Golf Rules - Q&A

Hey,
Sharing some stuff I get regularly from email.


Ball Cleaning
Q. In which of these six situations may a player clean their ball when they have lifted it under the Rules?

a) When taking relief under penalty from a water hazard.
b) When taking relief from ground under repair.
c) When requested to lift their ball because it interferes with another player's stance.
d) When dropping a ball in a bunker after taking relief from a hole made by a burrowing animal.
e) When determining if it is unfit for play.
f) When taking relief for a ball embedded in a closely mown area.



A: a), b), d) and f) only

Part of Rule 21:
A ball on the putting green may be cleaned when lifted under Rule 16-1b. Elsewhere, a ball may be
cleaned when lifted, except when it has been lifted:

a. To determine if it is unfit for play (Rule 5-3);
b. For identification (Rule 12-2), in which case it may be cleaned only to the extent necessary for
identification; or
c. Because it is assisting or interfering with play (Rule 22).

Cleaning a ball under the above exceptions (a, b and c) is a one stroke penalty.


DECISION 21/2 – Whether Ball Cleaned Through Act of Caddie Throwing It to a player.



Q. A player is asked to lift his ball, which is lying through the green or in a hazard, because the ball interferes with the play of another ball. The player authorizes the caddie to lift the ball, and having marked the position and lifted the ball, the caddie throws the ball to the player who catches it. Except when the ball lies on the putting green, it is not permissible to clean a ball lifted because of interference. Does the act of throwing and catching the ball constitute cleaning it?



A. Whether the ball is cleaned is a question of fact. The action described could result in a ball being cleaned. Any doubt should be resolved against the player.

Note – An action as simple and similar as putting the ball in your pocket is an act of cleaning the ball and attracts a penalty of one stroke.


Score this one.

Chas hits his Par-3 tee shot into thick rough and then decelerates on the tricky chip shot, hitting his ball twice and leaving it in the rough. This time he practices his intended chip shot at the side of the ball hitting the top of a hidden ball lying in the rough. When he does strike his own ball it is a good one, coming to rest on the putting green twenty feet from the hole. He flattens a heel mark on his line of putt and holes out the long putt. What is Chas's score for the hole?


1 - Tee shot.
2 & 3 - First chip and one penalty stroke for the double hit (Rule 14-4).
4 - Second chip onto the putting green. Note: There is no penalty for accidentally hitting a concealed ball (Decision 7-2/7).
5 & 6 -Two penalty strokes for repairing damage to the putting green that was not an old hole plug or caused by the impact of a ball (Rule 16-1c).
7 - Long putt into the hole.

Chas scores 7 for the hole.

Do You Know?

A player may ask anyone the distance from any point A to any point B. Definition of Advice.

Information on distance is not advice.


Golf Quip: Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. ~ William Wordsworth