or the hole, and to comply with other players’ requests to vacate such a position, would resolve the matter.

In the unlikely event that the gentleman insists that he has the right to stand wherever he wishes, you might want to warn him that any further incidents of such rude and inconsiderate behavior may result in disqualification. Rule 33-7 allows a Committee to impose a penalty of disqualification for a serious breach of etiquette. To my way of thinking, a player who repeats unacceptable behavior after receiving an official warning is guilty of a serious breach.

I have to add that in my many years of playing golf, I have never encountered a player who would not move away from behind the ball or behind the hole (or away from any other spot another player found distracting) when asked to do so. Why would any well-mannered person refuse to honor such a request? 

Linda

Copyright © 2018 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.