Sue Warner, Rules & Etiquette, March 2009

To keep play moving, putt now and score later.  After completing a hole, move ahead to the next tee box before writing down your score.

 

The responsibility for playing the proper ball rests with the player.  Each player should put an identification mark on her ball.

 

The use of cell phones on the golf course can be a distraction to the other players and should be limited to emergency calls only. 

 

Help your playing partners by watching the flight of their balls, especially off the tee.  Using a visual marker, such as a tree or bush, to remember where the ball landed will help your group find the ball quickly.

 

You may not ground your club or touch any part of the bunker with your club during set up or back swing.  This is a 2-stroke penalty. 

 

WHO’S AWAY?  The player who is farthest from the hole has the right to play first – even if that player is on the green and someone else is off the green.

 

Players should play at a good pace.  It is the group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front, not ahead of the group behind them. 

 

When a player’s ball is in a hazard (sand trap), a stone lying in or touching the hazard may not be moved.

A player must hole out with the same ball that she played from the tee box unless the ball is lost or out of bounds.  (This means no substituting an old ball to get over the water!)

 

“Gimme” putts are not free!  They are to be counted as a stroke, the same as if the player actually struck the ball.  Also, “gimme” putts cannot be used during a tournament. 

 

If a ball lands in casual water (such as a puddle from rain or the sprinkler system) a player may move the ball (no closer to the hole) without penalty. 

 

 

 

Pat Swift Rules & Etiquette 2007

 

 

A ball is considered lost when it is not found by anyone within five minutes of searching.  The penalty for lost ball is a stroke plus distance.  If you choose to hit a second ball close to where you lost the first it is a two stroke penalty. 

 

If you go back to the original place the ball was struck, it is a one stroke penalty.If you drop a ball and hit from the place you thought it was lost then the distance becomes one stroke, therefore, if you do this it is a two stroke penalty.Hope this answers your question.

 

"To speed pace of play, after hitting one ball into the water, you may carry the ball across and drop on the other side of the hazard.  Example, if you are lying 2, and your third shot goes in the water, count 3 in, 4 out, plus 1 to carry over.  After dropping on the other side of the hazard you are lying 5, hitting 6.  You may try to hit over a second time dropping a ball behind point of entry, but after two balls in the water,  you must carry over." 

 

 A ball barely touching the green is on the green.

You cannot repair a divot in the fairway or rough if it is in your line of play.

 

A ball is considered lost when it is not found by anyone within five minutes of searching.  The penalty for lost ball is a stroke plus distance.  If you choose to hit a second ball close to where you lost the first it is a two stroke penalty"

 

 

To keep things moving, putt now, score later.  After completing a hole, move ahead to the next tee box before writing down your score.


If your ball is accidentally moved on the green by another player’s ball you must replace it to its original position. Rule 18-5  The other player plays her ball where it came to rest.  Rule 19-5

 

Unplayable Lie:  If a player deems her ball to be unplayable, one option is to drop a ball within two clubs length of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole, with one-stroke penalty.  Rule 28

 

Help your playing partners by watching the flight of their balls, especially off the tee.  Using a visual marker such as a tree or bush to remember where the ball landed will help your group find the ball quickly.

 

A player must have no more than 14 clubs in her bag during a round of golf.  Rule 4-4

 

Whoever finishes putting first should pick up the flag stick and be ready to put it back in the cub when the last person has holed her put.

 

If your chip shot should fall short of the hole after it hits a club of another player who left it lying half on and half off the green, neither player incurs a penalty.  It’s your responsibility to check for any obstructions.  You must play your ball where it came to rest.  Rule 19-4

 

If your ball comes to rest in the fairway in mud or casual water, you may take relief by locating the nearest unsaturated turn and drop, without penalty, one club-length.  Rule25/2

 

Immovable obstruction/Rule 24-2:  Definition:  anything artificial that is in bounds and is not easily moved.  Examples:  Cart paths, electric power boxes, maintenance sheds, ball washer, etc.  If your ball is on the obstruction, or stance or swing are interfered with, you may take a drop, without penalty, within one club length of the nearest point of relief.

 

If a player’s club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player must count the stroke and add a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all.

 

Water in bunker:  Without penalty, drop the ball in the bunker or under penalty of one stroke, drop the ball outside the bunker, in line where the ball lay.  Rule 25.1

 

Boundries:  if any part of your ball touches a hazard line, it’s in the hazard.  Same goes for the putting green and teeing area.  But, a ball must be completely out-of-bounds or it’s still in bounds.

 

WHO'S AWAY? The player farthest from the hole has the right to play first--even if that player is on the green and someone else is off the green

 

 

Doris Jenkins Rules & Etiquette 2006

Drjenkins10@sbcglobal.net

 

Question:

If there are several twosomes behind you, does a foursome have the right away?

Also should one put the score down at the NEXT hole to keep the movement going?

 

Answer:

I talked to Pat at LaFortune and he said the two twosomes should make a foursome.

 But in the event that you do have more than one twosome behind you, as long as you

 keep moving, you should not have to let them play through.  If you let more than one

twosome play through, you would be so far behind that it would not be practical.

 

 Yes, put the score down at the NEXT hole to keep the movement going.

 

#1.  Be on Time  (arrive 30 minutes early).

 

 #2. If a ball, when not in play, falls off a tee or is knocked off the tee by the player addressing it,

 it may be re-teed without penalty.  However, if a stroke is made at the ball, the stroke  counts.

 

#3.  If a competitor makes a stroke or strokes at the wrong ball (that is not in a hazard) he incurs a penalty of two strokes.

 

#4.  Record your score at the next hole - move away from the green to allow players behind you to hit.

 

Reminders Used on Pairings sheet:

Doris Jenkins reminds us if we lose a ball, we drop another ball and take a one stroke penalty. 

 

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