The Rules of Golf Are Complicated! Thankfully, we have the teacher. our Rules Guy knows the book inside out. Have a question? He has all the answers.
I hit a shot into a green bunker. My ball was half way up the slope. As I was setting up a stance, I let the sand slide down the face of my ball along the journey, ending up in the flat bottom of the bunker. What next? – Fred Mohr, Valencia, Penn.
When Fred Mohr takes a stand, damn it, Fred Mohr takes a STAND! Seriously, Mr. Mohr, you should tread lightly – alas, this is what the Rules refer to as a double whammy. (No, they don’t, but we do.)
;)
Rules Boy: Can you cool off from a stand on the cart path if your ball is in a penalty area?
Rules Guy
You caused your ball to move in a situation that is not an exception to the principle of playing the ball as it stands, so you will take a penalty stroke and have to replace the ball, under Rule 9.4. Since the lie has been altered in the sand, to replace this ball you would make it to the original spot, then recreate that half-closed lie (see Rule 14.2d). And then try to play the shot without moving the ball again. Don’t let your legs fail you now!
For more posture guidance from our teacher, read on…
A player crashes his car on the fairway. When he drives his ball for his second shot, his foot is in a deep gap left by a previous set. He sees a mound of turf a few yards ahead, picks it up and puts it in the divot, then plays his shot. By improving his posture, has he broken the rules? – John Alario, Staten Island, NY
Cruelly, he has. Replacing divots is proper etiquette, but to do so in this case is to break one of the most fundamental rules of golf, namely, to play the course as you find it.
Rule 8.1a prohibits improving any condition that affects the stroke—here, the intended stance area—by certain actions, one of which is changing the surface of the ground by substituting a hole in a hole.
He gets our sympathy as well as the overall penalty of two strokes in stroke play and the loss of the hole in match play.
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Have a question about the Rules? Ask Guy Rules! Send your questions, confusion and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise you won’t throw the book at you.
