Comments on: 2008 Rules Changes are Player Friendly

By: johnv

johnv — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:14:50 +0000

Stan,
Yes, provided the cart path is outside the hazard. Once you have dropped on the cart path, if you have interference with it, you may take free relief from it. In taking relief, you can not drop in the hazard.

By: stan blackketter

stan blackketter — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:33:33 +0000

can you drop from hazard onto cart path?

By: Scott Seward

Scott Seward — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:39:16 +0000

Jerry – There is no rule prohibiting chipping on a green, but for us less-skilled golfers, its probably not advised for the sake of the green.

By: Jerry Walton

Jerry Walton — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:37:56 +0000

I was asked by an other golfer (can you chip on the green)

By: John Vander Borght

John Vander Borght — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:16:13 +0000

Brian,

In a team match, a player who plays a wrong ball is disqualified for that hole. Rule 31-7 covers all disqualification penalties. Some penalties do result in the team being disqualified, but failure to correct the play of a wrong ball is not one and the result is only that the player is disqualified for that hole.

By: Brian Scott

Brian Scott — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:21:52 +0000

In our recent zone qualifier a player played a wrong ball and did not correct his mistake, holing out with the wrong ball and proceeding to the next tee and teeing off. Is he disqualified and all of his score cannot be used in the team match or is he disqualified for just that one hole? This was a team match two better balls of four. Thank you.

By: Scott Seward

Scott Seward — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:18:22 +0000

George – There is nothing to say, he is well within the rules. Thanks

By: George R. Senn

George R. Senn — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:04:15 +0000

Different subject. A golfer friend routinely plays with three clubs (no putter) and maintains a 12 handicap from the back tees of difficult courses. Question, when he plays in tournaments he uses the full complement of 14 clubs! What would NCGA say about this?

By: Jim Cowan

Jim Cowan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:29:33 +0000

Steve Nielsen, thank you for your comment. It is interesting how your comments contrast with those of John McEnnry since he felt things were fine in stroke play with a low playing against a high, but not in match play. All I can tell you is that if you played against the same high handicapper 100 times, you would come out on top more often than not due to the bonus for excellence. If you compete against an entire field of high handicappers, however, it doesn’t surprise me that you might come out on the short end. High handicappers do not play to their handicap with any greater frequency than lows, but on any given day, they have the ability to go lower. Many of our tournaments have handicap flights for this specific reason. Thanks again – Jim Cowan

By: steve nielsen

steve nielsen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:53:37 +0000

i would like to respond to Jim Cowan’s response that in a match play the lower handicap person has the slight advantage…the “bonus for excellence.” Unfortunately this is not the case in stroke play. For two straight years now i have participated in a ncga qualifying tournaments where there were no brackets. This one particular tourney had 45 golfers ranging from a 6-36 in handicap. At this course my cap was a 10. Based on many qualifying tournaments the players who qualify generally advance by their net scores being in the low to mid 60’s. So for me i would have to shoot five strokes under my cap, which is just my potential not what i am expected to shoot every round, and which the ncga admits that tourney play to be harder to actually shooting your cap. As stated by the ncga it is 276/1 that i shoot this score…..in general, not in a tourney setting. a 30 and above cap shooter to score 5 strokes under par is only 35/1. This field is highly slanted towards rewarding the higher cap player. Why do i work at my game so i 30 handicap advances in a qualifier by shooting a 95 when i have to shoot a 75 just to keep up? After two years in a row i am ready to never enter another ncga qualifing tournament.