It’s always the equipment’s fault. A putt left short, an errant drive, a ball chunked into a penalty area. Blame the equipment, not the operator.
But play an almost perfect round and it’s the operator that takes all the credit. It’s a cold and cruel world where the equipment never gets the love it deserves. Not even a beer at the 19th hole, or a share of the winnings.
But at least equipment gets its own Rule in the book (Rule 4). Equipment also gets its own booklet with the Equipment Rules pamphlet, a separate document that most golfers never see as it is more a technical manual that contains comprehensive specifications and guidelines to assist equipment manufacturers, designers, tournament officials and other interested parties that want to better understand all things relating to clubs, balls, devices and other equipment. The main objective of the Equipment Rules is to ensure that technological advances are in the best interests of the game of golf.
But for the player, it’s Rule 4 in the Rule book that you want to focus on. After all, if you are going to curse a ball or abuse a club, you need to understand the potential consequences
This month’s quiz is designed to test your knowledge about the player’s equipment.
Questions: True / False
1) In individual stroke play, a player starts a round with the 14 clubs in his bag, the maximum number of clubs that a player can carry during a round. After completing play on the first hole, the player borrows another player’s putter and makes several practice putts on the putting green of the hole just completed. The player will get the general penalty for using a club being used by someone else playing on the course.
2) A player places some lead tape on their driver before a round to reduce glare and gain added weight. While teeing off on the third hole, the tape becomes detached and the player cannot get the tape to stay on the club when he tries to replace it. The player is not allowed to place new tape on the club and will have to finish the round with no tape on the club.
3) A higher-handicap player believes that the higher they tee the ball, the more distance and carry they will get with their tee shot. The player plays his first stroke of the day using a 5-inch long tee. The player is disqualified.
4) Early in a stroke play round, a player in anger slams his seven iron into the ground, snapping the shaft. He began the round with 14 clubs and under the Rules was prevented from replacing the club. After he completed his round, he finds out he is in a play-off. He can replace the damaged club with a different club for the play-off.
5) A player uses an alignment rod for stretching during a round. The player is permitted to do this.
6) A player used a compass to determine that the wind was coming from the north. The player also used an app on their phone to get a weather forecast and wind speeds in the area. The player is disqualified.
7) On a cold and blustery spring day, after a hole is completed, the player warms his golf ball with the heater in his cart on their way to the next tee. The player then tees off on the next hole with the warmed ball. The player will be penalized the general penalty (2 strokes).
8) During a round, a player who started the round with 14 clubs, picks up another player’s club that was left behind and places the club in their own bag. The player is in breach of the 14-club limit.
---
Answers:
1) False. Rule 4.1b(2) and Clarification 4.1b(2)/2. The prohibition against sharing clubs applies only to strokes that count in a player’s score. It does not apply to practice strokes or strokes made after the result of a hole is decided.
2) False. Rule 4.1a2 and Clarification 4.1a(2)/1. This is an example of how a club may be “Repaired” during a round. Because tape has a mind of its own, it may not want to stay in place when a player tries to put it back on the club in its original location. In this case, new tape may be used.
3) False. Rule 6.2b(2). At least not yet, but the player would be disqualified if they used that tee a second time during the round. Penalty for first breach: General Penalty. Penalty for second breach: Disqualification.
4) True. Rule 4.1a(2). Even though the player was prohibited from replacing the club during the round, a play-off is considered a new round and the player can replace the club.
5) True. Rule 4.3a(6). A player is allowed to use any equipment for general stretching (other than during a practice swing), whether the equipment is designed for stretching, for use in golf (such as an alignment rod placed across the shoulders) or for any purpose unrelated to golf (such as rubber tubing or a section of pipe).
6) False. Rules 4.3a(1) and 4.3a(2). The player has not breached any Rules. A player is always entitled to get information such as distance and direction by using a distance-measuring device or a compass. Additionally, the player is entitled to general weather information (including wind speed) that is available from weather forecasts. But please note that the player is not allowed to measure wind speed at the course.
7) False. Rule 4.2a. A player must not make a stroke at a ball whose performance characteristics have been deliberately altered, such as by scuffing or heating the ball, or by applying any substance (other than cleaning it). In this case, the penalty for making the stroke is disqualification.
8) False. Rule 4.1b(2). The club is not treated as one of the player’s clubs for purposes pf the 14-club limit. But the player must not use the club as doing so would put them in breach of 4.1b.