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

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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!

Four Stroke Penalty...

Felipe Aguilar of Chile was assessed a four stroke penalty last week at the Turkish Open.  The second round was not completed due to weather, and Aguilar switched out one club for another before resuming the round the next day.  The relevant rule is 4-4, as follows:

"The player must not start a stipulated round with more than fourteen clubs.  He is limited to the clubs thus selected for that round..."

If he had started with thirteen clubs, he would have been allowed to add one.  However, swapping out one for another within a stipulated round?  Verboten.  The penalty is two strokes a hole for each of the first two holes he had the club in his bag. 

It was a mistake of ignorance, not intent.  Aguilar's fellow competitor, Magnus Carlsson, noticed it and asked Aguilar about it.  Aguilar asked a rules official before he signed his card if he had committed a breach.

http://golfweek.com/news/2014/nov/15/european-tour-turkish-open-felipe-aguilar-rules/

The Mackenzie: Two days in Golf’s Equivalent of Grand Central Station

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My last tournament assignment of the year was this past Monday and Tuesday at the Alistair Mackenzie Tournament at the Meadow Club, hosted by my alma mater, Cal.  I worked this tournament last year, though the venue was the Sonoma Golf Club.

My station for the first day, 36 holes, was the 6^th and 16^th holes.  There are five parallel holes at the MC.  In order, 15 goes north, 13 south, 6 north, 16, south, and 17 north.  Complicating matters is that for big hitters at least (and all these college players qualify), #6 is safer to play from either the 13^th or 16^th fairways.  (One played from the 17th, two fairways over, but I think that was a big miss.)  From the 15^th, the player has a better angle to the green from the 13^th fairway.  And right of the 17^th is so penal, players err toward being in the 16^th.    So you can see how complicated this part of the course can be.

The sixth hole, in a rare peaceful moment

It wasn’t uncommon to have players in the 13^th fairway playing three different holes.  There was one memorable moment when there were seven balls in the 13^th fairway—four playing 13, two playing 16, and one playing 15.  One drive hit another ball in the 13^th, from players playing different holes  There were generally three and often four or five tournament officials in the area, and there were times that that wasn’t enough!

It was an incredibly busy day, and dangerous at times.  I was talking to another TO at his cart on the path between 13 and 6, and a ball from the 13^th tee landed on the top of his cart, meaning it missed me by about two feet.  Another time, while speaking to another TO between the two holes, a ball bounced directly between us.  My suggestion for next year is that TO’s in that area be issued hard hats.

The second day was not quite as eventful, but still interesting.  I was to monitor 17 and 18.  There were very few issues on 18, as most players played an iron off the tee to the shortish par four.  Seventeen was, as the saying goes, a whole ‘nuther story.  The right side, a steep hillside featuring oak trees, weeds, blackberries, and numerous small bushes, got plenty of business.  (I noted that if I get that assignment next year, I'm bringing crampons.)  A player in the very first group was particularly unlucky.  He hit his drive up the hillside, which we never found.  I drove him back to the tee, where he hit his next ball even farther up the hill.  I told him to hit a provisional ball, which he put in the fairway.   We didn’t find the second, so he played his third ball lying five.  I presume he made no better than a triple and probably a quadruple bogey.  Two groups later, while searching for another player’s ball, we found the first ball.

Midway through the round a player hit ball up the hillside, and a small bush stopped it.  I stood by in case the player needed any help.  The coach instructed him that the best option was to come out sideways.  The player wanted to go forward, but because of where his ball was in the bush, it was much riskier.  Coach told him he’d only be gaining 10 or 15 yards, and with substantial risk  Coach then moved away.  The player addressed the ball to come out sideways.  Then he shifted over to aim forward toward the green.  I looked over at the coach, who gave a wry grin and shook his head.  The player eventually turned back and played safely back into the fairway.

Later on, another player hit his ball a bit up the hillside, and it came to rest in a similar lie.  His coach instructed the player to ask me what his options were.  I did so, but only later thought to add a fifth option:  “Do whatever the heck your coach tells you to!”

These two days were probably my most interesting days of the season.  And just when you think you’ve heard it all…

Midway through the second round, a call came over the radio.  It seems a player had played out of a bunker close to the hole and marked.  The other players putted out and headed to the next tee, as did he.  A fellow competitor asked him “Did you putt out yet?”  Nope, he hadn’t.  It was late in a long day, and everyone was a little physically and mentally worn out, but, still…  If he had proceeded to tee off on the next, he would have been disqualified.  Interesting little brain fart there!

To Drop Or Not To Drop: A Tale Of Two Fields

I’ve had an interesting time as a TO lately, working two very different events in a six day span. Yogi’s words; “You can observe a lot just by watching” ring absolutely true…

And one thing I’ve learned “just by watching” is how often golfers are their own worst enemies when dealing with the rules.  Last Thursday I worked an NCGA Net Amateur Qualifier at Paradise Valley in Fairfield.  The players’ handicaps ranged from five to twenty-seven, with certainly widely varying degrees of tournament experience and familiarity with the rules.

The oddest question of the day came on the second hole.  A player had hit his ball into the lateral hazard on the right side of the fairway, a common occurrence as players tried to stay away from the big oak in the center of the fairway.  After guiding him through the proper drop procedure, he hit his next shot over a bunker right of the green and into another lateral hazard.  I told him to wave me over if he needed any help.

Sure enough, a minute later he called for me.  He showed me the position of the ball, under a shrub and in a nest of twigs.  He asked if he could move the bush with his leg and remove the twigs.  My answer:  “Neither of those.”  What I wanted to say:  “Depends on how many more penalty strokes you want.”  (Those would be two separate violations, total four penalty strokes.)

Back to my point:  I spent the latter half of the day on the eighteenth hole, a dogleg right with a big pond on the inside corner.  That pond got a lot of business.  One group had two players hit into the hazard, about fifteen yards apart.  I showed the first player where he had crossed in, and explained his options under Rule 26-1.  One would be to drop within two club-lengths of that point.  That would put him on a downhill-sidehill slope, a tough shot considering he would still have the pond to negotiate.  Or, he could drop straight back as far as he wanted in line with the flagstick.  Under this option, he could have played from a flat lie, though twenty yards farther back.  He decided he didn’t want to give up the yardage.

What happened next was pretty predictable.  He chunked two more balls into the pond before finally clearing it with his seventh stroke.  The next player took the second option, dropped on a flat lie, and put his ball on the green from there, giving him a chance at par, probably no worse than a bogey.

Fast-forward to Monday, the St Mary’s Invitational college tournament at Bayonet/ Black Horse in Seaside.  Sixteen Division 1 college teams—you could hardly have a more different field than my previous event.  Two things occur at Bayonet that you don’t often see.  First, over the two rounds there, I had five players lose balls in the canopy of cypress trees.  Since the balls were stuck up in the tree and couldn’t be identified, the ruling is lost ball, followed by that awkward cart ride back to the tee to re-hit.  Most of the players took it in stride, saying something like “That’s golf, stuff happens.”  One player had it happen twice, which is unbelievably unlucky.

Second, the driving range is considered through the green, in play.  The first and second holes border the range on the left side.  Many shots were played from ten, twenty, even thirty yards into the range.  I don’t remember ever playing a course where the range is in bounds.

But, again, let’s get back to my thesis.  I was stationed on the tenth hole at Black Horse for the second round.  There is a fairway bunker on the right, and beyond that, farther right, is a hard sandy area with patches of weeds.  One of the coaches came by and when I asked him how things were going, he said it would be a lot better if his players had a better sense of when to take their medicine, instead of trying heroic shots from trouble.  Almost as if on cue, a few groups later one of his players went over the bunker and into the weeds.  Here’s a picture of his lie from directly behind, aimed toward the green.

I stood off to the side while coach and player discussed it.  He was about 120 yards from the green.  The player was convinced he could chop it out.  Coach told him that because of the weeds, there was a very good chance he might not hit the ball at all, or chop it into a worse position. There was nothing but more weeds, then bunkers between him and the green.  Then, unbelievably, the player asked if he could pull out some of the weeds!  (I know these weeds.  Our yard was covered with them when we moved in.  They’re very shallow rooted, but are tough, wiry things.  I wouldn't want to try to swing a club through them.)  Coach looked at him in shock, then looked at me and shrugged.  It took about five minutes, but he finally talked the player into taking an unplayable lie and dropping back about fifteen yards to a perfectly clean lie.  From there, he put it on the green and narrowly missed his par putt.  Had he played it as it lay, double or even triple were distinct possibilities.

Coach came back a bit later and said he wished he’d taken a picture of the lie.  It just so happened I had, and I sent it to him.  He said it would be exhibit A in that night’s team meeting.

The point of all this?  The Rules of Golf can help you.  Know your options, and use them.  Sometimes giving up a few yards is the smart play.  I’ve become more acutely aware of how to manage my game when I get into these kinds of situations by what I’ve seen over my almost two seasons as a Tournament Official.

In the mean time, I’ll keep on both observing AND watching!

Rules Of Golf In The News...

I worked a four ball qualifier last week at Foxtail in Rohnert Park, but it was a very quiet day.  About the only excitement was the medalist team shot a better ball 60, twelve under, that included a double bogey on the tenth when both players went in the water.  That's some fine playing!

Otherwise, there have been a couple of notable rules issues in the past few weeks.  First, at the US Amateur, eventual champion Gunn Yang was saved a potential penalty by a rules official.  On the 11th hole in the afternoon round, the match referee, USGA President Tom O'Toole, stopped Yang from putting because he noticed his caddie standing directly behind him, a violation of rule 14-2b.  Those of you who've been following the game for some time might remember that Andy Martinez, Johnny Miller's caddie, used to crouch behind him as he putted to block out any distractions.  A number of LPGA players used the same tactic until it was ruled illegal.  Yang's penalty would have been loss of the hole.

That's a pretty clear example of the role that rules officials play.  We're there to not just help the players out with rulings, but to keep them from committing violations whenever possible.  This was a big one-- the match would have been even, buy Yang was able to save par and maintain a one hole lead.  The story can be found here.

And on a slightly bigger stage, the next week at the PGA Championship, a player disqualified himself five days later.  Cameron Tringale disqualified himself five days after the fact for an action that he had already been cleared for.  On, coincidentally, also the 11th hole, he moved his putter over the ball before tapping it in.  There was originally some question as to whether the ball moved, and if he had taken a swing at it.  Both he and his fellow competitor, Matt Jones, agreed that there was no intent, no movement, no violation.  But after the tournament, Tringale started to think not that he was wrong, but that other people might think he was wrong.  He took the high road and called the PGA to disqualify himself for signing for an incorrect score, rule 6-6d.  His decision cost him a 33rd place finish, $53,000, and eight places on the FedEx Cup standings.  Full story here.

But he gained a lot more than that. 

US Am Sectional Qualifying, Santa Rosa GC

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Thirteen hours.  Thirty-eight holes.  Another loooong day…

I worked the US Amateur Championship sectional qualifier Moday at Santa Rosa Golf Club yesterday.  Last year, however, I could only stay for the first round.  This time, like the US Open qualifier at Lake Merced, I was there for the duration.

Rules wise, it wasn’t a terribly busy day.  There were a number of typical relief situations from cart paths, ground under repair, and embedded balls, including one double drop, but nothing unusual.  Hazards and out of bounds don't come in to play much at SRGC, except for on the outer borders of the course  There was one interesting situation where a player was a foot from OB and a yard from a lateral hazard, and chose to take an unplayable lie because he couldn’t take a stance without running afoul of the barbed wire fence demarking the OB.  The TO's later had an good discussion about what would have happened if the player had hit a provisional, and the ball was not found, but it wasn't certain whether it went into the hazard or out of bounds.

From a competitive standpoint, the finish was compelling.  Three players and two alternates were to be chosen.  One player was in at 137 and four at 140, meaning those four would play off for the remaining two spots and the alternate positions.  With darkness looming, the players gathered at the first tee.

Four nervous tee shots were hit—Player A snap hooks left, B, C, and D wide right.  B is in the fairway, barely.  A punched out to the right greenside bunker.  D hit  a beautiful shot over the trees to about fifteen feet right behind the flagstick.  C didn’t have a direct shot because of a bush, and punched to the green short and left.  B hit from the fairway to the green about thirty feet left.

Both A and C hit their third shots to about 20 feet short of the hole.  B left his first putt five feet short.  Advantage D, awaiting his putt for birdie.  But wait…  A missed, and tapped in for bogey.  But Player C, who another official said had made everything, drilled his twenty footer for par.  Pressure had changed jerseys.

 

Player D, who had been starting to look a little jumpy, knocked his birdie putt six feet by, and his par effort lipped all the way around and came out right back at him.  He looked at it in shock.  Bogey.  Player B calmly sank his par putt, so he and C were in the US Am.  A and D headed to the ninth hole to continue the playoff and decide who would be first alternate. 

They both drilled long tee shots, helped by some serious red-ass factor.  A’s approach, off a tricky side-hill lie, was right at the hole, but about 25 feet above the hole.  D hit  another wonderful approach shot, about eight feet below the hole.  It was pretty obvious by now what was going to happen.  A calmly dropped his slippery downhill birdie putt.  D’s putt didn’t have a chance, and he turned ashen.

Like I said, classic match play.  On both holes, Player D looked to have the clear advantage, and came out on the short end.  There is a golf maxim in match play—Always expect your opponent to hit a great shot, sink a great putt.  If Player D didn’t know that one before, he certainly does now!

US Junior Am Qualifying: A Long, Hot Day at Stanford GC

I had the pleasure of working at Stanford University Golf Course for the US Junior Amateur Championship Sectional Qualifier.  Once again, the NCGA was able to muster up enough officials to send one out with each group.

I had put in a request to work with one of the starters, to get that checked off my training list, before heading off with my assigned group.  I was lucky enough to work with Ted Antonopolous, the head pro at Mayacama, for an hour and a half.  Ted is a true professional, and has a very nice touch with the players.  Our goal is to set them off on time and informed.  As I said in my previous post, from Rancho Solano, starting is one of the most enjoyable parts of this job.

My group of three players included a rising high school junior, sophomore, and eighth grader.   The fun started almost immediately.

One of my players hit a big snap hook off the second tee.  We headed off, searched for the allotted five minutes in the weeds, and then the rover drove him back to the tee.  He was about half way there when his ball was found, about fifty yards from where we were searching.  I explained to his parents that it was too late, five minutes is the limit for a ball search, after which the ball is deemed lost.

Three holes later, behind the fifth green, a different rover told me the player’s mom came over to ask, and they had a detailed discussion about why the ball was lost even though it was found.

A very interesting and instructional, event happened on the thirteenth hole.  I was not at the tee when the players teed off, but about 75 yards up the fairway.  The same player who suffered the lost ball, started walking down the right side, so I headed that way.  (I could see the other two players’ balls in the fairway.)  When we got down around where the ball should have been, a spectator told us she had heard a ball land behind her but didn’t see it.  Since she was standing on a cart path, and the other side of the path was out of bounds, the player headed back to the tee.  Here’s where the fun began.

I called the back-nine rover to come transport him.  He started walking back, and before the rover got there, he called me over, saying he’d found his ball, about 75 yards from where we he thought it had crossed OB.  I asked him if he was sure, and he showed me the ball, a Titleist 2 with a red line.  Since it was quite a way from where we expected it to be, I told him he could mark and lift and positively identify it.  He declined and said he was sure it was his.

In the mean time, the rover arrived, and jokingly chided me for not having him hit a provisional in the first place.   The player punched out short of the green, and the rover went up to the 14^th tee to investigate the delay there.  (Stanford GC’s par three holes ALWAYS cause backups.)  The player got to his ball and called for me again, explaining that it was not in fact his—now he could see a “S” logo on it, and it definitely was not his. 

I called the rover back, and we discussed the situation with the player.  He drove the player back to the tee to re-tee.  He drove into the rough, hit the green from there, and sank a twenty-foot putt.   But… For what score?

The rover and I spent a few minutes discussing the sequence of events.  We thought we had the right answer, and he said he’d get confirmation, and he came back a few minutes later with the verdict from another official, one who has scored 100 on the USGA rules test.  Here’s the tally:

One:  Stroke from the tee

Two:  Stroke from the rough, which turned out to be the wrong ball, so the stroke does not count, but...

Two and Three:  Penalty strokes for playing a wrong ball.  Player must now play the original ball, which was out of bounds, so…

Four:  Distance penalty for OB

Five:  Stroke from tee

Six:  Stroke to green

Seven:  Holed Putt

The other two players were really curious.  I explained the sequence to them, and told them that a good rule to go by is if an official suggests that you identify your ball, it’s probably a good idea to do so.  The player, the rover and I discussed it further after he had teed off on the 15^th, and he was satisfied with the ruling and thankful for the lesson learned.