12/4/2022 - Desert Falls Country Club

I was in the desert to play in the SCGA TOCC, and a member of our club recommended Desert Falls Country Club.  It was a great suggestion.  I really enjoyed the course.  Except that the greens were much slower than Indian Wells Resort, where I played a practice round the day before, and the TOCC the following day.  I blame that for my poor showing (not really).

On a long par 3 (#7) I had a terribly awkward stance in a bunker, and I was trying to figure out how I was going to play the shot.  In the course of doing so, I grounded my club in the bunker.  I knew it was a penalty, but I didn't know what the penalty was.  Per Rule 12.2-b, it's the general penalty (2 strokes), but it's not as cut and dried as I expected.

You can't deliberately touch the sand with your hand, club, or any other object in order to test the condition of the sand.  It was certainly not deliberate.  You can't touch the sand at all with your club "in the area right in front of or right behind your ball"  That's a bit of a gray area.  It was near the ball, but without knowing this exact rule, I wasn't really paying attention to how close to the ball it was, or whether it was in front of, or behind the ball.  Or beside, which would be legal, as long as it wasn't my backswing, or a practice swing.

Interesting....

11/25/2022 - Encinitas Ranch

Can you use a club or an alignment stick on the course, as long as you remove it before you play your shot?

Nope. Rule 10.2-b explicitly states "No Setting Down Object to help in Taking Stance."

I think this used to be okay under the old rules, provided that you remove it before you play your shot.

Two stroke penalty.

11/13/2022 - Admiral Baker North

One member of our foursome was using a new putter, and we were sent out early, so he didn't have a chance to go to the putting green.  We all acknowledged on the first green that this was against the rules, but what is the penalty?

It's the general penalty the first time you do it (two strokes in stroke play).  If you do it a second time, it's a DQ.

 

10/15/2022 - Admiral Baker North

If I'm playing out of a bunker, and my ball doesn't get out, can I rake the bunker in between shots?

Not if doing so improves your lie, or your stance.  If the ball rolls back into your footprints, that's just tough luck.  If you have to stand awkwardly due to your previous footprints, that is also tough luck.

I wish all of these covid golfers would learn to use a freaking rake?!?!

10/8/2022 - Carlton Oaks (UCSD Casual Golf Club)

We've all seen the footage of Patrick Reed improving his lie in a bunker, which is obviously a violation.  But what if you touch the sand during your backswing?  I thought this would be okay.  I was wrong.

I was actually in a waste area, not a bunker, so the rule didn't apply to my instance.  But Rule #12.2b says that you may not touch the sand with your club during a practice swing, or on your backswing.

Wow!

10/2/2022 - Balboa 9

My ball ran through the green and came to rest in tractor tire tracks just beyond the green.  I was pretty sure that I would be entitled to relief, but I had a decent lie, so I played it from where it came to rest.

Turns out that you are not entitled to relief from tire tracks. This would be covered by Rule #16.1, and the definition of ground under repair.  It was not marked as GUR, The definition of GUR includes a hole made to lay pipe, a hole from removing a tree stump, but not tire ruts.  Nor does it include aeration holes.  Of course the committee could declare it GUR, but they did not.

I conceivably could have taken relief due to casual water, but it was really just mud.  There was no standing water.

A bogey is a bogey is a bogey...

8/11/2022 - Miramar Memorial Golf Course

It was slow this afternoon, as I was playing solo behind a foursome.  To kill time, and because my short game really needs the work, I decided to practice chipping on and around the green after I finished a hole.  In the back of my mind, I knew there was some rule about practicing during the round.

This is covered by Rule #5.

Rule #5.2 says that you can practice on the course before or between rounds in match play.  In stroke play, you cannot practice on the course before the round.  That's an interesting difference.  Obviously you can practice on the range, and on any practice green or chipping area.

Rule #5.5 says that you can practice on and near the green of the hole you just completed, but you can't practice from any bunker.  Oops.  Looks like I get a couple of bonus strokes for that violation.  I played solo, so I can't post my round anyway.  The penalty would apply to your next hole.

8/2/2022 - Pebble Beach Golf Links

I got to cross this one off of my bucket list.  It was the first time I've ever used a caddie, and it really seems like there should be some sort of dispensation for that when posting your score.  With the caddie's help (primarily reading putts), I shot 94.  I would have had a hard time breaking 100 without the caddie.

I guess people who play with a caddie do so often?  So it evens out?  I guess it's along the same lines of playing with a foursome, you're more likely to get a read on a few putts over the course of the round, versus playing solo.

7/31/2022 - Sea 'n Air

My first hole started off really badly, and I hit my second shot into a tree along the boundary fence on the left hand side.  I'm pretty sure that I found my ball in the tree, but I wasn't able to get in there to identify it or retrieve it.  I was going to play it as unplayable, but since I couldn't identify it, I had to play it as lost.

I shot 43 on the front with a 9 on #1, so that was really good.  Not quite as good on the back (45), but I was on the good side of 90.

7/1/2022 - Admiral Baker South

A playing partner plucked a weed from the fairway next to his ball and then asked "Was I allowed to do that?"  Nope.

This is a violation of Rule #8 which is "Course Played as It Is Found."  Rule 8.1a explicitly indicates that you cannot move, bend, or break any growing or attached natural object.  The penalty is the General Penalty (2 strokes).

So what do you do if you need to play your ball under a tree, with a bendable tree branch impeding your stance?  This is covered by Rule 8.1b part 6, which explicitly allows you to take a stance, but requires you to use the "least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation."

 

5/30/2022 - Balboa

I thought my second shot on #16 was going to go right into oblivion, but when I got there, a bush had saved me.  My ball wasn't playable, but it wasn't lost.  Unplayable is only a one stoke penalty.  A lost ball is stroke and distance (and time).  The bush was right next to the cart path, but two club lengths would get me into the grass (but not into the fairway).  I pondered the term "complete relief" for about ten seconds before just dropping my ball, and whacking it towards the green.  I pondered dropping the ball on the cart path, and then taking free relief from that to get into the fairway.

So what does "complete relief" mean?  Click on the link to find out, but the key in this scenario is that it only applies to free relief under Rules #13, #16, and #17 (Unplayable is Rule #19).

So if I am taking the penalty stroke for unplayable, I'm pretty sure that I could drop on the cart path, and then take free relief to get to the fairway.  Pro golfers use the rules to their advantage all of the time.  They even have rules officials right there to explain it to them.  So why shouldn't you?

Related - Note that if you are right-handed, and your ball stops in the middle of the cart path, then your nearest point of complete relief is always going to be to the left of the cart path.  You don't get to pick which side.  Even if your ball is one foot right-of-center of the cart path, your nearest point of relief is still going to be on the left side of the cart path (because your stance takes up more than a foot).

5/1/2022 - Bonita

A couple of things came up at Bonita:

Can you take relief from a gravel cart path?  Rule 16 covers abnormal course conditions, and a cart path is considered an immovable obstruction if it is "artificially surfaced."  Is gravel an artificial surface?  I wouldn't consider gravel artificial, but in researching this, I concluded that if the gravel was put there to be a cart path, then the path is "artificially surfaced."  So free relief.  Our club plays a local rule that gives relief from even dirt cart paths.

It is pretty well known that you can't use the slope function of a range-finder during tournament play.  But what is the penalty?  The first violation of Rule 4.3 (Equipment) is the general penalty (2 strokes).  Any further violations result in disqualification.

4/21/2022 - Balboa

I have hit the cart path on the right on #4 during my last two rounds, and in both cases, the ball kicked into the fairway.  Must be the friendly squirrels (more on squirrels below).

So can I pick my ball up in the fairway to see if it's damaged?  Per Rule 4.2c:

If you reasonably believe that your ball has been cut or cracked while playing a hole, you may lift it to check.

This is one of the instances where you can't clean your ball when you pick it up.  You must recreate the lie that you originally had.

The squirrels at Balboa are so friendly and domesticated, that a kid was feeding and petting a squirrel while waiting for the green to clear on #8.  I think that's a little too friendly.

4/16/2022 - Balboa

I was chipping on to the green on #5, and my ball moved during my backswing.  I did not stop the stroke, and my chip came up short of the green.  I was puzzled about the rules in this scenario.  I do not believe that I caused the ball to move.

It's laid out clearly in 9.1b:

If your ball at rest begins moving after you have begun the stroke or the backswing for a stroke and you go on to make the stroke:

    The ball must not be replaced, no matter what caused it to move.

    Instead, you must play the ball from where it comes to rest after the stroke.

So I did it right.  No penalty, play the ball from its new spot.

If I had caused the ball to move, there would probably be a penalty.  See Rule 9.4.  It's complicated.

If I had aborted the stroke, and I had not caused the ball to move, then I would have to play from the new position of the ball, with no penalty.

4/13/2022 - Torrey Pines South

Does it bother you when the tee markers aren't aligned properly?  It bothers me more than it should, but I guess that's my problem.  It bothered one of my playing partners enough that he would move the tee marker to align with the tee shot that he was going to play.

Clearly you're not allowed to do that, but what is the penalty?  Rule 6.2b4 says "If the player improves the conditions affecting the stroke by moving any such tee-marker before playing from the teeing area, he or she gets the general penalty for breach of Rule 8.1a(1)."  So how do you determine if the player did it to "improve the conditions?"  Well, why else would they do it?

So it's a two-stroke penalty to move the tee markers.

At least he put them back after he played his shot.

4/5/2022 - Cypress Ridge

It really bugs me that the SCGA / USGA don't trust me to post a score when I play solo.  I very often play with random people who have no idea what my score is, and no idea whether or not I'm going to post it.  So why do they not trust me if I'm playing solo?

3/27/2022 - Marine Memorial

It seems to be a common misconception that you get relief from a man-made object in your line of play.  You do not.

I missed the fairway left, and there was a sprinkler control box blocking my path back to the fairway.  But it was not impeding my stance or my swing.  So no relief.

You do get relief from your line of play on the green. But anywhere else, it's only stance and swing.

You often hear of relief from a Temporary Immovable Obstruction on TV.  That's different.  That's a man-made object that isn't usually there (like the grandstands).  The only time I've ever used that rule was when they were setting up the grandstands at Torrey Pines prior to the FIO.

 

2/26/2022 - Del Mar Golf Center

I lost my tee time due to a frost delay at Balboa this morning (again?!?!), so I went to the range later in the morning.  I was practicing putting, and happened to grab a couple of the Srixon Divide two-tone balls.  I found it really helpful to line up the ball, and see the roll out with the orange half on one side, and the yellow half on the other.  I found that much easier to see than just a line on the golf ball.

So can you play with one ball, and putt with another?  As it turns out, no.

For high-level tournaments, they often have the one ball rule in effect.  You can only play the specific model of ball that you start the round with.  That's only at the highest levels, though.  For regular SCGA play, you can swap in a different ball at the start of a hole, or any time you are taking relief.  But you cannot swap in a ball to putt with unless the ball you were using is cut, or otherwise damaged.

It could be advantageous to use a specific type of ball for a specific hole, given certain wind conditions, or the like.  But it has to be a conforming ball, so it's probably not going to be much of an advantage.  And as noted above, you can't do that at the highest levels of the sport.

1/1/2022 - Admiral Baker North

Can I use practice equipment during a round?

I had heard of this, and it came up during a round, so I looked it up.  Specifically, can you swing one of those practice clubs during a round.  Turns out that you can't.

Rule 4.3a-6 says that you may not use any golf training or swing aid that creates a potential advantage by helping with swing plane, alignment, etc.

You can use something for stretching (including a club), but nothing that would help with your swing.

Interesting...