What happens during a round of play if one of your clubs becomes damaged during the course of play? Rule 4 -3: Damaged Clubs: Repair and Replacement talks about damage in the normal course of play and damage other than in the normal course of play. So what constitutes the “Normal Course of Play”?
The term “Normal Course of Play” is meant to cover all REASONABLE acts but specifically excludes cases of abuse. In addition to making a stroke, practice swing or practice stroke, examples of acts that are in the “normal course of play” include: a.) removing or replacing a club in a bag; b.) using a club to search for or retrieve a ball (except by throwing a club); c.) leaning on a club while waiting to play, teeing a ball or removing a ball from the hole; d.) accidentally dropping a club.
Examples of acts that are not in the “normal course of play” include: a.) throwing a club whether in anger, in retrieving a ball or otherwise; b.) “slamming” a club into a bag; c.) intentionally striking something (e.g. the round or a tree) with the club other than during a stroke, practice swing or practice stroke.
As long as the club was damaged in the normal course of play, a player may: a.) use the club in its damaged state for the remainder of the stipulated round; b.) without unduly delaying play, repair it or have it repaired; c.) as an additional option available only if the club is unfit for play, replace the damaged club with any club. The replacement of a club must not unduly delay play (Rule 6-7) and must not be made by borrowing any club selected for play by any other person playing on the course or by assembling components carried by or for the player during the stipulated round.
If, during a stipulated round, a player’s club is damaged other than in the normal course of play rendering it non-conforming or changing its playing characteristics, the club must not subsequently be used or replaced during the round.
If you have a question on the Rules of Golf, please submit it Mike Fay Golf and I hope you are “Playing By The Rules”.
This is the next in the Playing By The Rules Video Series both Mike and Frank discuss your options when you hit your ball in an areas that the grounds keeper terms as ground under repair. They will show you how to take complete relief from this situation. Enjoy and be on the lookout for the next Playing By The Rules Video on the Mike Fay Golf Channel.
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Rule 13 – 2 deals with Improving Lie, Area of Intended Stance or Swing, or Line of Play. The Rule prohibits a player from improving certain areas. What, specifically, does “improve” mean? Decision 13-2/0.5 in the Decisions on the Rules of Golf gives an excellent clarification of the term “improve”.
“Improve” means to change for the better so that a player would get a potential advantage with respect to the position or lie of his ball, the area of his intended stance or swing, his line of play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond the hole, or the area in which he is to drop or place a ball. Thus, merely changing an area protected by Rule 13 – 2 will not be a breach of Rule 13 – 2 unless it creates such a potential advantage for the player in his play.
Examples of changes that are unlikely to create such a potential advantage are if a player:
*repairs a small pitch-mark on his line of play five yards in front of his ball prior to making a 150 yard approach shot through the green;
*accidentally knocks several leaves from a tree in his area of intended swing with a practice swing, but there are still so many leaves or branches remaining that the area of intended swing has not been materially affected; or
*whose ball lies in the thick rough 150 yards from the green, walks forward and pulls a few strands of grass on his line of play and throws them in the air to determine wind direction.
Examples of changes that are likely to create such a potential advantage are if a player:
*repairs a pitch-mark through the green five yards in front of his ball and on his line of play prior to making a stroke from off the putting green that might be affected by the pitch-mark(e.g., a putt or low running shot);
*accidentally knocks down a single leaf from a tree in his area of intended swing with a practice swing, but, as this was one of very few leaves that might either interfere with his swing or fall and thereby distract him, the area of intended swing has
*pulls strands of grass from the rough a few inches behind his ball to test the wind, but thereby reduces a potential distraction for the player, or resistance to his club, in the area of his intended swing.
The determination as to whether a player has gained a potential advantage from his actions is made by reference to the situation immediately prior to his stroke. If there is a reasonable possibility that the player’s action has created a potential advantage, the player is in breach of Rule 13 – 2.
The USGA and R & A have announced the new decisions and revisions on the Rules of Golf that will become effective on January 1, 2014. One of those new decisions is sure to create a little buzz in the golfing world. The new decisions and revisions are:
*New Decision 14-3/18: Players will be allowed to access weather reports on their cell phones during a round. The USGA and R & A felt a need for players to protect their own safety.
*New Decision 18/4: Provides that, where enhanced technological evidence (e.g. HDTV, digital recording or online visual media, etc) shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time. This new decision now takes the “call in viewer” of a rules infraction out of the equation. No other sport allows fans to impact the outcome of an event and now neither does golf. I have been waiting for such a decision for a long time and I fully support it. How do you feel about it?
*Revised Decision 27-2a/1.5 Meaning of “Goes Forward to Search”: Players will be allowed to walk forward approximately 50 yards to determine the ball’s location without forfeiting their right to play a provisional ball. The distance was never defined in the original decision.
*Revised Decision 25-2/0.5: Illustrations were added to help clarify the circumstances in which the ball is (and is not) considered to be embedded in the ground.
What are your thoughts on the new decisions and revisions to the Rules of Golf. Please give us your feedback on Mike Fay Golf, Mike Fay Golf Facebook page, Mike Fay Golf on Twitter, or Mike Fay Golf on Google+. Hope you are “Playing By The Rules”.
Mike and Frank show you the difference between Water Hazards and Lateral Water Hazards. This is the first in a series of videos based on the popular blog Playing By The Rules with PGA Rules Official Frank Guastella on www.mikefaygolf.com. Our goal through this video series is to explain the rules in a way you can understand them with a bit of fun! If you would like to see Frank’s collection of Playing By The Rules articles go to this link. Click Here.
I had an interesting Rules situation arise while officiating at a Blue Water Junior Golf Tour event at the Port Huron Golf Club a few weeks ago. On the sixteenth hole, lying in some heavy grass was an abandoned ball which had broken into pieces. A player hit their tee shot into the heavy grass. The player arrived at the spot where they had thought that their ball had landed, found what they thought was their ball and hit it. After hitting the shot, and realizing what they hit was a piece of the ball, the player walked forward about fifteen feet and found their ball, which was the same brand as the abandoned broken ball. The player then hit their ball and finished play of the hole and recorded their score not counting the stroke taken with the abandoned ball.
On the next tee before teeing off, the player called me over to tell me what had happened. I told the player that they would have to add two strokes to the score they had made on the previous hole because the stroke they made with the abandoned ball was a stroke made at a wrong ball. The player argued with me saying that the abandoned broken ball is not a ball and therefore they had not played a wrong ball. I took out my decisions book and referred the player to Decision 15/3 Player Plays Stroke at Part of Abandoned Ball Which Had Broken Into Pieces. This exact situation had happened before and had been ruled on. According to the Decision, the player had made a stroke with a wrong ball and thus incurred a two-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 15 – 3b. The Rule states that if a competitor in stroke play makes a stroke or strokes at a wrong ball, he incurs a penalty of two strokes.
