Official ruled correctly
Q. During the UNLV Women’s Invitational at Boulder Creek I saw a ruling I still don’t understand. A player’s ball was on the cart path of Coyote Run No. 9 up against the curb. The nearest relief was definitely in the tall grass on the right side. I saw a rules official give the player relief in the fairway on the left side which gave her a direct line to the flag and a nice lie. What happened to nearest relief? — Coach Jake
A. Jake, you would be right if the entire right side of that hole wasn’t marked as a lateral water hazard. On the rule sheet for this tournament it states that the margin of the hazard is the outside edge of the cart path. When your ball is “through the green” and you are taking relief from an obstruction you cannot drop in a hazard. The nearest relief that wasn’t in a hazard was indeed on the left side in the fairway.
Q. I know you probably have answered this question before but my husband and I are still in disagreement. He says that if you drop a ball and it hits your club which you left lying on the ground, it is a 1-stroke penalty for hitting your equipment. I say there is no penalty. Who is right and why? — Penny and Paul Schor
A. When you are dropping your ball there is no penalty for hitting your equipment but you must redrop the ball under Rule 20-2a. What your husband is thinking of is under Rule 19-2 it states: “If a player’s ball is accidentally deflected or stopped by himself, his partner or either of their caddies or equipment, the player incurs a penalty of 1 stroke.”
Q. In high school golf tournaments, all groups have a monitor with them counting the strokes. Last month at the state tournament, my daughter received two bad rulings from the monitor and I think this is very unfair and the rulings should have been corrected. I talked to you about the rulings and was informed that since all players are given a rule sheet and told not to take rulings from anybody but a rules official nothing could be done after the fact. You stated that it is the player’s responsibility to know the rules and follow them. I understand this but would like to know if anything be done in the future? — Concerned Parent
A. In a perfect world, coaches teach, parents watch, monitors count strokes, rules officials do the rules and all players hit the ball straight down the fairway. Since it is not a perfect world you need to tell your daughter not to take rulings from anybody but a rules official and, if one is not available, to play two balls under 3-3. She was not the only player this happened to.
For readers who want to know what the rulings were: One player dropped her ball two club-lengths from the margin of the lateral water hazard and ended up standing in the hazard to make the stroke. The ball was in play outside the hazard and the monitor had her redrop it saying she couldn’t stand in the hazard. That player received a 2-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place.
Another player was told that all the desert was a lateral hazard when actually it was “through the green.” She also received a 2-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place. The lucky thing was that these rulings were caught before the player signed her scorecard and no one was disqualified.
Sue May is a U.S. Open rules official, a member of the USGA Senior Women’s committee and tournament director of the Women’s Trans National Championship. Address your rules questions to suemay@cox.net.