Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2018 - 11

NEW RULE
4.3a
Allowed and Prohibited Uses
of Equipment
(1) Distance and Directional Information.
* Allowed Uses. Using equipment to obtain
distance information (for example, a distancemeasuring
device) or directional information
(for example, a compass).
* Prohibited Uses. Using equipment to measure
elevation changes, or to interpret any distance
or directional
information
(such as to
access a
recommended
line of play or
club selection).
What's Changed
The Rule did an about-face: Where
once DMDs were prohibited unless
a Local Rule was adopted, now they
are allowed unless the Committee
adopts a Local Rule prohibiting their
use.
What It Means
As many tournaments carried a
Local Rule to allow use of DMDs,
this change makes most events and
tournaments uniform. While that's
good for clarity, you still have to
check your Local Rule sheet in case
DMDs are prohibited.
RULES GLOSSARY
BALL IN A BUNKER
A ball lies in a bunker
when any part of the ball
is inside the edge of the
bunker and it:
* Touches sand in the
bunker, or
* Rests on a loose
impediment, movable
obstruction, abnormal
course condition
or integral object that
touches sand in the
bunker or is on
ground where sand
would normally be.
NEW RULE
16.3b
How to Take Relief for
Ball Embedded
If a player's ball is embedded in the general area
(see Rules Glossary at right), the player may take
relief without penalty by dropping the original
ball or another ball in this relief area:
* Reference Point: Spot right behind where the ball
is embedded.
* Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference
Point: One club-length from the reference
point, but with these limits:
- Must be in the general area, and
- Not nearer the hole than the reference
point.
What It Means
The rules-makers say:
" this is
an appropriate exception to the
principle of playing the ball as it lies
because having to play a ball that is
stuck in soft or wet ground (whether
in the fairway or the rough) should
not be considered part of the normal
challenge of playing a course. "
I think that is something we can all
agree upon.
What's Changed
You may take relief if your ball is
embedded anywhere in the general
area (except in sand in a part of the
general area that is not cut to fairway
height or less), or when interference
by anything other than the ball
being embedded makes the stroke
clearly unreasonable-except where
a Local Rule restricts relief to an area
cut to fairway height or less. This
reverses the default position in the
current Rules.
DAMAGE ON THE
PUTTING GREEN
Includes spike marks,
shoe damage, indentations
from a club or
fl agstick, and animal
damage. Exceptions
include: aeration holes,
natural imperfections/
defects of the ground
surface or natural wear of
the hole.
DMDS
Any distance-measuring
device such as a range
fi nder or GPS device. Also
still prohibited: use of any
equipment to measure
wind speed or other windrelated
information.
EMBEDDED BALL
A ball that is at rest in
its own pitch-mark made
after a stroke and where
part of the ball is below
the level of the ground.
GENERAL AREA
The new term for " through
the green. "
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Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2018

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