We have all encountered what we consider dangerous situations on the golf course. On the April 26 edition of the Ask The Pro Show, the question asked of me was what happens if I hit my ball into a bee’s nest. I did my best to answer the question in 140 characters or less, but I feel the question requires more explanation. If your ball lands in a bee’s nest or near a live rattlesnake you have some options and you do not have to play the ball as it lies.
It is unreasonable to expect a player to play from such dangerous situations and unfair to require the player to incur a penalty under Rule 26 (Water Hazard) or Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable). If the ball lay through the green, the player may, without penalty, drop a ball within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.
If the ball lay in a hazard, the player may drop a ball, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous. If possible, the ball must be dropped in the same hazard and, if not possible, in a similar nearby hazard, but in either case not nearer the hole. If it is not possible for the player to drop the ball in a hazard, he may drop it, under penalty of one stroke, outside the hazard, keeping the point where the original ball lay between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped.
If the ball lay on the putting green, the player may, without penalty, place a ball at the nearest spot not nearer the hole that is not dangerous and that is not in a hazard.
If interference by anything other than the dangerous situation makes the stroke clearly impracticable or if the situation would be dangerous only through the use of a clearly unreasonable stroke or an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing, or direction of play, the player may not take relief as described above, but he is not precluded from proceeding under Rule 26 or 28 if applicable.
Relief from these situations is granted under Rule 1-4 Points Not Covered By Rules: If any point in dispute is not covered by the Rules, the decision should be made in accordance with equity. A “dangerous situation” contemplates a situation which is unrelated to conditions normally encountered on the course.
This problem comes up often. You are trying to putt your ball and someone’s ball is in your way. What do you do? Frank and Mike discuss how to move your marker so you are Playing By The Rules.
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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.
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.
