After men’s day, Ed led a
group of players into my office and asked for some
clarification concerning specific Rules. He asked for some insight to what
disqualification penalties most people do not fully
understand when it comes to tournament play (of course
the Rules should be followed even in casual daily play)
so he would not encounter a major embarrassment while
playing in the Senior Championship this month. I
indicated there are six Rules he would want to review
but only five were stroke play format violations. The
sixth is an alternate shot violation (playing out of
order) so we will not discuss that penalty today but
will list it.
MUST RECTIFY OR BE DISQUALIFIED – STROKE PLAY ONLY
3-2 Failure to Hole Out
11-4b Playing from Outside Teeing Ground
11-5 Playing from the Wrong Teeing Ground
15-3b Playing Wrong Ball
20-7c Playing from Wrong Place (Serious Breach)
29-3 Threesomes/Foursomes (Playing in Incorrect Order)
Ed looked at the list and immediately asked for
clarification:
It says must be rectified – what does that mean? That is
an easy answer because the proper procedure is answered
in each Rule or subsection. Let’s take a look at these
five.
3-2 Must correct this mistake before he makes a stroke
on the next teeing ground or in the case of the last
hole of the round before he leaves the putting green.
11-4b Must correct before the competitor plays a stroke
from the next teeing ground without correcting his
mistake or in the case of the last hole of the round,
leaves the putting green without declaring his intention
to correct the mistake. (The stroke from outside the
teeing ground and any subsequent strokes by the
competitor on the hole prior to his correction of the
mistake do not count in his score)
11-5 The provisions of Rule 11-4 apply.
15-3b The competitors must correct his mistake by playing
the correct ball or by proceeding under the Rules. If he
fails to correct his mistake before making a stroke on
the next teeing ground, or in the case of the last hole
of the round, fails to declare his intention to correct
before leaving the putting green. Strokes made by a
competitor with a wrong ball do not count in his score.
20-7c If a competitor becomes aware that he has played
from a wrong place and believes he may have committed a
serious breach, he must, before making a stroke on the
next teeing ground, play out the hole with a second ball
dropped or placed in accordance with the Rules. If the
hole being played is the last hole of the round, he must
declare, before leaving the putting green, that he will
play out the hole with a second ball dropped or placed
in accordance with the Rules. THE KEY – the competitor
must report the facts to the Committee before returning
his scorecard.
Ed said that playing from a wrong place seems to be very
harsh and then asked what defines a serious breach. You may not like this answer, but if
the Committee considers
you gained a SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE you will be
disqualified and that could be as little as six inches –
just don’t put yourself in that situation.
Ed then said he doesn't understand this wrong ball situation because
he
thought he heard that you could hit a wrong ball in some
cases? I suggested to Ed that he read the definition of
a wrong
ball first, as noted 80-90% of the time you can get
your answer from just reading the definitions. It is true that normally you will not be penalized for
playing a wrong ball from a hazard (do not forget by
definition that a bunker is a hazard). But, as soon as
you play a shot with that ball from outside the hazard,
it is a wrong ball and you will receive a two stroke
penalty and must correct the situation. I must warn you
that there might be a situation where you had your hands
on the ball in a bunker and in that case you are
“deemed” to have had a chance to identify it and thus it
would be a wrong ball. You may want to read decision
15/14 to get a better understanding of this unique
situation. |
