The short answer is no—nor can you remove recently repaired grass or tamp down grass in a divot hole to ensure it won’t impact your next shot. You also can’t repair a pitch mark or any other uneven surface on your line if it’s off the green. All of this is covered in Rule 8.1 and comes with the general penalty for a violation (loss of hole in match play or a two-shot penalty in stroke play). To be clear, you can remove loose impediments on your line of play, but if it’s something like a weed, and it’s growing, plucking it out of the ground is a penalty.

Albeit rare, this rule is even violated by professionals. Annika Sorenstam was penalised at the 2006 LPGA Championship for removing some sod in a divot hole that was deemed to improve conditions affecting her next stroke.

So now that you know you can’t go full greenskeeper on the land in front of your shot, here are a few things to remember about this rule:

1. It is not a penalty if it’s unlikely your actions on the line of play would give you a potential advantage in playing your next stroke. For example, there’s a divot hole several yards in front of you on your line of play that you repair before hitting a 150-yard shot into the green.

2. It is still a penalty if you improve conditions on your line of play for a particular type of shot, even if you opt for a different type of shot that would not have been impacted by the improvement. For example, going with a lofted wedge shot instead of that bump-and-run in the scenario that began this article.

3. It is not a penalty if you repair damage on the putting green (Rule 13.1c(2)) regardless of whether your ball is on or off the green. So if you’re worried about that pitch mark on the green impacting that bump-and-run you’re about to hit, go ahead and repair it.

Main image: microgen

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In a perfect world, you’d avoid all the wet stuff, precisely placing your drive in the highest and driest part of every fairway. Of course, that’s not likely to last, as eventually even a piped drive down the middle will likely find its way into a huge puddle. Thankfully, it’s not a hazard that will cost you a penalty stroke—provided you know the proper way to get yourself out of the soggy situation.

What we’re referring to here is something called “casual water,” which can generally be found in low points on the golf course, particularly in bunkers. Causal water is also described as “temporary” water. The more official phrase used in Rules of Golf is “Abnormal Course Conditions” (see Rule 16).

The two basic things to keep in mind if you’re ball ends up in casual water, er, Abnormal Course Conditions are, as the Rules of Golf put it, 1) These conditions are not treated as part of the challenge of playing the course, and free relief is generally allowed except in a penalty area, and 2) The player normally takes relief by dropping a ball in a relief area based on the nearest point of complete relief.

RELATED: Rules of Golf Quiz: How many penalty strokes are you taking to ‘play’ this par 5?

This rule covers a number of different Abnormal Course Conditions, including casual water, ground under repair, immovable obstructions, etc. But right now we’re focused on casual water and how to proceed when your ball ends up in it, be it in the fairway, rough or bunker. To put it simply, if your ball is in a giant pool of water that isn’t in a penalty area, you take free relief at the nearest point of complete relief (a dry area) no closer to the hole, measuring one club length to create your relief area and play from there. The only instances you are not allowed free relief is if your ball is out of bounds or in a penalty area. One other thing to note: If your ball finds casual water in a bunker, your point of free relief still has to be in the bunker. If you did want to take it out, you’d have to assess yourself a one-stroke penalty.

Graphic courtesy of the USGA

Free relief is also granted if the casual water is affecting your stance. Your ball may be in a perfectly dry spot, but if you take your stance and water begins seeping out of the fairway, you are technically standing in casual water and allowed to take relief at the nearest point of complete relief.

Same goes for casual water on the putting green. If your ball is touching it or it’s affecting your stance, you may place a ball at the nearest point of complete relief on the putting green, or in the general area.

You’ll notice we keep saying “complete relief.” That’s not by accident; it’s an important nuance of the rule. You’ll hear announcers mention it during golf broadcasts when players are getting relief from a cart path. To properly take relief, you need to make sure where you’re dropping your ball is not in a place that can still be defined as casual water or that your stance will still be casual water. The Rules of Golf describe it as relief from all interference by the abnormal course condition.

The only situation that seemingly could get a little dicey is if your ball ends up in a rather large pool of casual water, say in a bunker, and you cannot find it. If it is known and virtually certain that the ball is in that pool, the player may take relief using an estimated point of where the ball last crossed the edge of the casual water. Once a new ball is put in play in this situation, the player may no longer play the original ball, even if it is then found before the end of the three-minute search time. If it is not known or virtually certain that the ball came to rest in the casual water, however, the player must play it as a lost ball and take stroke-and-distance relief.

Main image: Andy Cheung

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1: You’re playing a four-ball match today and it’s time to tee off, but your partner hasn’t shown up. A coin flip determines that you are away. What should you do?

a. Take a loss-of-hole penalty and hope your opponent shows up on the next hole.
b. Take a two-stroke penalty and play your opponents by yourself.
c. Play your opponents by yourself, no penalty.
d. Request a 10-minute delay of the tee time and let another foursome go ahead of your group.

2: The late-arriving teammate debacle aside, it’s your turn to play and you hit your tee shot toward a penalty area on the right side of the hole. You don’t see it splash, but everyone hears something like a splash and a group of ducks in the water scatter as you hear the sound. What should you do?

a. Since you’re not 100 per cent sure it’s in the water, call for a provisional ball and play it until you can find the original.
b. Since your partner has yet to arrive, you’re entitled to play two balls against your opponents and you hit another in the fairway.
c. Search for your ball, you’ve got five minutes to find it before it’s considered lost.
d. There’s enough evidence to consider it in the water, so add a stroke to your score and take a drop estimating the relief by where it likely last crossed over the margin of the penalty area.

3: One of your opponents looks a little nervous. After taking a few practice swings on the first tee, he’s ready to go, but his first stroke is a whiff. The gust is strong enough to make the ball fall off the tee, but it stays behind the tee markers. What should he do?

a. Count the stroke and play the ball as it lies.
b. Re-tee the ball, no penalty.
c. Count the stroke and re-tee the ball.
d. Don’t count the stroke but play it as it lies.

4: After your opponents get off the tee, you walk to your balls only to look back at the tee and see your partner is trying to get your attention. Since he’s less than five minutes late for the tee time, he’d like to tee off and join the competition. What should he do?

a. Take a two-stroke penalty for arriving late and join the competition mid-hole.
b. Pick up his ball and move out to the fairway to give you advice on how to beat your opponents now that it’s 2-on-1.
c. Tee off and join the competition on the first hole, no penalty.
d. Although his score doesn’t count, tee off and play the hole anyway as a warm-up for the next hole.

5: One of your opponent’s tee shots embedded in mud in the rough just off the fairway. He claims he’s entitled to lift, clean and move the ball out of the pitch mark without penalty. What should he do?

a. Lift, clean and replace the ball in the relief area that is no closer to the hole than the spot where it is embedded. No penalty is applied.
b. Lift the ball, but don’t clean it, before taking penalty-free relief.
c. Take an unplayable lie, add a penalty stroke, and play on from the proper relief area.
d. Since it’s in the rough, and not embedded in turf that is fairway height or less, there’s no relief. Play it as it lies.

6: After advancing the ball from near the penalty area, you’re ready to hit your next shot when you notice that between you and hole, only five yards away, is an irrigation control box. You’re worried you might hit it. What should you do?

a. Consider it an immovable obstruction and take relief to get clear of the irrigation control box, no penalty.
b. Play it as it lies.
c. Play two balls, one with free relief, and one without, and let the committee decide after the match.

7: Your opponent is about to hit his approach shot but he can’t see the green. His partner goes in front of him and stands on a hill near the green, indicating his line of play. What should happen next?

a. The partner should stay at that spot until the teammate’s stroke is completed.
b. The partner should move before his teammate hits.
c. The partner is not allowed to indicate the line of play until the putting green. They should be penalized.
d. The partner should move before his teammate hits, but he can leave a club or another marker on the spot to give the teammate something to aim at.

8: You’re in position to hit the green with your next shot and your opponent has a similar lie from a similar distance. After you knock it on the green, pin-high, you walk back to put the club in your bag and your opponent comes over and watches you replace the club to determine how to play his next shot. What should happen next?

a. Your opponent is out of the hole for trying to obtain advice on how to play the next shot.
b. Your opponent gets a two-stroke penalty for spying on your club selection.
c. There is no penalty, and your opponent plays his next shot with the newfound information from your club selection.
d. To avoid disqualification, your opponent is required to announce that he committed a rules violation by spying on your club selection.

9: You reach the green and are standing over a putt to win the hole. You’re a touch nervous and when making a practice stroke, you accidentally hit your ball. What should you do?

a. Add a stroke to your score and play your next stroke from the new position.\
b. Add a stroke to your score and play your next stroke from the original position.
c. Play the ball as it now lies, no penalty.
d. Replace the ball in its original position, no penalty.

10: You’re on the green 20 feet from the hole. Both your opponents are in greenside rough, short-sided, about 15 feet from the hole. What should you do?

a. Wait for both your opponents to play onto the green before putting.\
b. Wait for one of your opponents to play before taking your turn.
c. Hit your putt.
d. Offer for your opponents to play first to save time.

ANSWERS

1. c (Rule 23.4)

2. d (Rule 17.1c)

3. a (Rule 6.2b(5))

4. b (Rule 23.4)

5. a (Rule 16.3, Rule 14.1c)

6. b (Rule 16.1a)

7. b (Rule 23.5, Rule 10.2b)

8. c (Rule 10.2a)

9. d (Rule 13.1d)

10. c or d (Rule 6.4a)

Main image: Wavebreakmedia

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There are times when it’s obvious: Your ball gets stuck in a tree, is next to an out-of-bounds fence or rests against a giant rock (and Tiger Woods’ gallery is not around to move it).

Those are clearly instances when declaring an unplayable ball makes sense. Rule 19 says you can take a stroke penalty and then you have three options for what to do next (and you can do them with the original ball or another). The first is a traditional stroke-and-distance option, replaying your previous shot. The second is to drop the original in a relief area that is based on a reference line going straight back from the hole through the spot of the original ball. (There’s a little more to it than that, but for the sake of staying on topic, you can reference Rule 19.2b to get the rest.) The third is to take lateral relief within two club lengths of where the original ball lies. When you drop using this option, make sure the ball is not nearer the hole than the reference point. Again, there’s a little more to this option, but we need to move on.

The point of this article is to talk about those times when declaring a ball unplayable seems like, well, it might be against the rules. For example, you hit a tee shot on a par 3 that is in play, but in a horrendous lie in a bunker that would force you to play backwards just to get out. Clearly, it would be better to re-tee, lie two and take your chances at making a hard-earned bogey instead of a snowman (that’s an 8 for those of you new to carding an 8. Some of us are more familiar).

Back to the action on that par 3, are you allowed to declare a ball unplayable, even though it clearly is playable?

Drum roll, please … the answer is, absolutely.

Rule 19 says the player, and only the player, can say whether his or her ball is or isn’t playable. The only restriction is that you can’t take unplayable ball relief if your ball is in a penalty area. Otherwise, you don’t need to justify your decision to anyone, not even your teammate who thinks you’re choking away the $5 you’re up in a nassau.

Why is this important? Well, this can be a little rule hack you stuff away in your golf bag and use it to your advantage a some point during a match with your friends. Say you have a downhill putt that you get a little aggressive with and it rolls off the green farther away from the hole than you were originally. You might consider declaring the ball “unplayable” and trying the putt over again (adding a stroke to your score, of course). The best part? Someone in your group will likely cry foul, and then you get the opportunity to get in their head by doing it anyway.

The post Rules Review: Does a ball actually have to be unplayable to declare it unplayable? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

When is a club broken badly enough that it can be replaced under the Rules of Golf? Given what happened to Seung-Yul Noh during his opening round of the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas on Thursday — in which he shot a 11-under 60 despite having a driver mishap mid-round — more than you would probably think.

After a wayward drive on the 12th hole at TPC Craig Ranch (which the South Korean felt was actually a solid strike), Noh called for a ruling upon noticing the face of his Callaway Pardym Triple Diamond driver had a hairline crack. When an official took a look, the crack was deemed not sufficient enough to warrant replacing.

Wait, what?

PGA Tour rules official John Mutch offered some clarification: “Under Model Local Rule G-9, a club is not replaceable solely because of a crack. He wanted to know if he could replace the club. The answer to that was no. There needed to be some more subsequent damage other than just a hairline crack.”

Weird as that seems, the damage came on the next swing with the club on the 13th tee. Noh opted to use the driver despite the defect because a 3-wood would leave him with a long iron or even a 5-wood into the par 4. His drive subsequently went way left, but he scrambled for a par and, perhaps better, did enough damage to be able to take the club out of play.

“After he hit it on 13, it became significant damage,” Mutch said. “There was definitely separation in the metal on the face, and there was clear concavity in the face. Concavity renders a club face non-conforming. So the club at that point was unfit for play.”

Interestingly the MLR has other quirks as well. If the replacement head had been in his bag, it could not have been used, but one from his locker or car or any other place could. In fact, if he didn’t have a back-up, he could have borrowed a head from a player that had already finished his round. Luckily for Noh, he had one with him on the property. It was retrieved and brought out to him on the 15th tee. He was able to attach it to the shaft and he had his replacement. He went on to make two more birdies on the last three holes to post the course-record-tying score and take the early lead by three shots.

Yet, that’s where another oddity in the rule occurs. The local rule allowed for Noh to use the same shaft (no big deal) but also allowed, according to Mutch, for Noh to configure the adjustable settings in any manner he chose, even if it was a different setting than what he started with. Although it would be odd to do so, if a player was fighting a miss to one side that could prove to be helpful. The only condition being that once you set it and use it, that’s the setting you go with the rest of the round.

Unless, of course, you break the driver again.

The post The rules quirk behind why a damaged driver needs to be REALLY damaged to be replaced appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

For those, however, who can’t help but lose a ball or three during a round (us included), a natural question emerges: If you start playing your round with one type of golf ball, do you have to keep playing the same type of ball the rest of the round? For example, if you played a Titleist ProV1 on the first hole, do you have to commit to that brand — and that model — until you hole out on 18?

The answer is: Sometimes.

There is an option in the Rules of Golf for a course/committee to employ something known as the “one-ball rule.” Technically, this is Model Local Rule that can be put in effect — almost always only in competitions — that says you must play with the same brand, make and model of ball you started the round with. This means that if you start playing with a Srixon Z-Star, you must play that type of ball for the remainder of the round and may not switch to another brand or even another model of Srixon. For reference, see ‘Committee Procedures; Model Local Rule G-4’. The penalty for somebody who mistakenly plays a different ball is two shots for each stroke made with the incorrect ball.

The one-ball rule is in effect on the pro tours, and it does come into play every now and then. Back in 2019, Russell Henley was penalised eight shots (seriously) for switching between two different types of Titleist ProV1s — unknowingly — for four holes at the PGA Tour’s Maykoba Golf Classic.

Keep in mind that for the majority of your rounds, switching balls is fine between holes. You also can substitute a ball during play of a hole if you are taking relief (free or penalty), or if the ball is cut or cracked and the damage happened during play of that hole. You can’t switch out a ball if it’s simply scratched, scraped or the paint is damaged (Rule 4.2).

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Last week, it was Xander Schauffele who had social media all hopped up when he was granted a free drop despite his ball being up against a tree in the third round of the WM Phoenix Open. On Saturday at the Genesis Invitational, it was Jon Rahm, the 54-hole leader at 15-under, who had Golf Twitter breaking out their collective magnifying glass and searching for clues.

The situation: at the par-4 third, the Spaniard badly pulled his tee shot into the trees left of the fairway. His ball actually came to rest in some sort of fenced area that some were referring to as a parking lot, which was not the case. It was more of a staging area for equipment, one that is referred to as a TIO (temporary immovable obstruction). Grandstands and tents are the most typical TIOs, but this was neither. The shot was so wayward that Rahm wound up hitting a provisional, though he was almost positive it was a TIO, which he would be granted free relief from.

“I was 99.9 per cent sure it was TIO,” Rahm said afterward. “But take advantage of the rules and hit a provisional at least. If I hit it good I have a different visual in mind going through the round. And that .9 percent is just in case. I don’t want to be walking back up to the tee and if I can, just saving time as well.”

Rahm took serious advantage, as this nice graphic from CBS Sports’ Kyle Porter shows:

Jon Rahm hit his drive somewhere back in here and got TIO relief in the rough. pic.twitter.com/ENngB5GE7H

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) February 18, 2023

Of course, the thought among golf fans with a seriously watchful eye is that wayward shots should be punished more harshly than this. Here, Rahm got a free drop back in play with an unobstructed look at the green, leading to a par save. This comes one day after Rahm got an all-time lucky bounce off a grandstand right of the 17th green, which resulted in a kick-in eagle. Considering he is currently leading Max Homa by three shots, these are two moments that could loom very large on Sunday evening.

Wait so Rahm just hit one into the parking lot/broadcast compound of 3 and is gonna get TIO relief? pic.twitter.com/QuqyieLXiV

— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) February 18, 2023

Rahm is 1-0 with a major title when getting free drops from TIO fences protecting parking lots

— Chris Murphy (@CS_Murph) February 18, 2023

Did Rahm just get TIO relief? After he hit a dinger into the parking lot?

— Josh Bennett (@JishSwish) February 18, 2023

As Rahm explained, what he did was completely within the rules, no matter what anyone thinks of it. He’s certainly not the first to take advantage, and he won’t be the last. There’s no telling how many times stuff like this happens with players who aren’t the focal point of the broadcast, either.

When asked if he felt he should be punished more harshly for a poor drive, Rahm simply replied: “No.”

“They needed that for the tournament,” Rahm said of the TIO. “On a regular day, there’s nothing there and I would be able to play my golf ball from where it was. So no.”

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Officials with the two organisations have revealed the revisions that await when the latest edition of the Rules of Golf go into effect on January 1, reinstituting the four-year cycle of regular updates. While far from the overhaul made last time, a handful of notable modifications are on their way. Among them are relaxing the rule for replacing damaged clubs, an intuitive exception for playing a ball that moves due to natural forces and an option for tournaments not to disqualify players who forget to sign a scorecard. Also notable is the fact that there will no longer be printed rules books (more on that later).

Most significantly, on the heels of the USGA holding the inaugural US Adaptive Open in July, the governing bodies are now fully incorporating the modified rules for players with disabilities into the playing rules with the addition of Rule 25. This does away with the need for committees to adopt a local rule for disabled golfers.

“To move Rule 25 into the book, to make [it] always in effect, that’s significant not only for that individual but more so for awareness,” said Craig Winter, senior director, Rules of Golf and Amateur Status for the USGA. “A golf professional in a shop that sees these are there, they may see that for the very first time starting in 2023. For that reason, it’s a really big step for us, and we think it’s going to do a whole lot for the game of golf to open up avenues for individuals to play.”

As for rules that have been updated, arguably the biggest change comes in the area of equipment. Come the new year, players will be allowed to replace a club damaged during a round for any reason except in anger or abuse. This takes the next step from 2019, when the USGA and R&A approved some allowances for replacing a damaged club due to outside influences.

Now if players scrapes a clubhead by hitting a ball off a cart path or bend a shaft when hitting a shot near a tree, the club can be fixed and put back in the bag or taken out of play and replaced. “It just means there are no traps,” says Winter, noting the complexity of the old rule as to whether a club could be replaced. “Golfers can’t get it wrong.”

If avoiding confusion explained the change regarding damaged club replacement, common sense fuels a new exception to the rule regarding a ball moved by natural forces. Perhaps you recall the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open, where Rickie Fowler hit a shot into the penalty area on the 11th hole at TPC Scottsdale. He took his drop, but moments later the ball moved again into the penalty area, and Fowler had to take another penalty stroke on his scorecard. Fowler still won despite making a triple-bogey on the hole, but the rules took a beating from the public for what appeared to be their unfairness regarding this matter.

Moving forward, if golfers have taken relief from a penalty area and the ball subsequently moves again to another area of the course, they can replace the ball to the spot it was first dropped with no additional penalty.

“We don’t think this is going to happen much. It hasn’t happened very much even in the last 20 years that we’re aware of, but when it does happen, it’s pretty significant,” Winter said. “So as uncommon as it is, we feel like this is something that we go back to what we were trying to do in 2019, what is the player intuitively thinking what they should do? It’s kind of like ‘this can’t be right.’ My ball just rolled back in and I just took relief, I’m just going to put another one down and play it. That’s the direction we’re going in 2023.”

Michael Reaves

Another change likely to have more of an impact on pro golf than the recreational game is a change to the back-on-the-line relief procedure used for penalty areas and unplayable ball relief. In this instance, the USGA and R&A are returning to how the procedure worked prior to 2019, letting players drop their ball directly on the line that extends from the hole and their ball. So long as the ball stays with one club length of the drop in any direction (it had been two club lengths prior to 2019), the dropped ball is in play.

Winter acknowledged the governing bodies had buyer’s remorse in changing the back-on-the-line relief four years ago, thinking it was smart to have it correspond with other instances of taking relief by creating a relief area to drop the ball, but not appreciating the unintended consequences. Because of the unusual nature of drops using the back-on-the-line option, and the fact recreational golfers hadn’t really changed their old habits, the return to the pre-2019 standard made sense.

Additionally, the governing bodies have tried to make things easier on recreational golfers in another subtle way by no longer penalising them for failing to put their handicap on their scorecard in stroke-play competitions. Instead, the committee will be responsible for including each player’s handicap and ensuring its accuracy.

Fairness and equity are behind the decision to reduce penalties applied for certain rules infractions from two strokes (the general penalty) to one, most notably with regard to what happens when incorrectly switching a golf ball.

That’s also why Model Local Rule L-1 is being introduced, which reduces the penalty for failing to sign a scorecard at the end of a round from disqualification to two strokes accessed on the last hole. It is expected that most pro tours will adopt this for their competitions — they must opt in for the rule to be in effect.

Winter says that the governing bodies will see what happens in the next four years regarding whether to incorporate the Model Local Rule into the rules permanently.

All the updates will be available in the new Rules of Golf released on January 1. But the rules ‘book’will only be available digitally or via the USGA and R&A Rules of Golf app. The governing bodies will print a few hard copies for rules officials, but in the interest of sustainability, they will end their practice of encouraging players to carry the book in their bags. By doing this, the USGA alone with eliminate printing 2 million books, or almost half-a-billion pages of paper.

“We have a really good rules app that has a really powerful search function,” Winter said. “There’s a lot of engagement opportunities for individuals to learn the rules or to find their answers. So we’re going to rely on that.”

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It’s the second question that the USGA and R&A have decided to experiment with in creating Model Local Rule L-1, which reduces the penalty for players who fail to sign their card (certify their score in rules parlance) from disqualification to two strokes added to the last hole of the round.

The Model Local Rule will be available to tournament committees to put in play for their events when the new edition of the Rules of Golf goes into effect on January 1, 2023. It comes about thanks in part to input from the PGA Tour, LPGA and representatives from other pro circuits.

“There has been a lot of interest in this area from the professional game, and this is a local rule we expect them to adopt,” said Craig Winter, USGA senior director Rules of Golf and Amateur Status. “We expect most organisations at the highest level, those organisations that have hard cards, permanent rules staffs … it’s likely we’re going to see this throughout the game at that level.”

Winter described the MLR as an extension of the USGA and R&A becoming more lenient regarding scorecard mishaps. In recent years, penalties for players signing a wrong scorecard have been reduced if they unknowingly committed a penalty and thus signed for a score lower than they shot. (Before 2016, this resulted as well in a DQ, and after 2018 a local rule eliminated the two-stroke penalty still found in the Rules.)

The Rules of Golf still specify that you must have the correct score for each hole written on your scorecard. Sign for a score higher than what you shot, and the higher score becomes your new official score. Sign for a score lower than you shot, and you remain disqualified.

As for failing to sign a scorecard, why a Model Local Rule rather than a full-fledged change to the Rules of Golf? Winter says the USGA and R&A don’t want to force committees to makes changes, but instead would like to use the next four years to evaluate its impact.

“We have four years effectively to see how it goes,” Winter said. “We can make a decision come 2027 if this becomes the rule of golf and perhaps there’s a local rule that says if a committee wants to be where we are with disqualification today, they can choose that option for a local rule. But this is pretty normal path forward for us in these areas. Local rule first, see how it goes and perhaps move it into the rules if it works out well for the game.”

Indeed, it’s not just pro golf where the Model Local Rule may have a significant impact. “Unfortunately, it happens even as much as organisations try to put someone in the scoring area to help prevent that. It does [still] happen,” Winter said of unsigned scorecards. “Club level golf, with a little less attention to the scoring area, it probably happens a little more often too.”

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Indeed, nothing sparks armchair, living-room debates like a player’s golf ball oscillating a fraction of an inch, or somebody’s wedge ever-so-slightly grazing a loose impediment. We yell and scream at the TV over how absurd and archaic some of these rulings can be, but deep down in places we don’t talk about at parties we WANT these violations, we NEED these violations.

Fortunately for us — or, unfortunately for the violators — we’ve witnessed a literal endless amount of these transgressions over the years. Below is our attempt to comprehensively round up the biggest, strangest and costliest of them all, going all the way back to the 1920s and making our way to the present day. Some of these you’ll know well, some you may have forgotten about and some you may have missed entirely. Sadly, the players in question did not have that same luxury.

Bobby Jones, 1925 U.S. Open

Perhaps the most famous ‘gentleman’s game’ moment in golf history was when the legendary Jones called a one-stroke penalty on himself at Worchester Country Club. The violation occurred in the first round when, on the 11th hole, Jones’ club moved the ball slightly at address. No one — not his competitors, not a spectator, not an official — saw the infraction, but Jones pointed it out anyway, and it cost him one stroke. Had he not called it, he would have won the tournament outright. Instead, he lost in a 36-hole playoff to Willie Macfarlane. Jones was praised for his honest act, but deflected it saying famously: “You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.”

Cyril Walker, 1929 LA Open

Walker, who won the 1924 US Open, was a notoriously slow player. So much so that in the 1929 LA Open, Walker was disqualified on the ninth hole of his first round for his snail-like pace. Apparently, he was as stubborn as he was slow, refusing to leave and continuing on with his round. It was so bad that tournament officials sent two policemen out to forcibly remove Walker from the course, and he was threatened with jail time. Hey, given how much of a problem slow play still is, maybe they were on to something …

Ed Oliver, 1940 US Open

With bad weather looming, and no official starter at the first tee at Canterbury Golf Club for the final round, Oliver, Dutch Harrison, Duke Gibson, Johnny Bulla, Ky Laffoon and Claude Harmon decided to tee off a half-hour earlier than their designated start times. They were soon informed that was grounds for disqualification, but all six pros continued playing under protest. Oliver wound up getting hit the hardest, as he finished in a three-way tie for first, but was not allowed to participate in the playoff with Gene Sarazen and Lawson Little.

Byron Nelson, 1946 US Open

In the third round at Canterbury Golf Club, a crowd had gathered around Nelson’s ball on the 13th hole. This led Nelson’s caddie to inadvertently kick the ball, a one-stroke penalty. Nelson, who won his lone US Open in 1939, would have won No. 2 if not for his caddie’s boot. He still managed to make a three-way playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and Vic Ghezzi, which Mangrum eventually won by a shot.

Lloyd Mangrum, 1950 US Open

Four years after benefitting from Nelson’s misfortune, Mangrum found himself in his own rules imbroglio at Merion. Once again in a three-man playoff, this time against the legendary Ben Hogan and George Fazio, Mangrum had 15 feet left for par on the 16th green. Noticing a bug on his ball, Mangrum lifted it to blow off the bug, a violation of the rules at the time. He was assessed a two-stroke penalty, and Hogan went on to win by four.

Editor’s Note: After this story published, John Capers, a club historian and member at Merion, reached out to clarify what really happened to Lloyd Mangrum in the playoff. As Capers wrote, Mangrum was not penalized for blowing the bug off the ball. Ike Grainger, who was refereeing the three-way playoff, told Capers what really happened: “In 1950 a player in a PGA event could mark their ball as many times as they wanted. However, in a USGA medal play event, the player could ONLY mark their ball if it was in another player’s line. Mangrum’s ball was in Fazio’s line and Mangrum marked his ball. He replaced the ball and was about to putt when a bug lit on the ball. Mangrum re-marked his ball and blew the bug off the ball. He replaced the ball and knocked it in. Ike Grainger then penalised Mangrum for marking the ball a second time when not in another player’s line — two strokes. Mr Grainger then said to him: ‘The USGA does not believe in double jeopardy, so will not be penalised for blowing the bug off the ball.’ The bug would be considered a foreign object sticking to the ball. Mismarking two penalty shots, bug zero penalty shots.”

Jackie Pung, 1957 US Women’s Open

After signing for the correct total score, Pung appeared to have beaten Betsy Rawls by one stroke at Winged Foot for what would have been her only major championship victory. But on the card, Pung was down for making a 5 on the fourth hole, when she actually made a 6. Despite signing for a correct total score, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

Roberto De Vicenzo, 1968 Masters

Eleven years after Pung’s disappointment, De Vicenzo suffered a similar fate at Augusta National, though the Argentine signed for a higher score rather than a lower one. His playing partner in the final round, Tommy Aaron, marked De Vicenzo down for a 4 on the par-4 17th, but De Vicenzo had made a birdie 3. Not noticing the error after the round, De Vicenzo signed the incorrect scorecard, and the Rules of Golf stated that the higher score of 4 had to stand. He missed out on a playoff with Bob Goalby by one stroke.

Jane Blalock, 1972 Bluegrass Invitational

As it turns out, Blalock’s infractions were not limited to one tournament, but it was at the 1972 Bluegrass Invitational where the LPGA’s executive board disqualified her for not marking her ball properly on the 17th green, and not taking the two-stroke penalty that came with it. Apparently, this was not a first-time offence, and the LPGA’s executive board suspended her for a year. Blalock sued the LPGA and eventually won the case.

Tom Kite, 1978 Hall of Fame Classic

More than 50 years after Bobby Jones called a penalty on himself for an infraction no one saw, Kite did the same at Pinehurst. As he addressed his ball with his putter on the fifth green in the final round, Kite noticed the ball had barely moved, barely as in he was the only one who would have seen it. He called the penalty anyway, and he lost the tournament by a stroke.

Andy Bean, 1983 Canadian Open

On the 15th hole of his third round, Bean knocked in a short putt with the wrong end of his putter. At the time, it went unnoticed, but unfortunately for Bean, the PGA Tour’s deputy commissioner of tournaments, Clyde Mangum, was watching on television. Mangum called in the infraction, and Bean was penalised two strokes. The following day, Bean shot a nine-under 62, tying the course record and tying for fourth in the tournament. Had he not been penalised two shots a day earlier, he would have been in a playoff with John Cook and Johnny Miller.

Hale Irwin, 1983 Open Championship

After lagging a birdie putt to six inches on the par-3 14th at Royal Birkdale on Saturday, Irwin went to clean up his par with the back of his putter. He completely whiffed, and because he intended to hit it, it counted as a stroke. Irwin told his playing partner he made 4. On Sunday, Irwin shot a final-round 67, good enough to … lose by one measly stroke to Tom Watson. The T-2 was the three-time US Open winner’s best finish at the British.

TC Chen, 1985 US Open

The native of Taiwan was a surprise four-stroke leader in the final round at Oakland Hills when his approach shot on the par-4 fifth hole was short and right of the green. Chen barely moved the ball with this third shot. While playing his fourth from the heavy rough, his club got stuck in the grass, released and accidentally hit the ball a second time in mid-air. The ball landed just shy of the fringe after the double-hit, which resulted in a one-stroke penalty. Chen then chipped the ball eight-feet past the hole with his sixth shot, missed the comeback putt and carded a quadruple-bogey 8 to fall into a tie with Andy North. Chen ultimate finished T-2, one shot back of the victorious North.

Craig Stadler, 1987 Andy Williams Open

On the 14th hole of his third round of what’s now known as the Farmers Insurance Open, Stadler placed a towel beneath his knees to avoid getting his pants wet while he hit a shot from underneath a tree. That was deemed to be in breach of the rule that says a player cannot “build a stance”. Stadler was hit with a two-stroke penalty, but not until the next day, when the NBC broadcast showed the highlight at the beginning of the broadcast, prompting one of the first viewer call-ins on record. Stadler would have finished second, but he was disqualified for having signed an incorrect scorecard (despite not knowing he’d broken the rule and needed to take his penalty).

Editor’s note: Recent changes in the Rules of Golf allow players to no longer get disqualified for signing incorrect scorecards that didn’t take into account penalty shots for rules they did not know they’d broken when they originally signed their cards.

Raymond Floyd, 1987 Players Championship

At the par-5 11th, the second hole of Floyd’s opening round, his caddie went out to the fairway to forecaddie while Floyd and his playing partners took their drivers back to the tee. Floyd’s caddie plopped his bag down in the rough, then walked ahead to check their next potential distance. When the caddie turned around, Floyd’s ball went directly into his bag, a two-stroke penalty. It gets worse: A few holes later, play was stopped for one hour due to rain. When play resumed, one of Floyd’s playing partners, Seve Ballesteros, asked Floyd if they could hit some practice shots. Floyd said yes, and they both began hitting balls into the woods. They were soon informed that was not allowed, and each hit with two-stroke penalties, the second in a span of five holes for Floyd.

Kevin Johnson, 1989 NCAA Championship

A senior at Clemson, Johnson wrapped up his second round at Oak Tree with the individual lead over Arizona State freshman Phil Mickelson and was called to participate in a press conference. There was no scoring tent, and Johnson left his card on a table unsigned. A volunteer picked it up and when Johnson returned for it, he was told he had failed to sign it before turning it in. The NCAA golf committee met for three hours that night and announced Johnson would not be DQ’d, only to partially reverse the decision the next morning. Johnson was allowed to play for the Tigers in the final two rounds of the team competition being played that day, but was out of the individual contest. Clemson fell from first to third place, and Mickelson won the first of his three NCAA titles. Johnson shot 70-73 and had his entire 72-hole score been allowed to count, it would have beaten Mickelson.

Paul Azinger, 1991 Doral-Ryder Open

A few years after Stadler got called out via a call-in, Azinger became the latest victim of a tattle tale at Doral. A day before, the fiery American kicked some coral after playing a shot from a water hazard on the 18th hole. A viewer who picked up on Azinger’s gaffe called in on Friday, and when it was determined to be a penalty, Azinger was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard on Thursday (69 instead of 71).

Editor’s Note: The major professional tours no longer take phone or email warnings from viewers during tournaments as each has its own officials monitor TV feeds to look for potential infractions.

PH Horgan III, 1998 Buick Open

Following a first-round 71, Horgan was disqualified for one of the greatest oversights in golf history. No, he didn’t sign an incorrect scorecard, and he didn’t get tattled on by a viewer. It was discovered that Horgan simply forgot to register for the tournament, which is usually a good thing to do for a tournament you plan on playing in.

Ian Woosnam, 2001 Open Championship

It’s not quite Jean van de Velde levels of Open infamy, but Woosnam’s screw-up in the final round in 2001 is right up there. After making birdie at the first hole at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Woosie, 43 at the time, was in contention to win a second career major. But at the second tee, it was discovered that the extra driver Woosnam was practicing with on the range was still in his bag, meaning he was carrying 15 clubs, one more than the amount allowed. He was penalized two strokes, and wound up finishing four back of David Duval.

Jeff Maggert, 2003 Masters

With a two-shot lead through 54 holes, Maggert was poised to make a run at what would have been his only major title. Three holes into his final round, that dream died a swift death. At the short par-4 third, Maggert played it safe off the tee with a 2-iron, but found a fairway bunker. He then pulled a 53-degree wedge for his approach, which hit the lip of the bunker and came back and hit Maggert in the chest. He was hit with a two-stroke penalty for the infraction, and he walked off with a triple bogey. Later on the back nine, Maggert made an 8 on the par-3 12th. He still managed to shoot 75, finishing five shots out of a potential playoff.

Editor’s Note: When the USGA and R&A modernized the Rules of Golf in 2019, they changed this rule so that players are no longer penalised if their ball is accidentally deflected by themselves or their equipment.

Jesper Parnevik, Mark Roe, 2003 Open Championship

Not only did Roe have a chance to post his first top-10 in a major that year at Royal St George’s, he had a chance to contend for what would have been the biggest win of his career. Through 54 holes, the Englishman was just two off the lead thanks to a third-round 67. Unfortunately, he never struck a shot in the final round, as both he and Parnevik, his playing partner, were disqualified. The reason? The pair never exchanged scorecards on the first tee on Saturday, and they mistakenly wrote down each other’s scores on their own scorecards. It was the last major Roe ever appeared in.

Michelle Wie, 2005 Samsung World Championship

In her first event as a pro, Wie, then 16, posted an impressive fourth-place finish, which would have matched her career-best on the LPGA Tour to that point. But a journalist made officials aware that he had noticed a day earlier that Wie had taken what he thought might have been a bad drop on the seventh hole. Wie was eventually disqualified, stripped of her fourth-place finish, and the $53,126 cheque that came with it.

Brian Davis, 2010 RBC Heritage

In regulation, Davis went flag-hunting on the famous 18th at Harbour Town, and it led to a birdie that got him into a playoff with Jim Furyk. Back in the 18th fairway in sudden death, Davis went for the pin again, but missed left into the hazard, his ball coming to rest in the sand. As he took the club back, it clipped a weed, which was a loose impediment. Davis immediately called over rules official Slugger White to check if he committed a penalty, and White confirmed he did. It was a two-stroke infraction, and Furyk went on to win with ease. Davis, now 46, has still never won on the PGA Tour while earning more than $13.3 million, the most of any player who doesn’t have a tour victory.

Dustin Johnson, 2010 PGA Championship

Outside of a violation a little further down our list, DJ’s BunkerGate saga was among the more painful to watch unfold in major championship history. After missing the 72nd fairway, Johnson grounded his club in what appeared to be a waste area. Had Johnson looked closer at the note on every player’s locker that week at Whistling Straits, however, he would have known that he was standing in a bunker. He was informed of the violation on the 18th green, and instead of competing in an epic three-man playoff with eventual winner Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson, he was hit with a two-stroke penalty and fell into a tie for fifth.

Juli Inkster, 2010 Safeway Classic

Just three strokes off the lead after 36 holes, Inkster was in striking distance. But she never got the chance to make a serious run when, after a viewer had called her out via an email to the LPGA, it was determined Inkster would be DQ’d for using a training aid during play. Apparently, during a long wait on the 10th tee, she put a weighted donut (non-delicious division) on her 9-iron and took some swings to stay loose, which is not allowed.

Ryuji Imada, 2010 Mission Hills Star Trophy

If they aren’t DQ-worthy, just about all the penalties on this list are of the one- or two-stroke variety. In rare cases, like Imada’s, a player can be retroactively given penalty strokes for something they did throughout their round, and those penalty strokes can add up. For Imada, failure to read a local rule added up to a 26-stroke penalty in a 36-hole, mixed-field event in China. Players were not allowed to lift, clean and place, and Imada had done so 13 times before being informed he wasn’t allowed.

Tiger Woods, 2013 Masters

Among the most famous rulings on this list came on Saturday morning at the 2013 Masters. A day earlier in the second round, Woods pulled within three strokes of the lead heading into the weekend, having shot a one-under 71. That was changed to a 73 when it was determined that Woods had taken a bad drop at the 15th hole, which he unknowingly revealed during a post-round interview on Friday. After Woods explained where he dropped his ball after hitting his approach off the flagstick and into the water, David Eger, a former PGA Tour rules official, called in to say the drop wasn’t in the proper spot. Woods, who could have been disqualified for the breach, was only penalised the two strokes, and wound up tying for fourth.

Justin Rose, 2013 BMW Championship / Hudson Swafford, 2013 Nationwide Children’s Hospital

In an unfathomable turn of events, Rose and Swafford committed the exact same unbelievably rare infraction on consecutive days. First, it was Rose in the third round of the BMW. The Englishman took a practice swing and made a divot, and the divot somehow made contact with the ball:

Rose received a one-shot penalty, which didn’t make too much difference, as he finished 15 shots back. As for Swafford, who did the same thing the next day on the Korn Ferry Tour, his divot was a little more costly considering he was in contention:

Dustin Johnson, 2016 US Open

Once again, it looked as though Johnson’s first major victory was in doubt due to another dreaded ruling. With the greens rolling like glass on Sunday at Oakmont, Johnson got into trouble at the par-4 fifth green, where he addressed his ball and it moved so slightly that only a super-zoomed-in camera shot could detect it. The USGA examined the video evidence for what felt like hours, finally informing him that he was being penalised a stroke on the 12th hole. Luckily, Johnson won by three, rendering the ruling irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the championship and saving the USGA from endless wrath.

Anna Nordqvist, 2016 US Women’s Open

The USGA’s peace and quiet lasted less than a month, when Nordqvist also got the delayed-penalty treatment during a three-hole playoff against Brittany Lang. On the second playoff hole, the Swede was hitting an approach shot from a fairway bunker at CordeValle, and cameras picked up on her barely grazing the sand as she addressed the ball. After once again taking a fair amount of time to examine the video evidence, Nordqvist was informed of the two-stroke infraction in the 18th fairway, after she had already hit her third shot in the final playoff hole. She went on to lose by three.

Editor’s Note: The Rules of Golf has since been amended to allow for a “naked eye” standard so that if a player’s action could not reasonable have been seen as it happened and the player was not otherwise aware of a potential breach, he or she would not be considered to have broken the Rules if video technology shows otherwise.

Lexi Thompson, 2017 ANA Inspiration

Thompson appeared to be cruising to her second ANA title in four years on Sunday at Mission Hills, but things changed drastically on the back nine when the LPGA received an email about a potential rules breach that Thompson committed on Saturday. According to the viewer, Thompson had improperly replaced her ball on the 17th green during her third round, which is a two-shot penalty. After being given the penalty, it was also determined that she had signed an incorrect scorecard, so she was now incurring a four-stroke penalty in the middle of the final round. Somehow, she did still get into a playoff, ultimately losing to So Yeon Ryu on the first hole of sudden death. It was the Thompson incident that caused the change in the rules regarding taking call-ins/information from viewers watching tournaments at home as well as eliminating any additional penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard when a player didn’t know he or she had committed a penalty.

Phil Mickelson, 2018 U.S. Open

Many of the penalties on this list were committed accidentally and/or unknowingly. That was not the case with Mickelson’s ‘hitting a ball in motion’ penalty during the third round at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, his frustration over years of heartbreak and punishment in the US Open bubbling over. Four-over on his round after making five bogeys on his previous eight holes, Mickelson faced a slick, downhill 18-footer for bogey on the 13th hole. Mickelson’s putt rolled past the hole and it did not appear like it was going to stop before rolling off the front of the green. Inexplicably, Mickelson ran after his ball and hit it while it was still in motion on the green. He wound up making a 10 on the hole when adding the two-stroke penalty for hitting a moving ball. It remains the quintessential “Phil being Phil” moment to this day.

Haotong Li, 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic

On the 72nd hole, Li had a short birdie putt that would have secured him third place and a very nice pay day. Unfortunately for Li, he was later hit with a two-stroke penalty for breaking Rule 10.2b(4), which had just been implemented a few weeks earlier, that states a caddie cannot stand behind a player and line them up. Had Li stepped away and re-lined himself up, there would have been no penalty. The two-stroke infraction dropped him all the way into a tie for 12th, costing him nearly $100,000.

Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar, 2019 WGC-Dell Match Play

In a Saturday quarter-final match at Austin Country Club, Garcia was 1-down to Kucher through six holes. At the par-3 seventh green, after missing a seven-foot par putt, Sergio went to give it a quick rake before Kuchar had conceded the putt. The Spaniard’s ball lipped out, and by rule, it counted because Kuchar had not conceded in time. The two eventually smoothed things over, even after a tense exchange soon after, and Kuchar went on to win the match, 2-up.

Darren Clarke, 2019 US Senior Open

It all came down to the 18th hole.

And then this happened.

The outcome? A 1 up win for Tyler Strafaci. #USAmateur pic.twitter.com/JFJcoSKfFQ

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 14, 2020

In his US Senior Open debut, the Northern Irishman got off to a solid start, right up until he ran into some serious rules controversy at the par-4 10th hole. Clarke had pulled his drive way left and in his line of sight on his approach shot was a bird box. Clarke had his caddie move it, only to learn that the bird box was considered an immovable obstruction. Clarke was penalised two strokes, giving him a first-round three-over 73.

Segundo Oliva Pinto, 2020 US Amateur

On the 18th hole of his Round of 16 match at Bandon Dunes, the 20-year-old from Argentina was tied with eventual winner Tyler Strafaci. Facing a greenside bunker shot, Oliva Pinto went up to the green to examine his options. As that was happening, his caddie stepped into the sand and swiped it with his hand. It was a clear breach of the rule that states a player (or his caddie) may not test the condition of the sand. Oliva Pinto, who hadn’t seen what his caddie had done, was given a loss-of-hole penalty and in turn lost the match.

Cameron Smith, 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship

We’ve added this very recent rules blunder uncertain what the real cost could potentially be. Cam Smith was getting set to warm up for his final round at TPC Southwind on Sunday thinking he was two shots off the lead in the year’s first FedEx Cup playoff event. A victory would jump him to No. 1 on the FedEx Cup points list and put him in prime position to win the $18 million prize for winning the Cup that will be handed out in a couple weeks at the Tour Championship. A win would also have vaulted Smith to World No. 1. However, PGA Tour officials asked to talk to him that morning to follow up something that happened on Saturday in the third round. On the par-3 fourth hole, Smith’s tee shot found the water, and he went to take relief from the red-lined marked penalty area. He dropped his ball, which came to rest seemingly on the red line. Smith played his third shot on to the green and made the putt for a bogey 4, but officials looking at the video were concerned that the ball was on the red line, and that Smith had mistakenly not taken full relief from the penalty area. After talking to the player, Smith confirm his ball was on the line and that he did not realise that was an issue. Officials were forced to assess a two-stroke penalty for Smith playing from a wrong place. Smith now started the final round, which was already in progress for other golfers, four shots off the lead. He birdied the first hole but shot a pedestrian even-par 70 and finished T-13, six shots back. He also tweaked a sore hip that decided to skip the next week’s BMW Championship to be fully rested for the Tour Championship. Whether the penalty costs Smith the FedEx Cup title will be hard to quantify, but it certainly could be a costly issue if he misses out on the hefty pay day at the Tour Championship.

Here is the full video of the Cam Smith penalty.pic.twitter.com/CV57DlYRg4

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 14, 2022

The post Rules blunders: The definitive guide to the biggest, strangest and costliest mix-ups in golf history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.