1/28/2018 - Farmers Insurance Open

I attended The Farmers Insurance Open yesterday, and I almost saw a spectator step on a ball in play.  It didn't happen, but it could have.  So what's the ruling?

The best I could figure, that would be a ball at rest moved by an outside agency (Rule 18-1).  But it gets interesting from there.  According to Rule 18-1, the ball must be replaced.  I don't think you could get the ball to hover above the hole created by stepping on it, but Rule 18-1, Note 2 refers to rule 20-3b in the scenario that the original lie has been altered.  Rule 20-3b says that you must place the ball in the nearest lie most similar to the original lie that is not more than one club-length from the original lie, and not closer to the hole.

My first thought was that you should drop the ball in accordance with Rule 25-2 (Embedded Ball), but I think placing the ball is more correct in this scenario.

1/1/2018 - Happy New Year!

You may have heard mention of the new golf rules coming into effect for 2018, but there aren't any. The new rules you've heard about don't go into effect until 2019.

Some of the proposed rule changes are pretty major.  Some highlights:

• Accidentally moving your ball would no longer be a penalty.
• Relief will be in inches, not club-lengths
• You can only search for a lost ball for three minutes instead of five minutes
• Free relief for embedded ball in the rough (our club has already adopted this as a club local rule)
• You will be allowed to repair any damage on the green (not just a ball mark)
• No penalty for hitting the flagstick with a putt

And they are still that - proposed.  You can read more about them here:

USGA - Major Proposed Changes

If you happen to play on the PGA Tour (or other high-level tours), then you won't have to worry about Joe Couch Potato calling in a penalty:

Common sense prevails as fans can no longer call in golf rules violations

Are they going to call that the Lexi Thompson rule?

I'll probably be writing more on these as the year wears on.  My first question is if the new rule 11.1 (see first link above) would take away the penalty double-contact.  My reading is that it would.