8/14/2025 - Miramar

My approach on #13 clipped a tree, but I saw it land on the green and roll towards the hole.  Birdie opportunity!

But when I went to putt, it wasn't my ball.  Oops.  Now what happens?

I checked the bunkers around the green, just in case it was a stray ball on the green, and mine was somewhere nearby.  It was not.  I had pretty clearly played the wrong ball from the fairway. 

This is covered by Rule #6.3c.  Playing the wrong ball is a 2-stroke penalty, but you have to correct the mistake by playing out the hole with the correct ball.  Failure to do that is DQ.

Given the pace of play at any course in San Diego (and probably anywhere else), going back to find and play the correct ball is just not a viable option.  I'm surprised that there's not a model local rule to cover this.  Something along the lines of the 2-stroke penalty for a lost ball.  The lost ball local rule is not intended for high level competitions, and exists entirely for pace of play.  We need a local rule that covers this scenario.

I took the two stroke penalty and moved on to the next hole.  I was playing solo and can't post this round anyway.

 

 

8/11/2025 - Oaks North (North / East)

I got my first hole-in-one today.  Or did I?

If you look closely at the pic, the ball is not resting at the bottom of the hole.  So is this a hole-in-one?

Yes.  Rule #13.2c says that if the ball is resting against the flagstick in the hole and any part of the ball is below the surface of the putting green, then the ball is holed.  It says that if no part of the ball is below the surface of the putting green, then it is not holed.  But I'm not sure how that could happen.  Unless maybe you were using one of those jumbo golf balls?

The old rule was that if you remove the flagstick and it falls in, then it was holed.  If you removed the flagstick and it did not fall in the hole, then you had to play it as it lies (not a HIO).  I jiggled the flagstick and let the ball fall to the bottom of the hole just to make sure.