RULES CORNER
From the Ref ’ s side of the fairway
P articipants in CSGA tournaments have the opportunity to interact with Rules Officials during their play , and at times that can be a big help . Whether you participate in formal tournaments or not , learning about the principles Rules Officials apply can give you an edge .
At a recent tournament at Sterling Farms , I was assigned to officiate the sudden death playoff starting on Sterling ’ s first hole , a short par 4 with OB left . One of the three players who made the playoff pulled his drive , and it ended up about 18 inches from the chain-link OB fence . The other two players were in relatively good shape , so I moved toward the player who faced this challenge and stood at a respectful distance to observe and help if possible .
The hole also has a paved cart path running along the left side , about three feet from the fence at this point , and the ball had settled right between the fence and the path . I watched as this right-handed player tried to squeeze himself between the fence and the ball , trying to figure out if he had even a marginal backswing with which to work . Then he turned his club over , moved to the other side of the ball and started to take repeated left-handed practice swings with which he might punch his ball toward the green with the back of his iron . His stance from this side of the ball was necessarily on the paved cart path .
Here was what was going on in my mind as I watched : “ The player isn ’ t asking me for relief from the boundary fence , he seems to know that the Definitions section of the Rules has a clause regarding Out of Bounds which says ,‘ Objects defining
out of bounds such as walls , fences , stakes and railings are not obstructions and are deemed to be fixed .’ Good deal so far , looks like I won ’ t have to disappoint him with that knowledge .”
Once he started taking a stance on the paved cart path and making practice swings , I began to worry . It was obvious to me that this opposite-handed swing he was testing was a reasonable choice given the challenge the player faced , and I know that Decision 24-2b / 17 allows free relief from interference from the immovable obstruction the cart path represents ( even if the interference is caused by an “ abnormal stroke ”) as long as the abnormal stroke is “ reasonable ” given the circumstance .
“ I hate this , I wish I could tell him that he has the option of a free drop from the path , but doing so would essentially be providing him with advice on how to play — that ’ s not acceptable coming from me . I can intervene to protect him from making a Rules violation if I see that happening , but there ’ s nothing illegal about standing on a cart path , so I ’ m going to have to shut up and hope for the best . I wish he ’ d ask me about his options , one of them is a free drop , in this particular case given the nearby OB the free drop would actually have to be on the fairway side of the cart path — and once that drop is made he could even take his normal right hand swing !”
Sadly , the player never asked , made a decent but not spectacular lefthanded punch , and ended up losing the playoff on the first hole . It will never hurt you to ask a Ref what your options are — consider doing so next time something awkward is going on .
Take care , play well !
20 | CSGA Links // July , 2017 www . csgalinks . org