Do You Know Your Options

Now, I’m working on a rules of golf kick.  I challenge you to a test of your golf rules knowledge.  Many golfers that I encounter are unaware of how to proceed when they incur an infraction while they are playing golf.

Lets look for example when you ball comes to rest on the edge of a cart path, and to hit your shot you will have your feet on the path area.  You are entitled to relief, but where?  This is where golfers start to go astray.  Many players will move the ball to which ever side of the cart path will give them the best chance of hitting the shot well.  The proper way to proceed is to find the nearest point of relief of both ball and stance.  You then are able to drop the ball within one club length no nearer to the hole from that spot.

Another very common mistake that I see made on the golf course is how to proceed when you hit a ball out of bounds.  Typically, most players will go to the area where the ball traveled out of bounds, drop another ball, add a stroke, and continue playing the hole.  The correct way to proceed is to hit a shot from where you last played.  If it was your tee shot that went sailing over the fence you need to re-tee.  If you hit an errant shot from the middle of the fairway, you are required to drop a ball as near as possible to where you played from.  Hoping you don’t end up in the divot that you just made, that can really compound your problem.

Now sometimes the players will just drop from where the ball went out of bounds to help maintain the pace of play…not wanting to slow down the group they are playing with, or the group(s) behind them.  But remember, you have options that will allow you to play within the rules, and not slow anyone down.  You are allowed to hit a “provisional” shot.  For this last situation, you saw the ball fly towards the fence, but aren’t quite sure if it stayed in play or out of bounds.  You can declare you are hitting a provisional for an out of bounds ball, and hit another shot before you ever leave that area and start looking for the original ball.  You now have hit two balls, and if you find you first one to be playable the second shot is forgotten and you proceed on your way.  If your original shot did end up out of bounds your provisional now is played for the remainder of the hole, also adding the penalty stroke.  Playing a provisional is a great way to save time when you think you hit a questionable shot.

By learning how the rules of golf are written will help  guide you through situations when you are playing golf.  Knowing your options when you need to invoke a rule will not only help you, but you will also prove to be a valuable asset to the rest of your group when they get into sticky situations about the rules and how they read.