Rule of the Month: Happy Rulesgiving

When you stop and think about it, the most powerful person in any family is the person who tells the other family members what to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. And if you’re asked to bring the napkins, please note that grabbing them at Starbucks on your way to grandmother’s house is not a good idea.

We understand, you haven’t even had time to finish your Halloween candy and the calendar has already turned to November. The airwaves are now officially filled with Christmas music and the annual Thanksgiving dinner is only 26 days away. Not to mention that the score posting season for the Oregon Golf Association ends on November 30.^th.

We received an absolute cornucopia of questions at the OGA Rules department this year. Most of the questions were thoughtful and timely, while some were as strange as oysters in turkey dressing.

And if we were awarding a turkey leg, à la John Madden, to the OGA club that asked the most questions about the Rules this year, Reedsport Golf Course would be the winner by a wide margin. In fact, members there would have won not just a leg, but the entire turkey.

Most of all, in a season of thanksgiving, we are grateful for everyone of one you that wants to better understand the Rules of Golf. Thank you.

As we begin to wind down the year, it’s time to dig into the leftover questions that didn’t make it into any Rule of the Month article in 2025. Think of this month’s column as though you are looking into your refrigerator the day after Thanksgiving, wondering what tasty morsels you might find.

And a very Happy Thanksgiving to all.

1. A player’s tee shot lands in the middle of the fairway and rolls into a deep pitch-mark that was made by the ball of a golfer in a previous group. Because the ball is in a pitch-mark and part of the ball is below the level of the ground, the player is entitled to free relief for an embedded ball.
2. A player’s ball comes to rest just inside a penalty area and is playable. The player, in taking their stance for the next stroke, finds they are standing on a cart path outside the penalty area. The player is entitled to free relief from the cart path.
3. In a stroke play competition, Player A’s ball is on the putting green as is Player B’s ball. Player A makes a stroke and holes out the putt, but Player A doesn’t remove the ball from the hole. Player B then putts and makes their putt as well and it comes to rest in the hole on top of A’s ball. Player C tells Player B that they are penalized two strokes because their ball hit another ball on the putting green. Player C is correct
4. A player searches for one minute for their original ball, returns to where the original ball was played, drops and properly plays a provisional ball. The original ball is then found before the three-minute search time expired. The player must continue play with the original ball.
5. In a four-ball stroke play, where each player is carrying 14 clubs, Player A borrows their partner’s putter to make a stroke on the fourth hole. Player A returns the putter to their partner, who uses it for the rest of the round. There is no penalty to either partner.
6. A player may hold a club on the ground right behind or right next to the ball to mark its spot when lifting a ball at rest that must be replaced on its original spot.
7. A spider web is a loose impediment, even though it is attached to another object. Additionally, a live spider on a ball is a loose impediment.
8. In a four-ball competition, in both stroke and match play, a side can be represented by one partner if the other partner has failed to show up for the competition.

ANSWERS

1. False. Rule 16.3a(2). A ball is embedded only if it is in its own pitch-mark as a result of the player’s previous stroke and part of the ball is below the level of the ground. In this case, the player must either play the ball as it lies, or choose one of the three options for an unplayable ball.
2. False. Rule 16.1a(2) and 17.1. The cart path is an immovable obstruction, and by definition is an abnormal course condition. Relief is allowed anywhere on the course for an abnormal course condition except when the ball is in a penalty area. If a player wanted relief from the cart path in this situation, their only option would be to take penalty relief under Rule 17.1
3. False. Rule 11.1a. If the OGA was handing out a free turkey for the most turkey question of the year, this question would certainly win the prize. While the exception to Rule 11.1a does say that if the player’s ball in motion hits another ball at rest on the putting green and both balls were on the putting green before the stroke, the player gets the general penalty (two strokes), please keep in mind that ball that is holed is not considered to be on the putting green.
4. True. Rule 18.3 and Definition of Lost. The player’s original ball is in play until another ball is substituted, or three minutes has elapsed after the player, caddie or their partner has begun their search for it.
5. False. Rule 4.1b, Rule 23.7 and Rule 23.9a(2). Partners may share clubs as long as they carry no more than 14 between them. This is one of the times when both a player and a partner are in breach of a Rule, even though the action was taken by only the player. Both will get the General Penalty here (two strokes).
6. True. Rule 14.1a and Definition of Mark.
7. True. Definition of Loose Impediment.
8. True. Rule 23.4. A side may be represented by one partner during all, or any part of a round. It is not required that both partners be present, or if present, to both play on each hole. If a partner is absent and then shows up later to play, that partner may start play for the side only between the play of two holes.