Common Rule Situations at Waahi Taakaro Golf Club
Members should be aware of basic rules and rule options in certain conditions. We all inadvertently break the rules, and to help avoid this the Match Committee feels members should be aware of the following:
ADVICE (Rule 8): It is illegal to give or receive advice, or ask what club your fellow competitor used, thus influencing your club selection. Penalty for breach of rule: match play – loss of hole; stroke play – two stroke penalty
UNPLAYABLE BALL (Rule 28): Taking a one shot penalty when you have deemed your ball unplayable (especially under shrubs or a bush). One option is to drop the ball two clubs lengths from where it lay (not from the edge of the shrub or bush)and not nearer the hole. If this still leaves the ball unplayable another option is to drop the ball directly behind where the ball lay, keeping that point between you and the hole going back as far as you like. The third option is to play another shot from where you played your last shot from (this includes the tee). Penalty for breach of rule: match play – loss of hole; stroke play – two stroke penalty
WATER HAZARDS (Rule 26): Marked by yellow pegs and or spray lines. Include the river when playing 9/18; and creeks in front of 7/16 and 8/17 tees and 8 green. Lateral Water Hazard: Marked by red pegs. The river in front of 1 tee, along the left of 1/10 and left of 9 fairway from the bridge to 18 green. From drain outlet/power-pole and pegged by trees down to path on left hand side of 6/15 fairway and left to fence-line up to 7 tee. If a ball lies in, touches or is lost in a water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not) the player may either elect to play the ball as it lies without penalty and without grounding the club in the hazard or under a penalty of one stroke (a) Play his next stroke as nearly as possible at the spot from which he last played (including the tee), or; (b) Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between himself and the hole, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped, or; (c) Additional option available only if the ball lies or is lost in a Lateral Water Hazard, drop a ball two club lengths outside the lateral water hazard from point where the ball last crossed the margin of the lateral hazard no nearer the hole, or on the opposite side of the hazard equivalent from the hole. See note to Rule 13.4 – Penalty for breach of rule: match play – loss of hole; stroke play – two stroke penalty
STONES: A ball on stones anywhere on the course, except in a hazard, may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole without penalty, refer to Rule 25 “Exceptions”. Stones in a bunker are moveable obstructions, rule 24-1b applies.
IMMOVABLE OBSTRUCTIONS (Rule 24-2b): Interference by an immovable obstruction occurs only when a ball lies in or on the obstruction or so close to the obstruction interferes with the players stance or the area of his/her intended swing. When using Rule 24, don’t over-read the word relief. It doesn’t mean you always get what you want. By no means does it guarantee you will be able to play directly at the hole after dropping. There is no such thing as line of sight relief in the rules.
PUTTING (Rule 16.1): You may BRUSH loose impediments (worm casts, leaves etc) on you line to the hole, and repair any pitch marks, but you may NOT repair or tap down spike marks or irregularities on your line to the hole. Penalty for breach of rule: match play – loss of hole; stroke play - two stroke penalty
LOST BALLS (Rule 27.1): You are limited to five minutes to search for a lost ball, after which you must take a stroke and distance penalty (the same as if your ball went out-of-bounds). Again if you lose your ball in a tree or shrub and the ball cannot be found or positively identified, then the same lost ball rule applies, ie stroke and distance penalty. Also refer Rule 26.1 and Rule 25.1c
Remember – DON’T tee off until the players in front have all played their second shots and or are definitely out of range.
RECENT RULE CHANGES
Among the most significant of the changes in the 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf are the following:
- Withdrawal of Rule on Ball Moving After Address - Rule 18-2b (Ball Moving After Address) has been withdrawn. This means that if a ball at rest moves after the player addresses it, the player is no longer automatically deemed to have caused the ball to move. A one-stroke penalty under Rule 18-2 will be applied only when the facts show that the player has caused the ball to move.
- Limited Exception to Disqualification Penalty for Submission of Incorrect Score Card - A new exception has been introduced to Rule 6-6d (Wrong Score for Hole) to provide that a player is not disqualified for returning a lower score for a hole than actually taken as a result of failing to include penalty strokes that the player did not know were incurred before returning the score card. Instead, the player incurs the penalty under the Rule that was breached and must add an additional penalty of two strokes for the score card error. In all other cases in which a player returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken, the penalty will continue to be disqualification.
- Modification of Penalty for a Single Impermissible Use of Artificial Devices or Equipment - The penalty for a player’s first breach of Rule 14-3 (Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Abnormal Use of Equipment) during the round has been reduced from disqualification to loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play. The penalty for any subsequent breach of Rule 14-3 will continue to be disqualification.
- Prohibition on Anchoring the Club While Making a Stroke - As announced in May 2013, the new Rule 14-1b (Anchoring the Club) prohibits anchoring the club either “directly” or by use of an “anchor point” in making a stroke. The penalty is loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play.