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Rule of the Month: Lifting the Fog

Written by Terry McEvilly, Senior Rules Official | Jan 29, 2025 8:44:42 PM

It’s amazing how long misconceptions about the Rules of Golf can stay in someone’s mind – misinformation about a Rule becomes so firmly engrained that it’s often times difficult to get a player to accept the truth.

A great example of this has to do with whether or not players can practice putting on the green just played after a hole is complete. A large segment of golfers believe it can only happen during stroke play, while an equally broad number of players believe the practice putting can only happen in match play. Both sides are always shocked to learn that it is permitted in both stroke and match play, unless a Local Rule is in place prohibiting it.

With the above example in mind, and recognizing that the score posting season begins in less than a month on March 1, this is a terrific time to clear up some common misconceptions about the Rules with the following questions. Also, if you have any questions about the Rules, or want to end constant debates within your playing group, you can always get your questions answered by dropping a note to rules@oga.org. A timely reply is promised. 

Questions: True / False

1) A player’s ball lies in a penalty area and is surrounded by a lot of loose twigs and leaves. Providing the player doesn’t cause the ball to move, he is permitted to remove the twigs and leaves.

2) After an errant tee shot, a player’s ball comes to rest in high grass. Before the three-minute search period expires, the player finds what he believes to be his ball. To make sure that he has found the correct ball, he reaches down and, without marking the ball, rotates his ball to make sure it is his. He has proceeded correctly under the Rules.

3) When the course boundary is defined by a white line on the ground, the line itself is in bounds.

4) While making a practice stroke for a ball that lies on the fringe, the player accidentally moves their ball during the practice stroke. Because the player did not intend to make a stroke at the ball, there is no penalty.

5) In starting a round, a player has only 12 clubs. She may add up to two more clubs during the round.

6) A provisional ball may be played for any ball that may be lost.

7) The balls of Player A and B lie near each other in the fairway. Because Player B thinks her ball might interfere with the play of Player A’s ball, Player B can go ahead and mark and lift her ball, even though Player A did not request it to be lifted.

8) A player’s drive ends up in a heavily forested area. Believing incorrectly they have five minutes to search for and identify their ball, the player finds their ball just before the five-minute time expires and goes ahead and plays it. The player will only get the General Penalty (two strokes) and may continue to finish the hole with the ball. 

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Answers:

1) True. Rule 15.1a. Up until the Rule changes of 2019, a player was not entitled to move the loose impediments. Yet many players are still unsure about the changes in both 2019 and 2023 and old ideas tend to hang around. And while a player may now remove loose impediments in a Penalty Area (and a bunker), the player is still responsible to make sure the ball does not move while moving the loose impediments.

2) False. Rule 7.3. While a player may lift a ball, or rotate a ball, to identify it, the spot of the ball must first be marked. If a player fails to mark the spot of the ball before touching it, the player will get one penalty stroke.

3) False. Out of Bounds definition. When the boundary is defined by lines, the boundary edge is the course-side edge of the line and the line itself is out of bounds. Please note for a ball to be out of bounds, all of it must be out of bounds.

4) False. Rule 9.4. Even though the player did not intend to make a stroke at the ball, his actions caused the ball to move and the player will get one penalty stroke and must replace the ball on its original spot. Please note that if such actions caused a ball to move that had been lying on the putting green, there is no penalty. But the ball must still be replaced on its original spot.

5) True. Rule 4.1b(1). If a player starts a round with fewer than 14 clubs, they may add clubs during the round up to the 14-club limit. However, in adding a club, a player must not unreasonably delay play, add or borrow any club being carried by or for any other player who is playing on the course or build a club from parts being carried by or for the player or any other player who is playing on the course.

6) False. Rule 18.3. A provisional ball is allowed only if a ball might be lost outside a penalty area or might be out of bounds. For clarity purposes, if a ball could only be lost in a penalty area, a provisional ball is not allowed. In such a case, while the player may think he has played a provisional ball, he has not and that ball becomes the ball in play under penalty of stroke and distance.

7) False. Rule 15.3b(2). A player is not allowed to lift their ball under this Rule based only on the player’s belief that the ball might interfere with another player’s play. If the player lifts their ball when not required to do so by the other player (except when lifting the ball on a putting green), the player gets one penalty stroke. You might initially find this answer to be confusing, probably because you are unclear about the procedure differences between a ball that might interfere with another’s play and a ball that might help another’s play. Spending some time studying Rule 15.3 will make the differences more understandable.

8) False. Rules 6.3c(1), 18,2 and the definition of Wrong Ball. A ball is lost if not found in three minutes after the player or their caddie begins to search for it. In this case, the ball is lost and when the player made a stroke at it, he played a wrong ball and incurs a two-stroke penalty and must correct the error. Because the player exceeded the maximum search time, he must take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one additional penalty stroke and play the original ball or another ball from the teeing area.