One of the nice things about the new rule book is that there are titles for each rule. In the case of the 8th, it’s “Course Played as it is found”. I wish more players would take this title more literally. I hear the complaints a lot – “somebody didn’t rake this bunker!”, “A PGA pro would never get a lie like this in the middle of the fairway!”, “These greens suck! There’s a bare spot right on my line!”, “My ball’s right in a clump of nasty crabgrass!”. A purist like me says in reply – “That’s a shame, if you can’t find a reason within the rule book to change your situation, make your next stroke!”. In my view golf courses were never to be perfect places, but then you spend the rest of this week looking at Augusta National….
We see that course on television, and I can honestly say that television can’t come close to being able to present that course’s beauty and sheer terror – it must be seen with your human eye to appreciate it. That’s also true of the conditions. The greens are spectacular and lovingly cared for. The fairways are equivalent to the best greens you’ve ever played, and the rough is every bit as good (but a little longer) than the best fairway you’ve ever played. The bunkers are brilliant white and meticulously groomed. In a word, it’s perfect – and that’s not golf…
We are spoiled when we turn on our TV. We expect our beat-up Army property to duplicate the majesty and the conditions of Augusta National when we play on it one night a week. Sorry to say it, but Ruggles Golf Course is much more akin to the first courses played in Scotland. Grass? Maybe. Mowed? Probably not. The links land of Scotland is still pretty wild country but represents where these rules we follow came from. A hallmark in the rule book is a simple phrase – “Play the ball as it lies!” Just as life is not perfect, neither are the conditions we are each forced to endure to complete a round of golf. Rather than complaining, golf (played within the rules) forces each of us to evaluate what we have in front of us and figure out how we can get from where we are to the inside of a cup in the minimum number of strokes.
I grouse about some of our local rules. While the stated intent is often “to speed up play”, I contend that many of them are to address the imperfections of the golf course we play. The roll the ball in the fairway rule? You won’t find that one in the rule book. Neither will you find our new “lift, rake and place” rule for bunkers. The “Canton Rule” for lost balls or balls out of bounds? Nope. We’re creating a new game. You might as well call it “Rolf”. I hear a phrase fairly often at captain’s meetings and league messaging – “This is supposed to be a FUN league.” That doesn’t mean we should invent a new game. Golf can be an enjoyable game, even played within its set of rules. The purpose of rule 8 is to level the playing field for everyone (even if that playing field is not perfect). The central concept of the 8th rule in the book is:
“When the player’s ball comes to rest, he or she normally has to accept the conditions affecting the stroke and not improve them before playing the ball.” Of course, there are exceptions. We’ll dig into the nuts and bolts of the rule….
First, an explanation of terms. There are some conditions affecting the stroke that may or may not be improved that affect play, and they can be broken into categories:
- The player’s lie
- The area of the player’s intended stance
- The area of the player’s intended swing
- The player’s line of play
- The relief area (if the ball can be lifted or placed according to a rule)
In general, you cannot improve the conditions that affect your stroke by moving, breaking or bending a growing or attached natural object (a tree limb or part of a shrub are classic examples), an immovable obstruction (like a large boulder for instance), an integral object (something in the design of the course that the committee can denote as being an integral part of the course (the road next to the 17th green at the Old Course at St. Andrews is a good example. It’s part of the course and you must either play a shot from on the road or take an option under the unplayable ball rule)), a boundary object (say a fence post denoting out-of-bounds) or a tee marker.
Also, you can’t improve the conditions that affect your stroke by moving loose impediments or movable obstructions to build a stance. For example, if you really want to put your foot in the same area where there is a depression in the fairway, you can’t find a pile of dirt or gravel and pour it in the depression to help with your footing for your stroke. You must accept your situation and make the best of it.
Replacing divots and filling in holes or old divots is a great thing to do to help keep the course in good shape. However, do all of that AFTER you’ve made your swing to avoid the appearance that you’ve improved your conditions for making that stroke.
Let’s talk about water. Casual water is an abnormal ground condition that has it’s own set of rules that we’ll cover later, but how about ice, frost or dew? Firstly, if there’s frost on the ground you’re probably not going to be on the course – I’ve been told that stepping on a frosty green crushes grass and you’re left with brown footprints on the green that take a good bit of time to grow back to a healthy green color. Dew’s an issue though – but not usually by the time we play a league match. On many early mornings your ball will throw a rooster tail of water on its way to the hole. Can you towel off the line of play into the hole on the putting green to eliminate the dew? Not unless you want to add 2 to your score for every time you do that. I play a few rounds of golf during the winter months, and there are some times when piled up snow thaws and refreezes on the ground. Do you get to remove the ice? Once again, no. There is one place on the course where you can do those things, and that’s on the tee. Remove all the dew you want there if you wish.
You must accept the course as you find it, but there are some things that you are allowed to do that may deviate from “play the ball as it lies”. For instance (and we covered this in the Rule 7 blog entry), you can mark your ball, identify the ball, and replace it (in some cases you can substitute a different ball). You can move loose impediments and movable obstructions (to be covered at a later date). When making a stroke you can lightly ground your club in front or behind the ball (but don’t cause that ball to move!) as long as you don’t improve your lie and you’re NOT in a bunker. You can also dig your feet into loose dirt and fairly take a stance to make a stroke, but you are NOT entitled to a NORMAL stance or swing for a given shot, and there are times when taking that stance is going to be awkward. If you don’t like how you’re forced to stand or make a swing, there are options available to you under the unplayable ball rule. I’ll mention a little etiquette here regarding bunkers. DO pick up that rake and rake the trap in areas in which you’ve walked and made a stroke, but ONLY after your ball has been played out of that bunker. (NOTE: because of the REGL local rule for allowing you to rake and place in the bunker, you can rake whenever you want in REGL play, but don’t try this in an event that functions under USGA rules…)
Then there is the new guidance on repairs or improvements to the putting green. Once upon a time you would not want to improve anything or your line of putt – you had to accept what was in front of you. NO MORE! Remove loose sand (with your hand, not a towel), loose impediments, and fix old ball marks until you like your line to the hole.
Finally, let’s talk about “loose” impediments. Testing an object to see if it is loose is allowed. If there’s a stick interfering with your stance, your swing or your lie, and if you attempt to lift it and find it’s still “attached” to the ground, you must replace it as you originally encountered it.
There are some additions to Rule 8 regarding how to handle attempts to restore the course to how you found it (and failing miserably) as well as deliberately altering the course to stop or deflect the path of a ball and altering to affect someone else’s play, but I’m just going to skip over those sections. If you want - read rules 8.2 and 8.3 in your spare time.
Had a good time playing last night with some guys that I’ve gotten to know through years of playing in the league. We ran into a couple of situations on the Ruggles greens that commissioner Finley brought up in his weekly notes. There are a number of areas (especially on the 5th green, but last night also encountered on the 16th and 13th) where grass has not grown back, or it’s grown back sporadically to produce a mottled, patchy look. Per direction of the commish, you are allowed to move the ball to the nearest area of the green that eliminates play through the bad grass – no nearer the hole. However, in some cases this might mean that you’re playing from the fairway, fringe or rough and you must either accept the new location or make a putt from the original location. Let’s hope some hard work goes into those greens (and soon!). The tee boxes are also in horrible shape right now…. Some temporaries might be in order.
How about that scoreboard luck for Scottie Scheffler on the 3rd hole on Sunday? Instead of playing from deep in the woods, he was able to make a stroke toward the flagstick from his new location that eliminated the scoreboard obstruction. That ball came back to the bottom of the hill, but his next stroke that banged into the flagstick and dropped in the hole really changed the complexion of the potential for a mano-a-mano suspense-filled Sunday final pairing. I’m not sure that Cameron Smith used his own rule options very well on that same 3rd hole. He got relief from a buried electrical box, but I think he could have dropped within a club length of the point of nearest relief, and I think he could have gone closer to the fairway without being closer to the hole. All Monday Morning Quarterback stuff….