Rules Blog – “I hit a competitor’s stuff – what do I do?”
If you got all the way to the end of my blog entry on partners a few months ago, you’ll know that I brought up the fact that rules differ for match and stroke play for striking a fellow competitor (or their stuff) (stroke play) or your opponent (or their stuff) in match play with a golf ball. (Recall that I emphasized that REGL currently has a “stroke play” policy for enforcement of the rules). I had a hypothetical question from one of my coworkers today that made me think…. Say you and your teammate are riding in a golf cart, and both of you are around or on the green of #8. You’ve driven the cart up the cart bath and parked it on the cart path near the green. One of the other team’s members has worm-burned a tee shot to about 70 yards from the tee and is walking to his ball. If the guy then commences to hit a low screamer that slams into your cart, is there a penalty? Who would be required to take the penalty? All of the potential rule infringements and penalties of just such a situation are addressed in Rule 19 – “Ball in Motion Deflected or Stopped”. If you think about it, in general, this rule comes into play each and every time you successfully contact a golf ball – eventually it has to hit something and come to rest. If the ball hits something on the course (fairway, tree, cart path, flagstick, green, bridge, etc.) and comes to rest on another part of the golf course, you have to play the ball “as it lies”. There are very few exceptions to this policy, so in general, always remember that you are expected to play the ball as it lies. One exception would be if your ball came to rest in a hazard or on top or next to an obstruction (there are special rules for those cases). Rule 19 has special cases for a ball striking an outside agency (19-1), a player or his equipment (19-2), an opponent, his caddy or your opponent’s equipment in match play (19-3), by a fellow competitor or his equipment in stroke play (19-4), or another ball (19-5). Let’s address our hypothetical question first. By default, we follow stroke play rules. So, your teammate and his equipment as well as the other teams’ players and equipment become subject to Rule 19-4 (which says that except for a ball striking a fellow competitor holding the flagstick, you treat all fellow competitors and their stuff as outside agencies (19-1)). Striking any of that stuff that’s not yours incurs no penalty and you must play the ball as it lies. So, to answer the hypothetical, a low screamer that hits your golf cart hit by the other team bounces off your cart and skips onto the green (rather than into the trees on #8). The guy on the other team just benefitted from your cart being on the cart path and will have a putt for par. No penalties are doled out. Same situation applies if you smoke a drive on #11 that hits the back of a golf cart of the group ahead of you. Hopefully you yelled “Fore!” and will apologize profusely, but in general, you’ll have to play the ball from where it ended up after the deflection. Speaking of etiquette, you really shouldn’t be advancing ahead of someone who still needs to make a stroke from behind you. So, it’s always better to wait until someone plays that worm burner before advancing to find your own ball near the green. There are exceptions of course – not everyone needs to return to the tee box if someone’s lost their ball, but you should pay close attention to the guy hitting off the tee, and it’s probably prudent to find a bit of shelter and stay out of the fairway. Again, if he hits your cart or your golf bag or your shoe or your shin, play the ball where it comes to rest. One big exception – what if the ball was stopped deliberately? Say you’re in that cart on the 8th hole and that low screamer comes flying next to your golf cart and to save the ball from being lost, you reach out and deflect the ball? Well, that’s just a whole lot of trouble for everyone. First of all, the player that hit that low screamer will have to estimate where the ball would have ended up if you hadn’t deflected it and drop there. If that’s in a location that would have been out-of-bounds, he’ll have to play the ball as if it had gone out of bounds (he’ll be taking a penalty and rehitting from that prior location). For the fellow-competitor in the golf cart who deflected the ball, he is now subject to Rule 1-2 (Exerting Influence on Movement of Ball), and will be assessed a 2-stroke penalty under the stroke play rules. In addition, if the league feels that the intentional action to deflect or stop the ball was a serious breach of the rules, that competitor may be disqualified. Rules for similar behavior on the putting green are a bit different. Balls deliberately stopped or deflected result in the stroke being cancelled and the competitor has to putt again with the same ball from the same spot. If a fellow-competitor has stopped or deflected a putt intentionally, again the two-stroke penalty applies. Then I got to thinking – is it also a penalty to try to protect yourself from a golf ball that’s about to hit you? The classic case is a stroke played that hits a tree and rebounds backwards. I could not find anything in the rule book to address that situation. I’m guessing that the USGA would like you (in that case) to duck or jump or generally try to avoid the flight of the ball before trying to batt the ball down with your hand – hence it wouldn’t be a deliberate act. In the case where you’re trying to get away from a moving golf ball, the ball would have to be played as it came to rest. If that’s on top of you, the rules allow a free drop on the position underneath your body. And then let’s take it a step further. You hit a golf ball that hits that tree that comes back and hits your cart. Any penalty? Unfortunately for you, there is a one-stroke penalty because it does belong to you. Your cart (even shared), your golf bag, your clubs, your umbrella, etc. are all special and cannot influence the movement of your ball after it’s struck. First day of the U.S. Open is now partially in the books – rain halted play and it was deemed that the bunkers had sustained enough damage that many of them had to be reconstructed. Brilliant sunshine at about 6:30 PM but no one was playing yesterday afternoon. Don’t know if any of you watched any of the pre-recorded coverage, but Bryson DeChambeau, who after a fine Master’s showing turned professional was within striking distance of the tournament lead yesterday until he got greedy on the 18th hole (his ninth of the day after starting on #10) and found one of the enormous bunkers that guard that green. His pitch out of the bunker airmailed the green and he eventually made a double bogey. After making the turn and teeing off on #1, his ball tailed to the right, hit the cart path and bounded into the shrubbery. There’s out-of-bounds to the right so Bryson hit a provisional ball (in case the ball were lost or out-of-bounds) and hooked it left into the deep rough. The nice thing about the U.S. Open is that there are always a lot of spectators and marshals, and they’ll help point out any ball wandering into the deepest, darkest places on the course. The ball was spotted by a marshal and deemed to still be in play, although it was entombed under a particularly lush and large shrub. Two club lengths from the ball still won’t get you out from under the shrubbery. Behind the ball are deep woods and out of bounds on the line from the flagstick through the ball. Bryson deemed that the ball was unplayable…. So, here’s this week’s quiz…. You’re Bryson’s caddy, and he hasn’t discussed his options for playing his next shot with you. Do you advise him to: a) Play the provisional ball b) Drop a ball outside the shrub and take a one-stroke penalty c) Go back to the tee and hit another d) Pack it in and hit the clubhouse bar The key to the answer of the quiz lies in the fact that Bryson’s ball was found and was still in play (not out of bounds). If you recall, once the original ball has been found and it is not out-of-bounds, it is the ball in play and the provisional ball is null and void – you can no longer play that ball in any circumstance. Under the unplayable ball rule, there are three options: 1) Go back to the previous location from which the ball was played and replay the shot with a one-stroke penalty 2) Drop a ball within 2 club lengths of the spot where the ball came to rest with a one-stroke penalty 3) Draw a line between the flagstick and the position where the ball came to rest, and you may drop as far back on that line as you wish with a one stroke penalty Bryson can’t drop outside the shrub – it’s more than 2 club lengths from where the ball came to rest. He also can’t use the third option (the extension of the line between the hole and the ball goes back into the out-of-bounds area), and as long as he still wants to continue playing, he’ll have to trek back to the tee and hit another ball.