Rule of the Week 9th July - Definitions

This week we shall look at the definitions found in the front of the rule book. If you know and understand these it goes a long way to you understanding most rules.

 

In the last rule posted in this series, "the Putting Green" some people got confused with a paragraph about Indicating the line of play.

Rule 8-2b says - When the player's ball is on the putting green, the player, his partner or either of their caddies may, before but not during the stroke, point out a line for putting, but in doing so the putting green must not be touched. A mark must not be placed anywhere to indicate a line for putting.

The definition of partner is - A "partner" is a player associated with another player on the same side.

So the only time you have a partner is when you are playing a four ball or foursomes etc. You do not have a partner in a single event, so if you get on the 1st tee on Saturday morning and throw the balls up for to play for a square on the board, the player you end up playing with against the other two is not your partner according to the rules, he is a fellow competitor and therefore cannot indicate the line of putt or give you advice. So what is a competitor. A competitor is a player in a stroke play competition (for the purpose of the rules of golf this also includes single stableford & par events). A fellow competitor is any person with whom the competitor plays. Neither is a partner of the other.

Now to the next question, What is advice.

Advice is any counsel or suggestion that could influence a player in determining his play, the choice of club or the method of making a stroke. Information on the rules, distance or matters of public information, such as the position of hazards or the flagstick on the putting green, is not advice. So simply put, you can ask any of your fellow competitors how far to the bunker or how far to the back of the green or what colour the flag is, but you cannot ask what club they hit, or what way they think a putt will break or ask is they can spot why you are slicing everything.

Now we shall look at a few things that can cause problems on the course.

G.U.R ground under repair is any part of the course so marked by order of the committee or so declared by its authorised representative. All ground and any grass, bush, tree or any other growing thing within the ground under repair are part of the ground under repair.Ground under repair include materials piled for removal and a hole made by a greenkeeper even if not so marked. Grass cuttings and other material left on the course that have been abandoned and are not intended to be removed are NOT ground under repair unless so marked.

What are Loose Inpediments

Loose impediments are natural objects, including

• Stones, leaves, twigs, branches and the like.
• Dung, worms, insects and the like, and the casts and heaps made by them,
  

provided they are not:

• fixed or growing
• solidly embedded, or
• adhering to the ball

Sand & loose soil are loose impedements on the putting green, but not elsewhere.

Snow & natural ice, other than frost, are either casual water or loose impediments at the option of the player.

Dew & frost are NOT loose impedements.

So lets say you land in a bunker, what can you move and what can't you move. The picture below shows loose impediments on the left and movable obstructions on the right. Simply put, Loose impediments CANNOT be touched if your ball lies in the bunker, Movable Obstruction CAN be removed from the bunker before you play your shot.

The definition of Ball Moved can cause problems at times.

the definition reads - The ball is deemed to have moved if it leaves its position and comes to rest in any other place. How many times have you addressed the ball and see it oscillate or wobble, so long as it does not move of the spot there is no penalty. One rule you have to be careful of is when the ball lies in deep rough, and the ball drops down when it is addressed. In that case even though the ball has not moved forward or back it has left the spot where it came to rest and you would be penalised.

The last Definition we will look at is addressing the ball. This definition ties in with the last one as if the ball moves the first thing you have to determine is had you addressed the ball before the ball moved. The definition reads - A player has addressed the ball when he has taken his stance and has also grounded the club, except that in a hazard the player has addressed the ball when he has taken his stance. This problem occurs mostly on the putting green, how many times have you seen a player place the club behind the ball to putt and the ball moves. One way to avoid this, is not to ground your putter, many pros deliberately leave the putter off the ground by a couple of millimeters so that if the ball moves they are not penalised. Indeed the great Jack Nicklaus is said to have never grounded his putter in all the years he played golf.

Go to page 30 of your rule book and check out all the definitions, they could save you a few shots if you know them and use them accordingly on the course.