3 Comments

1. 

   Stewart on November 30, 2018 at 7:08 am

   Excellent video summary guidance across the board but I believe there was one filming error. When the ball was accidentally moved on the putting green and the lady replaced the ball, she failed to meet the requirements of Rule 14.2b(2) correctly. The ball must be set down and let go so that it stays on that spot, however, the ball moved when it was set down. In that case, the player must replace the ball again correctly or will get the general penalty for breach of Rule 14.7 if the ball is played from where it moved to.

   Reply
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     iacas Administrator on November 30, 2018 at 9:51 am

     Stewart, that’s a sharp eye you’ve got. The segment occurs at about 6:33 in the video, and the movement is fairly small.

     
     

     The ball definitely changes position slightly. It rotates about one dimple’s width to the left.

     I suppose whether this movement is visible with the “naked eye” or whether we only notice because the camera is zoomed in a bit may play a role in whether the placement stands or not. What do you think? How would you rule?

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       Stewart on December 2, 2018 at 2:32 am

       If I am refereeing and see this action, the rules don’t provide me with a choice, it is a breach. If I am playing and another player in my group does this I will step in and advise them of the rules implications. Because the video is in real time, I suggest it is a clear naked eye visible issue but clearly our actor in the video is not a rules expert. This wrinkle apart, the video is excellent.

       I’ll qualify my statement above: it is a breach if the ball is played without correction and unless it is a match that I am not assigned to, even as a referee, I would intervene to alert the player.

       I think this place/replace process is a real sleeper in the new rules, because the smaller relief area (despite the lower drop) may mean it crops up more. And players need to get their heads around delivering what the rule requires.

       I suggest RulesGeeks would be doing golfers a big favour by guiding your readers through this issue.

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