Inland Empire Golfer - March 2008 - (Page 35)

RULES Here are several rules that players often judge incorrectly: Situation -You step up to mark your ball on the putting green and accidentally drop your putter hitting the ball and knocking it from its original spot. Your opponent declares you must take a penalty stroke. Is he right? Rule - If you cited Rule 20-1 under which a player incurs no penalty if he accidentally moves his ball in the process of Marking and lifting it, you are wrong. The player incurs a penalty stroke under rule 18-2a and decision 20-1/14 because the movement of the ball was not directly attributable to the specific act of marking the position of or lifting the ball. Situation - On a par 3, you hit to a blind green and unknowingly hole out. Unable to find your ball on the green, you assume it is lost and replay a second shot to the green. The ball is then found in the hole; your competitor tells you, you must finish out with the second ball, and you are lying with a penalty stroke. Is he right? Rule - Wrong! Your score is 1. The play of the hole was completed when you holed the original ball - Rule 1-1. Situation - The group behind you hits a ball that lands near you. In anger you hit the ball back toward the foursome. Your competitor declares that you hit a wrong ball and you incur a penalty. Is he right? Rule - Well yes. According to USGA rule 1-4, you incur the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play for hitting the wrong ball. Best to keep your anger in check. Situation - Your putt comes to rest on the overhang of the lip of the cup. You count the allotted ten seconds and then prepare to knock it in, but before you take the stroke, the ball falls in the hole. Your opponent declares that you’ve incurred a penalty stroke. Is he right? Rule - When your ball comes to rest on the overhang of the lip of the hole, you are allowed enough time to reach the hole without unreasonable delay plus an additional ten seconds to determine whether the ball is at rest. If by then the ball has not fallen into the hole, it is deemed to be at rest. However, before you take another putting stroke, the ball falls into the hole. You are deemed to have holed out with your previous stroke and you must add a penalty stroke to your score for the hole, rule 16-2; otherwise, there is no penalty under this rule. Huh? I told you the rules are confusing. Now get out there and play by the rules………. IEG ~ by Bob Lopez How Well Do You Know The Rules Of Golf? The rules of golf are complex in themselves, but add USGA decisions and yearly revisions, and the whole process becomes as confusing and tangled as unraveling last year’s string of Christmas lights. www.inlandempiregolfer.com INLAND EMPIRE GOLFER March 2008 35 http://www.inlandempiregolfer.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Inland Empire Golfer - March 2008

Inland Empire Golfer - March 2008 Contents Cover Story: Shenzhen China & The Inland Empire The Looming Water Shortage Artificial Turf Demand Grows Leisure Living Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Mechanics Of The Bunker Shot The Proper Golf Swing Motion Callaway Squareways What's New? How Well Do You Know The Rules? Golf Course Reviews IE Golf Course Directory

Inland Empire Golfer - March 2008

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