30 GOLF.COM / S e p t ember 2019
Illustration:
Jason^
Raish;^ Opposite:^ Scott
C
ook^ (2 )Ask The Rules Guyopponent intended to move your mark
would there be a one-stroke penalty.Q:My group was on the green, with
the pin taken out. While Player A
putted, Player B swung his putter
over the prone pin, working on the
arc of his stroke. After needling
Player B that no amount of practice
would help him, we later wondered
if using the pin as an aid is a no-no.
—Jim Downs, Bristol, R.I.A:Rules Guy himself wonders if your
use of “needling” is a play on the word
“pin”—if so, well played! Regardless,
practice putting over a prone pin to
pinpoint one’s path is perfectly proper
and permissible. (Phew!) However,
under Rule 4.3a, using an alignment
stick for the same purpose is not
permitted, because that falls under
the category of training aid. You get the
general penalty (loss of hole in match
play or two strokes in stroke play) for
the first breach and disqualified for a
subsequent breach, so spare the rod
on the course.Q:I play year-round here in
Colorado. Come winter, it can be
hard, and sometimes impossible,
to get a tee in the ground, so I use a
rubber tee like the ones at driving
ranges. Is this permissible—and, if
so, is it permissible year-round? I
like that the ball is always the same
height at address, and my drives are
more consistent as a result.
—Dean Marraccini, Niwot, Colo.A:You want to know where the rubber
meets to road, Rules-wise. As long
as your rubber tee doesn’t exceed
four inches in height, it’s perfectly
acceptable to use, regardless of the
ground conditions. Keep burning
rubber on those tee shots and you
might just turn into a trendsetter.GOT A QUESTION ABOUT THE RULES?
ASK THE RULES GUY!
SEND YOUR QUERIES, CONFUSIONS AND
COMMENTS TO [email protected].
WE PROMISE HE WON’T
THROW THE BOOK AT YOU.My golf buddy “Three Down” and I can’t agree on
the following: If a water hazard isn’t clearly staked or
marked, what exactly is its boundary? If there are two
stakes, is the boundary defined by the line between the
stakes, or by the contour of the hazard, even though the
contour may extend across the line between the stakes?
—Robert “Two Down” Chapman, via e-mail
Golf’s
Unwritten
Rules:
Heckling
Edition
Rule 1.1a:
For putts left
short, you may
only use “Hit
it, Alice!” once
per round—
total, not per
fellow player.
Rule 5.x:
Wait five
seconds before
joking about
your playing
partner’s hosel
rocket OB—
it’s both kinder
and funnier.
Rule 12:
Only putts
12 inches or
more wide
of the mark
are subject
to the “How
did that not
go in?” needle.A:Not to be a downer, Two Down, but
if a penalty area isn’t properly marked,
you use its natural margins. You thus
can’t claim, for example, that your
ball is in temporary water because it is
outside of an imaginary line between
two adjacent stakes—you’re still in the
penalty area, down and quite possibly
out. Two Down could be Three Down,
and Three Down Four Down, and so
on down....
Q:In match play, my opponent
and I are both on the green. My
ball mark is on his line, so I ask
if he’d like me to move it. He says
no, then walks by my mark and
presses it down with his putter—
and it sticks to the bottom of his
putter! I didn’t want to make a big
production out of it, so he replaced
my mark as close as possible
to its original location, and we
played on. But what is the ruling?
—Kevin Smith, via e-mailA:The old “Crazy Glue on top of
the ball mark” trick, eh, Kevin? Very
sneaky...you should be ashamed of
yourself! As it happens, this isn’t a
sticky situation in the least. If the
player wouldn’t get a penalty, neither
would the opponent. So, assuming
your opponent didn’t mean to move
your mark—and there’s no reason for
suspicion—then under Rule 9.7 you
do just replace the ball or ball marker
and get on with things. Only had yourClubhouse