Written by: Darin Green, Senior Director of Rules & Competitions
Last week was a historic time in junior golf. The Florida Boys’ and Girls’ Junior Championships were held simultaneously at one facility over three golf courses. 258 junior golfer teed it up at Streamsong Resort on July 1-3 across the resort’s Blue, Red and Black courses. With over 650 rounds of golf played over the three days, you can imagine we encountered several rules scenarios. Below are a few of the rulings.
Late to the Tee
The 10th tee on the Blue Course was a 3-5 minute drive from the clubhouse and the resort had shuttle carts driving players to the tee. Some players bypassed the shuttle cart and chose to ride in their parent’s spectator cart. One player rode to the 10th tee in their parent’s cart and when he arrived at the 10th tee he noticed that the starting times were running a bit behind. He decided he want to hit a few more practice putts and returned to the practice area. When he returned to the 10th tee his group has already been announced by the starter and begun playing. The starter informed him he was late to the tee, but within five minutes, so he could play, but had to add a two-stroke penalty for being late to the tee.
On-site Alternate Got In
The Girls’ Junior Championship was on the Red Course at Streamsong and the 10th tee was also a 3-5 minute drive from the clubhouse. We were concerned some players would miss the shuttle cart and show up late to the tee. The very first group of the day was missing a player at the tee a few minutes before their 7:30 starting time. The starter called over the radio that they were missing a player and then several Committee members were frantically searching for the missing player, but were unsuccessful. We also had an on-site alternate on the practice area, so at the same time, we located that player and shuttled her to the 10th tee. The missing player never arrived and the on-site alternate got in the championship in the very first group.
Maintenance Vehicle Drove Over Ball
Heavy thunderstorms swept through the resort after the second round and caused several severe washouts in some of the bunkers. On the morning of the final round, the maintenance team did a phenomenal job of repairing the damaged course before the players reached each hole. There was a huge washout on the 16th hole and several maintenance workers were repairing it. A sandpro vehicle then got stuck in the sandy surfaces as the first group of the day was approaching the tee. A player hit her tee shot and missed the green to the left. As the maintenance were scurrying to get out of the way, a vehicle drove over the player’s ball. After the player reached her ball she called me in for a ruling. The vehicle obviously altered the player’s lie by pushing the ball into the ground. The ball was in the fairway so we assumed her original lie was good and just sitting nicely on the ground. I had the player place a ball in the nearest most similar lie a few inches away from the ball was. Rule 14.2d(2)
Unplayable Ball in a Bunker
The first hole on the Red Course played very difficult for the girls. A player found a greenside bunker with her second shot and her third shot plugged underneath the grass lip of the bunker. She called me in for a ruling and I first had to inspect the lie to determine if her ball was in the bunker or in the general area. Unfortunately for her, the ball was touching sand in the bunker so the ball was in bunker. She asked for her options to take unplayable ball relief. I explained all of her options and at first, she appeared she wanted to drop a ball within two club-lengths of the ball in the bunker, but that area was on a steep slope and was full of her footprints. She seemed confused, so I explained that she cannot rake her footprints before dropping in that area and I again went over her other options (dropping back-on-the-line of the flagstick in the bunker, stroke and distance, and back-on-the-line of the flagstick behind the bunker for a two-stroke penalty). She smartly decided to drop a ball back-on-the-line of the flagstick back in the bunker which was on a flatter spot in the bunker and finish out the hole. Rule 19.3
Disqualified
Everything was going well during the second round until storms started building around the state. We were monitoring the weather and the risk of lightning using our subscriptions to WeatherSentry DTN and the resort's lightning detection system. A large storm containing lightning was approaching and we decided to suspend play as the strom was entering our 8-mile radius. (There were over 250 juniors across the three courses and an additional 300+ spectators, so we knew it would take a while to evacuate everyone to safety). The Committee Members sounded our air horns to signal play is suspended for a dangerous situation and the evacuation began. The resort did an excellent job helping get everyone to safety and it only took 10-15 minutes to get everyone to shelter. During the suspension it was reported to us that a player played a stroke after the horns blew. The player believed he was allowed to complete the hole after the horns sounded. The Rules of Golf take suspensions when there is imminent danger very seriously; the penalty for playing one stroke after an immediate suspension is disqualification. Rule 5.7b
Play well and stay hydrated.
