TOPICS NEWSLETTER - South Florida PGA Golf

ules cont.
lengths but I knew it hadn’t and he was going to have to either
play the ball as it lay or deem it unplayable for a second
time. It was definitely a bad break but Decision 28/3 tells
us, “That if a ball dropped under Rule 28 comes to rest in
the original position or in another position from where it is
unplayable, the player must either play the ball as it lies or
again invoke Rule 28.” He decided to play the ball as it lay.
Given the situation, what would have been the ruling had
the player stopped his dropped ball? Decision 20-2c/4
tells us, “There is no penalty if the player or caddie stops
a dropped ball after it has rolled to a position from which
the player would be required to re-drop it under Rule 20-2c,
provided it is reasonable to assume that the ball would not
return to a position at which Rule 20-2c would be inapplicable.
However, if a player or caddie acts prematurely and
stops a dropped ball before it has reached such a position,
the player incurs a penalty of two strokes under Rule 1-2 and
must play the ball from the spot where it was stopped.”
The last situation I encountered wasn’t a rules inquiry but I
wanted to share it with you to introduce one of the unwritten
rules of golf officiating.
The situation took place on the eighth hole as I was watching
a player, his fellow competitor and both their caddies
deliberating over how to take relief from a sprinkler head. I
maneuvered my cart into a position where the players could
see me and I continued to watch. The third competitor in
the group said to his caddie but loud enough for me to hear,
“I don’t know why he is just sitting there and not helping
them?” I didn’t say anything to the player because it was
neither the time nor the place to explain the duties of rules
officials.
As a rule of thumb, rules officials don’t get involved with
rulings unless asked by the players. The only time a rules
official would jump into a ruling without being asked is if
he sees a player about to breach a rule. A seasoned official
practices preventative officiating rather than watching a
player breach a rule and then inform the player of his/her
breach. In addition to preventative officiating, a rules official
is there to interpret the rules of golf for the players and
make rulings when necessary. Rule 6-1 states, “The player
and his caddie are responsible for knowing the rules.” Can
you imagine how slow a round of golf would be if Rule 6-1
wasn’t in the book? So, the next time you’re playing a competitive
round of golf and you and your fellow competitors
are deliberating on a ruling with a rules official standing idly
by, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t get involved. He is acting
under the assumption of Rule 6-1.
In closing I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful
holiday season and I look forward to sharing more
rules situations in 2011.
p.a.t. passers
Congratulations to those who passed their Player
Ability Test October 1st at San Carlos Golf Club:
Kris Andreu
Josh Belau
Brittany Bertilson
Manoj Bhatti
Michael Cavaseno
Warren Chappuis
Keith Clawson
Zachary Edenfield
Donald Erdman
Michael Frattarelli
Dean Fry
Alexandre Giguere
Wyler Gins
Joseph Glass
Brett Graf
Chris Hagy
Joseph Hammer
Kenneth Hendricks
Kevin Hendricks
Charles Hollinbeck
Travis Hopson
Eric Kasdin
Scott Kash
William Kuhn
Robert Kusek
Philip Lea
Robert Lee
Sam Logan
Charles Miller
Ryan Miller
Connor Murphy
Zachary Newman
Andrew Pascoe
Alvaro Puche
Ricardo Ronderos
Erin Ronsen
Tony Serra
Nicholas Silvin
Sean Stewart
Eberley Stonestreet
Aaron Taylor
Kody Tibbetts
George Twyman
Zack Walker
Matthew Whalen
Jacob Whitehouse
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