The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
In my local men’s league, we’re required to play ready golf. We were already 9 minutes behind, and the ranger warned us to pick up the pace or risk having to skip a hole. Long story short: one of the (super-slow) guys in our group stubs a chip. I’m all set and decide to putt while he’s apparently switching to a putter. My ball is two feet from the pin, looking like it might drop for birdie, when from out of nowhere his skulled chip collides with my putt, working out a lot better for him than for me. We played the next ones from where they lay— after I laid into him verbally. My questions: Does “ready golf” have any legal standing? Does he have any responsibility to look before playing his shot? And did we do the right thing, never mind the yelling? – Mark Toor, Boca Raton, FL
The act of playing ready golf is admirable, so kudos to your time-sensitive league officials. That said, it is as relevant as whether one’s shirt is tucked in — nowhere does the notion of ready golf change the outcomes of relevant Rules.
In your understandably irritating scenario, you made a stroke from the putting green, and it was then accidentally deflected by another ball in motion — which happens to be a movable obstruction. The correct procedure, under Rule 11.1b, was for him to play it as it lies but for you to cancel your stroke and replay it. Had you known this, well, it might have saved you some agita, though it wouldn’t have saved you any time.
For more collision guidance from our guru, read on …
On a par 4, my buddy hit a drive into the trees. He topped his provisional down the fairway but managed to knock his next shot onto the front of the green. While looking for my own wayward drive, I found his original ball. Sure enough, his second shot with this ball hits his provisional on the fly and ricochets to within a foot of the hole for a tap-in birdie … I think. Does his provisional ball count as an outside agency and get treated as a rub of the green, or would it be considered part of his equipment and so subject to a penalty? – Sean Harvey, via email
As the noted Scottish golf rules expert Rod Stewart once put it, “Some guys have all the luck/Some guys have all the pain/Some guys get all the breaks/Some guys do nothing but complain…” Which guy is your pal? The lucky one (which, if this was match play, makes you the pained one).
Since the provisional was no longer in play, Rule 19-5 doesn’t apply. In equity and by analogy to Rule 19-5a (check out Decision 19-5/5 if you’ve got a minute to kill) there’s no penalty and the ball is played as it lies. So it’s a strange bird, but a bird all the same.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: golf.com
