Rule 12: Bunkers
R. 12.1: The definition of when a ball is in a bunker has changed to exclude areas where sand is not normally placed, e.g., on a dirt face. See Diagram 12.1. Consequently, if a ball is in a relief situation in such an area, e.g., embedded in a dirt face, then relief would be available under R.16.3 by following the relief processes identified in R.14.
R. 12.2a: You may remove loose impediments and movable obstructions from a bunker before you play your ball. There is no penalty if you touch or move sand in this process through reasonable actions. For example, it would be unreasonable if you were to drag a pine cone out of a bunker, knocking down a mound of sand near your ball when you could lift it straight up.
R. 12.2b(1): Before playing a stroke from a bunker, you will get the general penalty if you (1) test the condition of the sand, or (2) if you touch the sand (i) with a club right in front of or behind the ball, (ii) in making a practice swing, or (iii) in the backswing for a stroke.
R. 12.2b(2): There is no penalty for placing your clubs in the bunker, leaning on a club in the bunker, or striking the sand in anger, unless this improves the conditions affecting the stroke.
R. 12.2b(3): After you play your ball and it is outside the bunker, you may touch or smooth the sand, even if you will subsequently return to the bunker to play a ball under stroke and distance or if the sand is on your line of play for your next shot from outside the bunker.
Int. 12.2b(3)/1: If you decide your ball in a bunker is unplayable, and you take back-on-the-line relief outside the bunker, there is no penalty for smoothing the sand in the bunker on your line of play before or after you drop your ball. (“Back on the line” is what I used to refer to as “on the flagline.” It is a line that begins at the hole, passes straight through where your ball lies, and continues back with no limit.)
Rule 13: Putting Greens
R. 13.1c: Regardless of whether your ball lies on or off the green, you may remove sand and loose soil on the putting green. You may also repair all sorts of damage by using your hand, foot, ball-mark repair tool, tee, club, or other normal equipment. Examples of damage you may repair: ball marks, spike marks, indentations caused by equipment or a flagstick or maintenance tools or vehicles or hail (December 2018 Clarification), animal tracks, hoof indentations, embedded objects (e.g., stones, acorns). You may not repair aeration holes, grooves from vertical mowing, damage caused by natural forces, natural surface imperfections (e.g., weeds, areas of bare, diseased, or uneven growth), or natural wear of the hole.
R. 13.1d(1): There is no penalty if you or any other player accidentally moves your ball or ball-marker on the putting green. You must replace your ball or ball-marker. When you replace your ball, you must place it in the “right way,” which means setting it down on the required spot and letting it go so that it stays on that spot [R. 14.2b(2)]. If the ball is replaced on the required spot in any other way, such as by rolling it along the green by hand or with a club, the player gets one penalty stroke.
R. 13.1d(2): If your ball lies on the putting green and is moved by natural forces, you must replace it if the ball was already lifted and replaced. If you have not lifted and replaced your ball, you must play it from its new spot.
Int.13.1e/1: The following actions are not considered testing the putting green and are not penalized: (1) conceding your opponent’s putt and casually knocking his ball back to him on the same line as your putt; (2) touching the green with your palm to find out if it is wet; (3) rubbing your ball on the green to clean off mud.
R. 13.1f: If your ball touches a wrong green, or a wrong green interferes with your stance or swing, you must take relief. Your reference point, which is the nearest point of complete relief, must be in the same area of the course where the original ball came to rest. (For example, if your ball lies in a bunker, your reference point and relief area are in the bunker.) The relief area must be within one club-length of the reference point, in the same area as and not nearer the hole than the reference point. You must get complete relief. See Diagram 13.1f.
R. 13.2a(1): You may leave the flagstick in the hole. If it is not centered, you may leave it as is or you may center it, but you may not tilt it in another direction. You must make the decision to leave the flagstick in the hole before you make your stroke. Simply leaving the flagstick in and playing is equivalent to choosing to leave it in.
R. 13.2a(2): There is no penalty if your ball hits the flagstick you chose to leave in the hole. You must play the ball as it lies.
R. 13.2a(3): If you have chosen to leave the flagstick in the hole, you will get the general penalty if you or your caddie deliberately removes the flagstick after you have made a stroke to avoid having the ball hit it. If it appears that the ball will not hit the flagstick, there is no penalty for removing it.
R. 13.2a(4): If you have chosen to leave the flagstick in the hole and another player or his caddie deliberately removes the flagstick to affect where the ball might come to rest, the other player will get the general penalty. There is no penalty if the other player or his caddie reasonably believes that your ball will not hit the flagstick or was not aware that you were about to play or that your ball was in motion.
R. 13.2b(1): If you want the flagstick removed or attended, you must make that decision before you make your stroke.
R. 13.2b(2): If your ball accidentally hits the removed or attended flagstick, or the person attending it, there is no penalty and you must play the ball as it lies. If the player (or his caddie) attending the flagstick deliberately deflects or stops your ball, the player gets the general penalty, and you must cancel the stroke and replay the shot.
R. 13.2c: If your ball comes to rest leaning against the flagstick, it is treated as holed if any part of the ball is below the surface of the putting green (no need to jiggle the flagstick to allow the ball to drop in). If no part of the ball is below the surface, the ball is not holed. If it falls into the hole or moves away when you remove the flagstick, you must replace the ball on the lip of the hole.
R. 13.3b: If another player deliberately lifts or moves your ball when it overhangs the hole and the ten-second waiting time has not expired, in match play the ball is treated as holed and the opponent does not get a penalty. In stroke play, the player who deliberately lifted or moved your ball gets the general penalty and your ball must be replaced on its original spot.
Copyright © 2018 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
