Rules Corner

August 21, 2008

When Patrick Reed arrived at a shot, which was in the middle of the 14th fairway, he found a bumble bee perched on his ball. What to do? Decision 23-1/5 tells the story.

The Definition of Loose Impediments provides that worms, insects and the like are loose impediments. The term "the like" includes creatures such as spiders. A web made by a spider is considered to be a cast made by an insect and is also a loose impediment, even if attached to another object.

Patrick "encouraged" the bee to fly away and then played his stroke. When trying to remove the insect, a player must be wary of moving the ball in breach of Rule 18-2a, which would carry a one-stroke penalty in either match or stroke play, and the ball must be replaced.

Jeff Hall, USGA Managing Director of Rules and Competitions

August 20, 2008

Many players keep focusing on all the shots they need to make or will see at the U.S. Amateur this week, but what about the person who has to write all the names and numbers at the scoreboard? Unlike the players, who hit approximately 60 to 70 shots, the person on the board has to write approximately 14,000 numbers and names. Wow that's a lot of writing. He also has to be there from dawn to dusk. Thankfully he has a lot of good helpers this week.

In stroke play, you play the course in, but in match play you are playing just one person and you cannot forget it. It doesn't matter how many strokes you take as long as you finish one better than your opponent. Strategy and order of play are an important part of match play. The player farther from the hole always plays first (Rule 10 1b) and if a player plays out of turn (Rule 10 1c) the opponent can require the player to cancel his stroke and in correct order play a ball from where the last stroke was made. So if your opponent hits it in the hole, it would be best to recall the stroke. But if he hits it out of bounds or in a water hazard, then just let him play.

Teresa S. Belmont, USGA Assistant Director, Women's Competitions

August 19, 2008

With 312 players and hundreds of parents, parents, volunteers, spectators and golf carts, anything can happen to the golf ball. So what do you do?

Under the Rules of Golf it all depends upon whether your ball was at rest (Rule 18) or in motion after a stroke and deflected (Rule 19). Here are two situations that were applied at the U.S. Amateur on Tuesday.

Under Rule 19-5, if a player’s ball in motion after a stroke is deflected or stopped by another ball in play and at rest, the player must play his ball as it lies. The player whose ball was moved refers to Rule 18-5 as his ball was at rest when it was moved. This player shall replace his ball where it was moved from. There is no penalty unless both balls lie on the putting green prior to the stroke

If a spectator picks up the ball then you refer to Rule 18-1. The spectator is an outside agency and, therefore, there is no penalty to the player and the ball shall be replaced.

Teresa S. Belmont, USGA Assistant Director, Women's Competitions

August 18, 2008

Most of the 300-plus people working the U.S. Amateur this week are volunteers. There are so many ways to give of your time at a championship – you could serve as a marshal, a caddie, a shuttle driver, or assist with registration or scoring, or even help with maintenance or evacuation. Without the volunteers' help and support a USGA championship could not function.

Typically, volunteers are made up of local people who are members of the club or live in the area. Sometimes the force is made up of people from far away who love the game of golf and just want to give back. The USGA offers its members a chance to volunteer at all of its championships and a few members have answered the call. One gentleman has worked several USGA championships in the Pinehurst area and enjoys being a part of golf history. Another worked the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, and is now here at the Amateur. He plans to volunteer at the U.S. Open in 2009.

Volunteers are the true heart of the USGA. So to all the volunteers that have worked USGA championships or serve on USGA committees, we thank you for your support of the game and your dedication to golf.

Hypothetical: In a casual Sunday round of golf, your ball goes astray and you search for it and hope to find it. But what happens when you add spectators, chairs, scoreboards, etc.? It could be anywhere.

At the U.S. Amateur Monday, a player's ball landed against a spectator's chair on the Pinehurst No. 2's fourth hole. According to the Rules of Golf, the chair is considered an obstruction and in this case the chair is easily movable, so we refer to Rule 24-1: Movable Obstruction.

With the ball resting against a chair, a player is entitled to relief without penalty and shall remove the chair (similar to a ball lying against a rake). If the ball moves because of the removal of the chair, then the ball must be replaced and there is no penalty provided the movement of the ball was directly attributable to the removal of the chair; otherwise Rule 18-2a applies.

Teresa S. Belmont, USGA Assistant Director, Women's Competitions

August 17, 2008

The No. 2 course here at Pinehurst is a Donald Ross masterpiece. It's well known for its difficult putting greens and treacherous "closely mown" surrounds. The greens, being perched up in the air, repel approach shots, leaving the players with challenging and thought-provoking recoveries. The thought-provoking angle is primarily a function of the areas surrounding the greens being cut to fairway height, thus a recovery might be a flop shot, a pitch, a chip and run or even a putt – lots of options depending on the player's skills and nerve! When the course is firm, many players will choose to keep the ball along the ground (chip and run or putt) and this can make for a Rules situation that is unique to Pinehurst's No. 2 course.

There are a number of immovable obstructions (primarily sprinkler heads) located very near the edge of the putting greens in the closely mown areas. In some cases, these obstructions will be directly on the line that a player might like to putt or chip and run his ball. As playing the ball "along the ground" in these cases is entirely reasonable, we will utilize a Local Rule (see Appendix I of the Rules of Golf) that grants relief when an obstruction is (1) on or within two club-lengths of the green (2) is within two club-lengths of the ball and (3) intervenes on the player's line of play. So, as a result of this Local Rule being used, you may see a player this week granted relief from an immovable obstruction even though it does not physically interfere with his area of intended stance, swing or lie of his ball – interference as we typically see it (Rule 24-2a).

This particular Local Rule is used quite commonly on the links style course of the British Isles where golf is played along the ground. There are few courses in the United States that have conditions that warrant using this Local Rule, but Pinehurst No. 2 is one of them. Courses that have rough height grass surrounding the putting green would not want to use this Local Rule as the recovery shots around such greens are generally played in the air and not along the ground – unless perhaps if the shot is mis-hit!

Jeff Hall, USGA's Managing Director of Rules and Competitions