Read about Local Rule on page 92 of the Rules of Golf book and also Item 5 in Appendix I on pages 100-101.

Answer: The answer to your question is dependent on whether the club, course or tournament you are playing in has a Local Rule in effect granting relief for immovable obstructions within 2 club-lengths of the green when your ball is within 2 club-lengths of the obstruction and the obstruction is on the line of play to the hole.  Since this is a collection area with short grass where putting the ball is a viable and perhaps preferred option check with the club regarding the implementation of the Local Rule.

Without the Local Rule being in effect, there is only obstruction relief available under Rule 24 which does not include line of play.

You make the call: Read the definition of a tee and 8-2a.

Answer:  While brush tees are legal to use, having them attached to each other with a string means the tee in this configuration does not meet the definition of a conforming tee because the string and 2nd tee can be positioned to give line of play or assistance to the player while making a stroke. The penalty for using a non-conforming tee is disqualification.

You make the Call:  Read Rule 9-2 and Decision 9-2/4.

Answer:  No penalty is incurred. In match play if Player A asks his Opponent B how many strokes he has taken, Opponent B must give Player A that information before Player A makes his next stroke.  If it is Opponent B’s turn to play, he may play first and then give the information to Player A. 

My partner’s whose ball was in a bunker short of the green, played his shot onto the green near the hole.  I marked and lifted my partner’s ball while he raked the bunker so my opponent who was away could play.  My opponent hit his chip shot too hard and his ball rolled all the way across the green and ended up on the fringe near the bunker my partner had played from.  My partner didn’t see the shot because he was raking the bunker.  As my partner walked onto the green he saw the ball and thought it was his (thinking I had tossed it back to him after I had lifted it) so he picked it up thus moving an opponent’s ball in play in the Four-ball match, but this was not a ball involved in his singles match.

Is there a penalty and if so who is penalized?

You make the Call:  Read Rule 18-3, 30-3f, 30-3g and although 30-2a is another form of play, it also gives insight to the answer.

Answer:  Under Rule 18-3, the player who moved his opponent’s ball in the four-ball match incurred a one-stroke penalty in the four-ball match.  His partner is not penalized as the action did not advantage him or disadvantage his opponent. Rule 30-3f.

Since the ball that was moved involved the player in the other singles match, there is no penalty to anyone in the singles matches. The players are opponents only in their own match.  They are outside agencies under the rules in the other singles match.

The junior tournament is only three holes. I would have no advantage over anyone in the club since they change the hole locations the next morning. I’ve played at the club for 10 years and in no way playing with my 6-year-old would be any advantage to me for the next day. Please help!

You make the Call:  Read Rule 7-1b. Practice and also the NOTE under that Rule.

Answer:  When a stroke-play tournament is played on two or more consecutive days, a player is not permitted to play or practice on the competition course between the rounds of the tournament.  However, because of the Note to Rule 7, the Committee has the right to allow practice on the course between rounds on consecutive days or to allow practice on the course prior to a tournament.

Certainly, the club wants its members to play in a father/daughter tournament as well as compete in the club championship. By knowing the exception and planning ahead, the club can accommodate members who want to participate in both tournaments and keep anyone from being disqualified.

You Make the Call:  Read the Definitions for “Lost Ball” and “Provisional Ball.”  Review Rules 27-1, 27-2 and 7-2.

Answer:  When the player spoke with the committee regarding the status of both balls and his score for the hole, he thought he had played a provisional ball when he dropped the ball in the fairway.  Remember though, one must announce to his marker or fellow-competitor that he is playing a provisional ball.  When the player failed to make that announcement, the dropped ball became the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance.  When he played that ball into the hole, his score for the hole was 4. (3 physical strokes and one penalty stroke under Rule 27-1).

Some players thought he should be penalized for practicing when he played the original ball, but he was actually wise to do this as it ensured that he had a score for the hole and would not be disqualified if the committee ruled his first ball had to count.

You make the call:  Read Rule 24-1 and pay particular attention to the exceptions mentioned in the paragraph that begins, “When a ball is in motion…”  and read Decision 1-2/3.

See Below for the Answer

Answer 

An unattended flagstick may not be removed in order to keep a ball from striking it without the person lifting it receiving a loss of hole in match play or two stroke penalty in stroke play.

An attended flagstick or equipment of the players is a different situation.  An attended flagstick (meaning a person is standing within an arms-length of the flagstick, whether touching it or not, before the ball is in motion) and equipment of the players may be removed after a ball is in motion with no one receiving a penalty. 

The attended flagstick and equipment of the players are the exceptions to what may be moved when a ball is in motion. 

Rule of the Day