RULES
KNOW your
RULES
In our new series, we look at a scenario that applies to everyday golfers and what the correct procedures are
By MIKE GREEN
tournament to watch
19-22
Kaulig Companies Championship, Firestone Country Club
THE SCENARIO
We all have those moments. Your ball has ended up almost unplayable, in mud, marsh and even shallow water. Your options are clear. You can play the ball as it lies, with no penalty. Or, you can incur a one-shot penalty, but have a better next shot.
All water hazards are marked with either red or yellow stakes. Generally, lateral (red) water hazards are situated on either the left or right side of a hole, and regular (yellow) water hazards are situated so that the golfer has to play directly over them. When you find yourself in a water hazard, its colour is the first thing you need to take note of as it will dictate what relief options are available to you.
There are many high-profile examples of golfers avoiding a one-stroke penalty and playing where it lies.
At the 2009 WGC-CA Championship, Henrik Stenson stripped down to his boxer shorts to play a shot out of a water hazard. In 2017, he was at it again, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He hit his approach shot at the 11th hole into the shoreline of the water. He removed his shoes, rolled up his pants and took a swing. Ultimately, he needed four shots to clear the hazard.
Jean Van De Velde’s brain implosion at the final hole at Carnoustie cost him the 1999 Open Championship. The list goes on.
BARE NECESSITIES
Henrik Stenson chats about his decision to strip down to his underwear to play his second shot from the mud at the WGC-CA Championship.
watch NOW
RULE 17
The purpose: Rule 17 is a specific Rule for penalty areas, which are bodies of water or other areas defined by the Committee where a ball is often lost or unable to be played. For a one-stroke penalty, players may use specific relief options to play a ball from outside the penalty area.
Your options
Penalty areas are defined as either red or yellow. This affects your relief options:
a) Your ball is in a penalty area when any part of it lies on or touches the ground or anything else inside the edge of the penalty area, or is above the edge or any other part of the penalty area.
b) You may play ball as it lies in penalty area or take penalty relief. Exception – relief must be taken from interference by a no-play zone in penalty area.
c) Relief for your ball not found but in penalty area. If your ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that it came to rest in a penalty area, you may take penalty relief under this rule. But if it is not known or virtually certain that your ball came to rest in a penalty area and the ball is lost, you must take stroke-and-distance relief.
d) Relief for your ball in penalty area. Each for one penalty stroke. For a yellow penalty area, you have two options: stroke-and-distance relief or back-on-the-line relief. For a red penalty area, you have three options: stroke-and-distance relief, back-on-the-line relief, or lateral relief.
Full explanations can be found on randa.org
To feature in the mag, simply email us an interesting tale involving a rule at your club that is worth
discussing, and we’ll make it happen. Get in touch with us at contact@thegolfmag.co.za
To feature in the mag, simply email us an interesting tale involving a rule at your club that is worth discussing, and we’ll make it happen. Get in touch with us at contact@thegolfmag.co.za
CON CHRONIS/EPA/BACKPAGEPIX/SUPPLIED
