rulespin
Paul Kruger is a PGA professional at
The Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia.
by Paul Kruger
incidentally ....
Junior golf is alive and well in
New Mexico! Case in point: The
“Shootout In The Desert,” the annual
invitational event held at the Canyon
Club in Albuquerque featuring the
top high school golf teams from
the “Land of Enchantment.” The
2018 edition featured 10 boys teams
(47 players) and 12 girls teams (55
players). Bowen Davis of Manzano
High School was medalist for the
boys shooting a 4-under par 68, and
Cleveland High School’s Jacque
Galloway was medalist for the girls
with a two-over par 74.
During this 18-hole tournament,
Rules Offi cials used “Incident
Reports” to record their interactions
with the players.
While the
occasional viewer of televised golf
events might erroneously conclude
that Rules Offi cials only penalize
players, the more than 60 incident
reports from this tournament clearly
demonstrate that Rules Offi cials are
there to help the players get around
the course with the least amount
of stress. The following summary
of interactions illustrates the many
diff erent ways that Rules Offi cials
assisted the players during this event:
• On ten diff erent occasions, Rules
Offi cials assisted players searching
for their balls. On six occasions,
and to help with pace of play, Rules
Offi cials transported the players
back to where they had previously
played after it was determined that
the ball in question was either lost or
out of bounds.
• Rules Offi cials needed to
sight from stake-to-stake on three
occasions to verify that the players’
balls were, in fact, out of bounds. Per
the Defi nition of “Out of Bounds,”
a ball is out of bounds when all of it
lies out of bounds.
• At the par-3 6th hole, on eight
occasions, Rules Offi cials assisted
players in taking relief from the
water hazard/lateral water hazard.
On one occasion, when the player
dropped within two club-lengths
of the estimated point where the
original ball last crossed the margin
of the hazard, the ball bounced
forward and came to rest nearer to
the hole than the point where the
original ball last crossed the margin
of the hazard. Thus, per Rule
20-2c(vii)(c) [When to Re-Drop], the
Rules Offi cial supervised the player
re-dropping the ball.
•Players sought help with
potentially unplayable balls on eight
diff erent occasions. After the Rules
Offi cials reviewed the relief options
with the players, some players
elected to take relief while others
decided to try to play the ball as it
lay and avoid the one-stroke penalty
associated with taking relief under
Rule 28 [Ball Unplayable]. As
shown in the adjacent photograph
looking in the direction of the hole,
one girl’s ball ended up in a hollow
under a native pinon tree. After
the Rules Offi cial went through her
Rule 28 options, she realized that if
she dropped either within two club-
lengths or on the line extending from
the hole behind where her ball lay,
the dropped ball would very likely
return under the tree. She therefore
decided to play the ball as it lay.
When she announced her intention
to do so, the attending Rules Offi cial
showed her how to fairly take her
stance within the low-hanging
branches and reminded her to
avoid taking any practice swings
that might improve the area of
her intended swing. See Rule 13-2
[Improving Lie, Area of Intended
Stance or Swing, or Line of Play]
and Decision 13-2/1 [Explanation
of “Fairly Taking His Stance”].
• One group of players were
confused about what to do after one
player’s ball at rest on the putting
green was struck by the ball of
another player who had just putted
from the putting green. Per Rule
19-5a [Ball in Motion Defl ected
or Stopped by Another Ball at
Rest], the attending Rules Offi cial
advised that the ball at rest needed
to be replaced without penalty, and
the player who had putted the ball
incurred a two-stroke penalty and
must play her ball from where it
came to rest.
• One player needed assistance
in determining the nearest point of
relief from an area of casual water
per Rule 25 [Abnormal Ground
Conditions].
• One Rules Offi cial encountered
a player shortly after he had picked
up his original ball in bounds and was
walking over to play his provisional
ball in the fairway. The Rules Offi cial
advised the player that he needed to
abandon the provisional ball and
replace his original ball with a one-
stroke penalty pursuant to Rule 18-2
[Ball at Rest Moved by Player …].
7