Dear readers,
An R&A/USGA document titled “Clarifications of the 2019 Rules of Golf” was released publicly on December 18. Consequently, I have updated my ten-part series about the 2019 changes in the places where these clarifications have an impact on my columns. If you revisit these columns, you will notice that the new clarifications are highlighted in yellow and are identified by this reference: December 2018 Clarification.
To save you having to scroll through the ten columns seeking the new information, I have printed the specific parts of my columns with the clarifications below for you. Please review the appropriate columns to understand the clarifications in their proper context. Please also note the Rule references below are the original references from my columns, not necessarily the specific Rule where the clarifications apply.
R. 4.1b(4): When you are permitted to add or replace a club (e.g., if you started your round with less than 14 clubs, or your club was damaged while out of your control), you must not unreasonably delay play, add or borrow a club from anyone else playing on the course, or build a club from parts carried by anyone for you. December 2018 Clarification: Any club that has been taken out of play may not be used during that round, even if a situation arises subsequently that enables a club to be replaced.
R. 9.4b: December 2018 Clarification: If you accidentally cause your ball in play and at rest to move, you get one penalty stroke (but there are Exceptions – see my original column) and must replace the ball. If you fail to replace the ball and play from its new location, you have played from a wrong place. In this situation, the penalty becomes the general penalty.
R. 10.3b(2): Your caddie must have authorization from you (each time) to restore conditions that were worsened after your ball came to rest, and to lift your ball (except on the putting green) under a Rule that requires the ball to be replaced. December 2018 Clarification: However, so long as it is reasonable to conclude that you are taking relief under a Rule, your caddie is treated as being given authorization to lift the ball and may do so without penalty.
R. 11.1b(2): Ball played from on the green: December 2018 Clarification: If there is knowledge or conclusive evidence that your ball played from the putting green accidentally hits any person, animal, or movable obstruction (including a hole liner that comes out when the flagstick is removed), cancel the stroke and replay the shot. But there are two exceptions: Play the ball as it lies if it (i) hits another ball in play and at rest or a ball-marker on the green [the stroke counts, and you need to check R. 11.1a (above) to assess if a penalty applies in stroke play], or (ii) if it accidentally hits the flagstick or the person attending it (more on this when I address Rule 13).
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. 14.3a, b, c: Whenever you must drop a ball to take relief, you may use the original ball or another ball. You must drop the ball in what the Rules are now calling the “right way,” which means: You must drop your ball; no one else may do so (in individual forms of play). You must drop it straight down from knee height (the height of your knee when you are standing straight). The ball may not touch your body or equipment before it hits the ground. (If it touches your body or equipment before it hits the ground, you must drop again, and this drop does not count as one of the two you are allowed before you must place the ball.) You must drop the ball in the relief area (see Diagram 14.3c).If you breach any of these requirements, you have dropped a ball in a “wrong way.” If you play a ball dropped in a wrong way from within the relief area, the penalty is one stroke; from outside the relief area, you get the general penalty. You will also get the general penalty if you place it when you should have dropped it. If you have dropped a ball in the right way, and it comes to rest in the relief area, you must play the ball as it lies, even if it hit any person (including you), equipment, or outside influence after it hit the ground (no penalty). December 2018 Clarification: The ball is in the relief area when any part of the ball is within the one or two club-length measurement. If the ball comes to rest outside the relief area, you must drop a second time. After that you will have to place the ball on the spot where it hit the ground after the second drop. If it still will not stay on the spot, you must place it on the nearest spot where it will remain at rest that is not nearer the hole and in the same area of the course. This spot may be outside the relief area.
R. 24.4: The Committee may adopt a Local Rule allowing each team to appoint one or two “Advice Givers.” This person may give advice to team players, and the players may ask him for advice. If the advice giver plays on the team, he may not give advice to team members other than his own partner while he is playing.
December 2018 Clarification: The restriction on the caddie from standing behind the player in R. 10.2b(4) applies similarly to the advice giver.
