by Charlie Marks | Dec 10, 2018 | General Rules
I like this one! In casual play most players don’t even know of the requirement and in tournament play it’s most often an unnecessary inconvenience. 2018 Rule: A special procedure applies when you intend to lift a ball in three specific situations. Before lifting the...
by Erik J. Barzeski | Dec 9, 2018 | General Rules
A lot of golfers didn’t know that they had five options when they hit the ball into a lateral water hazard. Essentially, they were: Re-hit (stroke and distance). Play it as it lies. Drop within two club lengths of the point where the ball last crossed the margin...
by Charlie Marks | Dec 8, 2018 | General Rules
I have a hot stock tip for you… find the company who makes red stakes and buy their shares now. Oh, and short those who make yellow and white stakes. As we all know, the 2018 Rules allow relief with penalty when a ball is in a “water hazard” (marked yellow) or a...
by Erik J. Barzeski | Dec 7, 2018 | General Rules
Though the 2019 Rules of Golf take a number of steps toward trusting players, they take one step that could be viewed as doing the opposite by allowing Committees to impose a Code of Conduct on players. Under the 2018 Rules of Golf, players were able to be...
by Charlie Marks | Dec 6, 2018 | General Rules
Hey! A Rules change for all of you who play (or caddie) on the LPGA Tour! 😉 Under the 2018 Rules, a player taking her stance is allowed to have her caddie stand behind her to help her line up to the target. Under the 2019 Rules (Rule 10.2b(4)), once you begin taking a...
by Erik J. Barzeski | Dec 5, 2018 | General Rules
In 2018 and years prior, the USGA and R&A placed fairly tight controls on who could mark and lift a player’s ball on the putting green (and elsewhere on the course). The relevant portion of the 2018 rule reads as follows: A ball to be lifted under the Rules...
by Doug Howell | Dec 4, 2018 | General Rules
Technically, this rules change governs any time a ball is played from the putting green and strikes an unattended flagstick in the hole. There are occasions, for example, when a player has to chip from the putting green. But, most often, players are putting from the...
by Erik J. Barzeski | Dec 3, 2018 | General Rules
In 2018 and before, there was a running joke among Rules Officials who spent any time officiating higher level events about players searching for their balls. They’d tell these tales at Rules Seminars across the land, and they’d typically involve a...
by Charlie Marks | Dec 2, 2018 | General Rules
One of the most often asked questions of me is “My ball hit something. What should I do?” In the past the answer was often “It depends.” The “It depends” answer wasn’t too tough for me because as a referee, I deal with that problem often. But for the everyday player,...
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