No Relief!

One of my very favorite tournament assignments of the year is the MacKenzie, hosted by Cal at the Meadow Club, an Alistair MacKenzie design on one of the most beautiful sites imaginable that does not involve an ocean.  It was here where I first asked an NCGA official about his job.  He told me how to apply, and I've been fortunate enough to be assigned to this tournament for the last three years.

The course features one of the busiest intersections I've ever seen.  The sixth, thirteenth, and fifteenth holes run parallel to each other, six and thirteen going one way, fifteen the other.  I wrote about it after last year's event, which you can read about here.

There's never a dull moment here.  This year, I had four separate requests for relief.  The answer in each case was no.  Here's a brief rundown, with the explanations.  In all cases the pictures are re-creations of the situation, taken after the fact.

This player's ball was in the thirteenth fairway.  He was playing the fifteenth.  You can see the green in the distance.  There is a distance marker about a foot behind his ball.

I was stationed nearby, and heard the player tell his fellow competitors that he was going to take relief from the disk.  I approached him and asked what he was thinking.  He told me the disk interfered with his swing.  He said he was afraid he would hit it on his downswing.  (Really?  A guy playing division one golf?) Another official nearby joined in the discussion.  We told him there was no such thing as "mental interference" and he must play it as it lies, unless he preferred to take an unplayable lie.  Decision 24-2a/1, "Mental Interference by Obstruction," deals pretty clearly with this situation.

This ball is in the rough left of the thirteenth fairway.  As you can see, there is a sprinkler control box, also in the rough, more or less on the player's line of play.

The player's coach called me over and asked if his player got relief.  I informed him that unless the obstruction interfered with the player's stance or swing (Rule 24-2a), the answer was no.  The coach made the argument that since the box was so close (less than ten yards) from the fairway, there should be a local rule allowing for relief.  I told him that I would get another opinion if he wished, or his player could play another ball under 3-3, but my answer was no relief.  He dropped the issue and the player played on.

A bit later, I found Decision 33-8/17, which states that the committee is not allowed to adopt such a Local Rule, since it is not unusual to find irrigation control boxes on golf courses.  Bingo!  A word for word explanation!  I showed it to the coach later in the day.  His smile told me that he probably already knew that, and was just trying to help his player.  Looking back, I'm sure he did.  He's been in golf all his life, and his brother is a multiple major championship winner...

The ball below was in lateral water hazard to the right of the sixteenth fairway, on the edge of the bridge which crosses it.

The player asked if he was entitled to relief from an obstruction.  Nope.  Rule 24-2, Note 1: "If a ball is in a water hazard, the player may not take relief from interference by an immovable obstruction.  The player must play the ball as it lies or proceed under Rule 26-1."

Since not only was the bridge in the player's swing path, but the ball was also sitting in a depression, he took relief outside the hazard.  In fact, he took what is surely the least known option:  He went to the other side of the lateral hazard (to the right), to a point equidistant to the hole as the entry point of his original shot, and proceeded from there, since it offered both a cleaner lie and better angle to the green.  This point is a lot easier to ascertain now that the NCAA allows the use of laser range finders!

Finally...  This player's ball was a few paces off the putting green, with a couple of sprinkler heads in his line of play.

He asked for relief so he could putt.  Tournaments often adopt a Local Rule allowing for relief if the the obstruction is within two club lengths of the green, and the ball is within two club lengths of the obstruction--the "Two and Two" Rule.  In this case, the committee had decided not to adopt this, as was noted in the rules sheet each player received.  So, again, no relief!

Interesting day.  One day, four denials of relief.  Best advice:  Play Hard!

Side Saddle Putting

After a few weeks of experimentation, I have decided to convert to “side saddle,” or “face on” putting.  There are a few rules issues associated with this style that I would like to touch on.

Side saddle’s most famous practitioner was Sam Snead, who converted mid-career after a bout of the yips made conventional putting impossible for him.  

 I’ve been facing the same kind of issues lately.  The transition from my backswing to forward swing has become totally erratic.  I’d step up to a five-foot putt wondering what the next putt would be.  Snead originally settled on “croquet” style putting, until the rules outlawed straddling the line of the putt.  He countered by standing off to the side and leaning over to his right so his eyes would be over the line.  Here is Sam before and after:

There are two rules issues to take in to account here.  First is the definition of “Line of Putt”

  “The line of putt is the line the player wishes his ball to take after a stroke on the putting green. Except with respect to Rule 16-1e, the line of putt includes a reasonable distance on either side of the intended line.  The line of putt does not extend beyond the hole.”

Then Rule 16-1e, “Standing Astride or on Line of Putt”

  “The player must not make a stroke of the putting green from a stance astride, or with either foot touching, the line of putt or an extension of that line behind the ball.”

This is the rule change which forced Snead to change his style.  For practical purposes, it means that when putting side saddle, you must be careful that your foot does not touch the line of putt behind the ball.  This is important since the player needs to lean over to get his eyes directly over the ball.  Of course, you don’t want to hit your shoe with the club during the stroke, either!

Additionally, the lie of the club head, or the angle of the sole of the club to the shaft, must be at least ten degrees off vertical.  Most conventional putters have a lie angle of around 71 to 72 degrees.  The closer to vertical the lie angle, the easier it is to make a pure straight back and straight through stroke.  My putter, made by Bobby Grace, is set at an 80 degree lie angle, the maximum allowable.

There is one other part of this rule that few know about:  It is legal to stand astride the line when putting from off the green.  Standing this way, as Snead originally did, gives the player the best possible chance of aligning absolutely perfectly.  I did in fact to this twice in today’s round while putting from the fringe.

So far, the results are encouraging.  I hit every putt but one today on the line I intended.  Didn’t always read them right, but I hit them where I wanted to.  When the ban on anchoring goes in to effect at the end of this season, I would expect to see more players convert to side saddle.

When to Not Take Relief, or Search for a Ball

-->

This happened last week at the par five 10^th hole on Poppy Hills last week during an NCGA Championship.

The player’s ball is not on the cart path, but his stance would be, so he would be entitled to relief under Rule 24-2.  His nearest point of full relief, however, would be squarely in the middle of the big bush on the other side of the ball.  A club length from that point would have left him still in the bush.  So, if he took relief, he would be in the position of having to then take relief again under Rule 28, Ball Unplayable, which of course would mean a penalty stroke.

He did the smart thing, and played the ball back to the fairway from where it lay.  He was still in position to hit the green in regulation.

A few groups later a player hit his ball well right of this spot into some deeper trouble.  He played a provisional right down the middle of the fairway.  I started searching before he arrived, but not very hard.  When he got to me, we looked for a few seconds, and he asked, “I don’t have to look for this, do I?”  The answer is of course no.  If we had found the ball, the provisional would no longer be an option, and if he was in an unplayable situation, and he couldn’t find relief within two club-lengths or on a straight line to the flagstick, he would have to go back to the tee.  Since he already had a provisional in the middle of the fairway, we discontinued the search.

This is pretty much what happened in 2001 at Torrey Pines, when Phil Mickelson and Frank Lickliter both hit their tee shots into a canyon during the playoff.  They hit provisional balls, but before they could proceed a marshal found both balls, negating the provisionals.  Mickelson famously said, "He [the spotter] was just doing his job. I just wish he didn't do it so effectively. I had just hit a perfect drive before. I didn't want to walk back and hit another one."

Incidentally, later this exact thing happened.  Again, I started searching but not very hard.  The player took a quick look, and was about to give up on his original and go play his provisional when his partner found his ball in the middle of a big bush.  He wasn’t very pleased when I informed him that he had to go back to the tee rather than play his provisional.  See Decision 27-2c/2.

P.S.  Don’t miss it right on Poppy Hills #10.

Having A Player Invoke Rule 3-3...

-->

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here.  After reading through some of my earlier entries, I've decided that this exercise serves me, as well as the readers, better if I focus more on specific events that have some bearing on my efforts as an NCGA Tournament Official, rather than a general summary of the little things that may have happened over the course of a round.

Here’s a good one.  Last Friday I was on the course for the NCGA Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Paradise Valley in Fairfield.  It was a tough day.  Temperatures pushed up into the high 90’s, the trademark Fairfield breezes made only brief Cameos, and it was a walking only event.  The college kids did well, but you could see the older players melting down over the course of the day.

A player in one of my groups hit a drive on the 13^th into a tree well, pretty close to the trunk.  The ball was close enough to the trunk that he couldn’t line up to play a shot toward the green and still have a swing.  His only option was to stand forward of the ball and punch the ball out sideways, back to the fairway, as you can see below. 

However, in taking this stance, his foot was squarely on top of what was definitely a burrowing animal hole.  He called me over, and said somewhat sheepishly, “This may seem kind of chickensh*t, but…” I had him walk me through what he intended to do, and it was clear that the hole interfered with his stance for the only shot he could reasonably hit. 

Not being entirely certain, and cognizant of the fact that the group was close to its pace of play guideline, I suggested he play two balls under Rule 3-3, let his fellow competitors know which ball he wanted to count, and I would get confer with another official and get back to him.  He did so, and I hit the radio for help.  A Rules Certified official arrived shortly.  After some discussion and a look through the Decisions book, we decided that Decision 25-1b/22, “Cast of Burrowing Animal Interferes with Sideways Stroke; When Relief Granted.”  The decision says he is entitled to relief when a sideways stroke is the only reasonable stroke, and if relief gets him to a place where he can now play directly at the green, he is entitled to do so.

There are two lessons here, one for me as an official and one for the player.  If this had happened last year, I may not have thought to suggest 3-3, and had the player wait until another official could arrive, which might have taken a bit of time.  While I was reasonably certain he was entitled to relief, there was enough doubt.   Having him play under 3-3 helped maintain the flow of play.  As we’re told time and time again, get on the radio.  I learned early on that it’s only a dumb question if you don’t ask it.

For the player, the lesson is simple.  The rules can also help you out, and they certainly did in this case.  It wasn't "chickensh*t" to ask.  The player hit the second ball onto the green and probably made an easy par.  Coincidentally, I was playing in a tournament Monday, and two of us hit our tee shots wide of a fairway, over a bunker, and into what looked like a huge flowerbed from the tee.  When we got to the area, I noticed white lines.  And there it was, a “Ground Under Repair” sign.  It could just as well have said “Get Out Of Jail Free.”

NCGA Publinks Qualifying: Knowing Your Options

--> A couple of good examples of how important it is to know your options came up recently at NCGA Publinks Qualifying at Rooster Run.  In both cases, players chose options that not every player is aware of.

Two tournament officials helped in a ball search about thirty yards right of the third fairway.  We eventually found the ball near a split rail fence.  The ball was about two feet on the green side of the fence, an obstruction (Rule 24-2) which interfered with the player’s swing, and about 140 yards from the green.  Since the fence line ran fairly close to perpendicular to the player’s line to the flagstick, it appeared that his nearest point of full relief was going to be behind the fence.  Since the ground in that area was thick and weedy, the player deduced that he could take full relief on the green side of the fence, IF he removed the top rail of the fence, which was easily done.  (So the fence was both a movable and immovable obstruction!) We determined that it was indeed a nearer point of relief than straight back.  He played the shot toward the green, replaced the top rail, and went on his way.

Up near the green another player had plugged his approach shot in the virtually vertical face of the bunker.  He had no stance, no shot.  We’ve all seen a player take two or more swings at a ball in a position like this without improving his position.  He asked if he could take an unplayable lie (Rule 28), and what his options were.  He chose to drop two club-lengths from where the ball lay, in a level lie in the bottom of the bunker.  His other options would have been to drop on a line from the flagstick to the ball straight back, staying in the bunker (virtually identical to the option he took), or take a stroke and distance penalty.  

For another good example of a player using his options to great advantage, read Ryan Farb's write up from The Goodwin--  The Power Line Ruling 

SF City: There's Golf, and There's Tournament Golf

-->

And as the saying goes, they are two totally different animals. One of the things I enjoy most about sports is observing how players react under pressure.  So, to understand it better, I’ve decided to put myself under the gun more often.  My first attempt, the SF City last year, was aborted when I cut my hand (changing a grip, of all things) three days before qualifying.  Seven stitches and a mile of gauze put an end to that attempt—my hand looked like a catcher’s mitt!

The short story is I played pretty solid golf, shot 78, and qualified for match play as the 19^th seed.  I then got drilled in the first round 4 & 3.  I was two over at that point so, no complaints.

But to the point of this blog, I ended up playing rules official on a couple of occasions in both rounds.  In qualifying, the starter gave us directions about pace of play and rule 3-3, then said, “If you have any questions, just ask Rich.”  Gee, thanks…

On the second hole, a player plugged his third shot in the sod face of a bunker, and called me over from 50 yards away to ask what to do.  Pretty routine:  Drop the ball as close as possible to the spot (Rule 25-2), and after it rolls twice into the bunker, place it as near as possible to the spot where it struck the course the second time (Rule 20-2c).

On that same hole, birdie putt rolled about two feet by.  I went up to it, and without marking it, took my stance, looked at the ball, then the hole.  When I looked back at the ball, it wasn’t where I thought it should be.  I asked my fellow competitors if it had moved.  They said yes, but I hadn’t addressed it yet.  Then I made a very fundamental error, which I’ve just now realized.  They told me to replace it.  I was shook up and not thinking clearly, so I did so.  I now realize that the ball should have been played from where it came to rest, and by moving it back I played from a wrong place and should have been assessed a two stroke penalty.  Therefore, I signed an incorrect scorecard and should have been disqualified.

However…  Rule 34-1b says that a penalty cannot be imposed after the competition has closed if the player was unaware that he had incurred a penalty.  And in a mixed event like the City, the stroke play competition is closed once match play begins.

After hitting a pretty good tee shot on the 15^th, a short downhill par three, as I walked off the tee toward my bag, I heard fragment of a sentence that ended up with “nine iron” and sounded like a question.  Did someone just ask me what I hit?  That of course would have been a violation of rule 8-1b.  I don’t know if I handled this correctly, but here’s what I did:  I didn’t want to find out.  I kept walking.  All I know is I heard something that might have been a question but also might have been someone thinking out loud.  I didn’t want to break my own focus, so I just moved away without acknowledging it.

Two matches were played concurrently in each foursome.  In the other match one of the players, who was three up at the time, told me his opponent had been marking his ball inconsistently.  He was usually marking it a couple of inches behind the ball, sometimes closer, but always replacing it several inches in front of the mark, meaning that when he marked it properly, he was replacing it closer to the hole.  He told me about this on the twelfth hole, and sure enough his opponent did exactly that on the thirteenth.  In match play a player may choose to ignore a violation by his opponent, or me may call it in a timely manner, which he did on the fourteenth green.  Calling your opponent on a violation can be an uncomfortable situation, but part of match play.

I ran into his opponent in the clubhouse later.  He explained that he marked the ball that way because a friend of his had moved his ball while marking it in a tournament, and had incurred a penalty.  I told him that was wrong, and there are rules and decisions to read, though I couldn’t cite the numbers at the time.  Rule 20-1 says if the ball or marker is accidently moved in the act of marking its position, it must be replaced and there is no penalty.  Decision 20-1/15 defines what is directly attributable to the act of marking the ball.  Decision 20-1/20 says a player who marks two inches behind the ball cannot be considered to have marked the position accurately, and incurs a one-stroke penalty each time he does it.  In addition, if he doesn't play from the correct spot, it becomes a two stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place, which is what I should have incurred in the qualifying round.

Interestingly, that same weekend, David Frost had a similar situation:  He dropped his ball on the coin, moving it.  But since Frost was not in the act of marking or replacing, he was penalized a stroke and had to replace the marker in its original spot.  Barry Rhodes explains it quite well here:

http://www.barryrhodes.com/#uds-search-results

Back at it: Balls in the Air, Fog in the Air…

-->

My first two assignments of the year are in the books.  It was great to break away from studying rules, taking sample tests, etc., in preparation for rules school and actually get a chance to apply some of that knowledge in a practical (practicable?) way.

First stop, Roddy Ranch in Antioch for NCGA Senior Championship Qualifying.  I’d meant to enter this event myself but, sigh, missed the deadline.  I attempted last year.  My 78 at Boundary Oak tied for the last qualifying spots but I lost it in a card-off.  Sigh…  Four three putts instead of five (!) would have done the trick and gained me a trip to Spyglass…

The course itself presented some rules challenges due to a lot of potential abnormal ground conditions in the fairways (the committee put out a lot of white paint that morning), but there were actually relatively few questions.  Scores were high because of greasy-fast greens and gusty winds.  There were two notable rules incidents.

Something happened that you could go your entire golfing life without seeing.  Two players played from opposite sides of the green at the same time, and their balls collided in mid air.  Amazingly, the official present said it was the second time in a year that he’d seen that happen.  What’s the ruling?  Rule 19-5b says it’s a rub of the green; both players play it as it lies. 

There was a more serious incident at scoring.  A player turned in a card with some numbers written over.  The scoring official asked him about one specific score and the player replied “four.”  He left the table.  At this point, his marker, who had been sitting at another table, came over and asked which hole was at question, and when told, said the player had made a five.  The player was called back, and said yes, it was a five.  But since the player had signed his card and left the scoring area, he was disqualified for signing for a lower score, regardless of intent.

Next stop, a few days later for the Bay Area Intercollegiate at the Meadow Club, hosted by USF.  The big issue the first day was due to two holes being cut on each green.  Upon finishing the first round, each group was to move the flagstick to the new position for the second round.  What is the status of the unused hole if it lies in a player’s line of play?  It depends, as it turns out.  If the player’s ball is on the green, a “hole made by a greenskeeper,” is an abnormal ground condition and the player is entitled to relief, placing her ball at the nearest point where there is no longer interference.  I was stationed near the 11^th green and this came into play a handful of times.

If the player is off the green, however, no such relief is available, and the ruling is the tournament officials’ favorite:  “Play hard.”

Another big issue was deer hoof prints on the green.  This is a complicated issue.  Players are not allowed relief—Decision 25/19.5 says a footprint is “an irregularity of surface from which there is no relief without penalty.”  Players may ask a committee member to repair such marks, or they may repair them themselves after completion of the hole.

But what if the deer ran across a player’s line after the player’s ball had come to rest?  We know that a player is entitled to the lie, line of play, and stance when the ball came to rest.  Decision 16-1a/13 says the line of putt may be restored by anyone, so if it is known the damage was caused by an outside agency after the ball came to rest, the player may fix the damage.  It was, however, recommended that the players still ask a committee member whenever possible to fix the marks.

A big issue the second day:  Heavy fog.  The morning started out crystal clear, but about fifteen minutes before the 8:30 shotgun start, pea soup thick fog rolled in.  The players were on the course ready to go, but the fog delayed the start.  As time went on, it became an issue due to teams’ travel plans.  It was ultimately decided that if play could not start by 10:30, the round would be canceled.  Fortunately, it was clear enough by 10AM to start.

I had two minor issues to attend to.  First, a player’s ball plugged in the sod face of a bunker.  Since the margins of a bunker do not extend upward, the player was entitled to relief from an embedded ball.  She dropped twice, with the ball rolling back into the bunker both times.  She was then allowed to place the ball at the spot where the second ball landed.

Later in the day I was called to the fifteenth hole, where a player told me she couldn’t get her ball to stay in one place after marking and lifting it on the green.  I observed as she tried several times.  Rule 20-3d(i) says the ball must be place at the nearest spot where it can be placed at rest, not nearer the hole and not in a hazard.  Going about an inch to one spot, she found a spot where the ball would stay put and she could proceed.

After the round there was a buffet lunch.  After serving myself, I watched in amazement as small groups of players discussed whether they should go, wait for their teammates, wait for their coaches, etc.  That's the difference between college men and women:  The guys would have had no such issue.  They would have laid siege on the buffet the moment they arrived.  By the time I'd finished, only a handful of players had even started.

Great to get back on the course, and it was really enjoyable to watch college women play.  They play within themselves, their tempos are wonderful, and they generally play faster than men because they hit a lot more fairways. 

Next stop, three days at the San Francisco City Championship!