- 4 minutes ago
In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by golf rules guru Jezz Ellwood. They go through the most confusing rules in the book and offer simple explanations about how to proceed. Jezz's advice here will help you avoid any penalty shots whenever you're competing.
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00:00As most golfers know the rules of golf can at times feel fairly confusing and that's what this
00:06video is going to try to tackle. So we're going to look at seven rules that golfers still find
00:10confusing even if they've played the game for quite a while. I'm going to be joined by Jez
00:15Elwood, Golf Monthly Rules Guru and he's going to talk through each of these scenarios and explain
00:19a why they're a little bit confusing and b exactly how you should proceed in each of these
00:24situations. We're here at the London club, let's get started.
00:33One. Very funny. But this part of the video is about when you are and when you are not penalised
00:42for
00:42accidentally moving your ball which I've just done there thankfully on the tee no penalty. No penalty
00:48because at this point on the whole the ball is not in play you haven't made a stroke at it
00:52unless that
00:52was an abnormally short backswing. It was not. So the ball is not in play so if you move it
00:58off the tee
00:58fine. But there are plenty of scenarios on the golf course where you do get penalised for doing
01:02something like this. Jez let's talk about for the first one you're searching for your ball you get
01:07it in some deep rough and you're looking for it you're swishing around you accidentally move the
01:11ball what happens then? Well this is one of the new exceptions that came in in 2019. Before if you'd
01:17trodden on your ball when you were searching for it you would have been penalised. Now you're not you
01:21must replace the ball where it was or where you estimate it to have been before you kicked it or
01:27nudge it with a club to the best of your ability and then play on penalty free. So no penalty
01:32but
01:32you must replace the ball. Must replace the ball. What happens about let's say you're in the rough or
01:36you're on the fairway and you put the club down behind the ball as I've just done there and you
01:39nudge it off or you drop something on the ball like a head cover or a towel or I don't
01:45know you could
01:45be carrying anything a coin. Yeah well this is where some of the confusion has really come in and
01:50we've had quite a lot of letters golf monthly from people who think there is no longer any penalty
01:55for any accidental movement but that's not the case the default position is still a penalty if you
02:01accidentally or deliberately but if you accidentally move your ball with the club by dropping something
02:06on it there is still a penalty you've got to be careful around your ball once it's in play in
02:12the
02:12general area of the golf course. Yes but the same isn't true on the putting green. It isn't again
02:18in that previous scenario you do have to replace the ball before you play on. Very important. Putting
02:21green that was another exception that came in that any accidental movement so whether you nudge it with
02:27the putter on a practice stroke or drop a coin on it or catch it with your foot any accidental
02:33movement
02:34of the ball on the putting green is no longer a penalty you must replace the ball before you play
02:39your next
02:39stroke. All really useful to know because these scenarios they do happen I can guarantee you at
02:44some point in your golfing life you are going to accidentally move the ball while you are looking
02:48for it in deep rough knowing that it's not a penalty but you do have to replace it is key
02:52and it's worth
02:53just underlining that in all of these scenarios you always have to put the ball back there's never a
02:57scenario where you move it accidentally and then play it from wherever it's come to rest. That is true and
03:02if
03:02we were going to stress one thing it is that if you move your ball whether it's accidentally or not
03:06on the
03:06fairway in the rough there is still a penalty despite a lot of people believing that there isn't.
03:18Okay so this is one of the very few scenarios in the game of golf where players will need to
03:22make
03:22a judgment call and it's not easy this particular scenario and it all boils down to a phrase that
03:28is known or virtually certain. Jez explain to us what's going on in this scenario. Well you'll find that
03:33phrase in the definitions section of the book and in a circumstance like this you've hit your tee shot
03:38it's come round some trees that you can't see it's heading towards the penalty area yes um you think
03:45it's gone in there but when you get down here there's this area of very thick grass big area of
03:49thick
03:49rough right on line with where your ball was heading didn't see it go in didn't see no one saw
03:53a splash
03:54either in your group or in a group ahead calling back and saying it definitely went in
03:58so you haven't got certainty and then the rules say virtually certain means 95 percent so yes so
04:06that's a bit of an intangible how you work that out i don't know but for me in this scenario
04:10here
04:11because this grass is so long and thick and right in the spot where your ball was heading for
04:16i would find it quite hard to say that was 95 certain it went into the water yeah and the
04:22truth
04:22is different people are likely to interpret this rule in slightly different ways i think you've got to be
04:26honest you've got to be honest with yourself as well in this scenario am i sure my my ball's gone
04:31in there i think i'm probably maybe at best 60 percent it could easily be in here i'm obviously
04:36going to have a very good look for it if i if you find yourself having a good look for
04:40it in the thick
04:40rough it means you're probably not certain it's gone in there are you indeed and of course the difference
04:44then is can you drop just here where the ball allegedly lasts across the edge of the penalty area
04:50or because you can't find it do you have to go back and play again under stroke and distance so
04:55it's a big
04:56difference and i'm sure a lot of people would err on the side of it must have gone in mate
05:01but that's
05:02not quite well if we were playing a friendly game of golf i wouldn't i wouldn't mind whatsoever in
05:06that scenario i'm sure you would say to me yeah just drop it somewhere near but if we were playing
05:10for
05:10handicap or you're playing in a competition you really need to think very carefully about this so
05:14uh a rule that is well worth knowing when you find yourself in this very tricky but not totally
05:20uncommon scenario okay so without question this is one of the most misunderstood rules of golf and
05:32jez i'm not referring here to the um to the cart path this is an immovable obstruction and nobody is
05:38expecting you to play the ball from the cart path no the bit that i think is misunderstood and confused
05:44is often where you get your relief from yeah now we've chosen this specific spot very very specifically
05:51and it does happen so jez talk us through what often happens in this scenario and how people should
05:57under the rules proceed i think it's misinterpretation people think it's on the path
06:02uh and that's that's that so you can take relief wherever you get away from the path not nearer the
06:07hole but it's where the ball is lying on the path that's important the key point uh and you get
06:12your
06:12nearest point of complete relief from where it's lying and in this case much as you would want to
06:17come this way i would definitely want to go i'm actually playing in this direction here so going
06:21around the corner there i definitely want to hit mine from over there in the fluffy semi-ruff or thick
06:26foot-high grass over here um and some people might even say well i can't drop there because i'm not
06:31really getting relief okay i'll go back over there but you have to remember what you're getting
06:36relief from you're getting relief from this abnormal course condition cart path immovable obstruction
06:41rules of golf don't give you relief from thick grass so if the thick grass is your nearest point
06:46of complete relief that is where you have to drop and there's only one nearest point of completely there's
06:51not a few different options it's one spot and in this scenario as you said jezz it's kind of in
06:55here
06:56isn't it yeah all of this bad lie the ball bit about here so that your club has no chance
07:00of
07:01hitting the path on the way through on the way through of course you don't have to take relief
07:05you can play it from as it lies that'll be down to the individuals to whether they want to kind
07:09of
07:10potentially endanger the bottom of their golf club by hitting a shot like this i think i'd probably
07:14have to i would probably take this relief here yeah and then try and just somehow well see how
07:20bad let's have a look see how bad it is and then get it back into play
07:25so that i would say was complete relief your club was sitting much better but i think i can hit
07:31this
07:31well i can
07:36yep so you're back in play and you've proceeded uh in accordance with the rules rather than
07:43going to where you would like to play from and then potentially breaking them hopefully that helps
07:48you when you're in a situation like this
07:58weak that's not very good uh i'd quite like to have another go at that jezz now yeah in order
08:03for
08:03me to do that i need to know whether i'm allowed to practice on the golf course or not during
08:07a
08:08competition around a golf do i have permission to have another go at this well you do if there's no
08:13one
08:14waiting to play in hands on hips waiting for you to get out of the way which there isn't anyone
08:17on
08:17the whole so i'm fine so hit this again there is a limited amount of practice you can do in
08:22a round
08:22um and it's confined to the putting green you've just played or the teeing area you're next about
08:30to play from so you can practice your putting and chipping on or near either of those two areas
08:35you can't practice any bunker shots so if you've fluffed a bunker shot you can't have another go
08:40i can't think of the time i've ever hit a practice bunker shot on the golf course i'm sure
08:43someone has but you're not allowed to not allowed and and if you are holding up the groups behind
08:47they are going to be very angry about that anyway so you're likely to hear about it after the round
08:51of golf yeah anyway um so this one is fine it's fine yeah you'll find all the detail in rule
08:575.5
08:58what if i breach the rule if you breach rule by playing a practice shot you're not allowed to in
09:02a place you're not allowed to or you are unduly delaying play you'll get the general penalty so
09:08if it's between holes as it would be in this scenario that would apply to the next hole you're
09:13about to play good so in match play you would get to the next tee and you'd have already lost
09:18that
09:18hole before you play it so you might as well walk on to the next hole great okay well i
09:23get to have
09:24another go at this yeah i'm not going to hit such a bad putt this time i promise
09:29yeah a little bit more authority i only just went in though oh i mean there's no
09:33in is in is yes i know i know i know always second time isn't it yeah yeah
09:42okay so this is a scenario within the rules of golf that many players find confusing even if they've
09:48played the game for many years and in order to for us to illustrate the point we've made two pitch
09:52marks
09:53one that is off the green just on the free and fringe here and one that is on the green
09:58but both of
09:58these are directly on the line of my shot i would definitely want to putt this jezz now one of
10:03these
10:03i can repair one of them i can't explain to me what's going on well there's a difference between
10:09the green and not the green the putting green as it's called in the rules you can repair a pitch
10:14mark
10:14on the putting green at any time okay whether your ball is lying on the green or off the green
10:19so that's
10:20no problem the one off the green you're not allowed to touch to repair that would be
10:25breaking rule 8.1a which talks about conditions affecting the stroke yeah you're not allowed to
10:30improve the turf conditions uh the ground conditions that would be deemed to be doing that right and the
10:36penalty is pretty severe it's two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play so ouch the
10:42general
10:42penalty definitely want to avoid that so i'm going to repair this what about if how about if my ball
10:49came
10:49to rest yeah and then that pitch mark was made by my playing partner well it's a it's a one
10:55in a
10:55million shot probably but in that scenario you would be allowed to repair it because you're entitled
11:00to the conditions that prevailed when your ball came to rest uh that pitch mark wasn't there at
11:05that point so in that rare rare scenario you would be able to then repair that pitch mark yeah that
11:11was
11:11created after your ball had come to rest that is unlikely it is much more likely that you're going to
11:16have
11:16a situation like this with a pitch mark yeah it does happen and i'm going to have to chip this
11:19and
11:19this is not my favorite shot no oh i didn't read it properly oh and that's three feet left
11:34okay so i have had a total nightmare here i have hit a tee shot from uh way over behind
11:40me
11:40and i've sprayed it mild right and i'm on the the green here and this is not the green no
11:45i'm playing
11:46i now need to hit a seven iron in this direction here yeah what do i need to avoid doing
11:50jez well
11:51you need to avoid hitting the seven iron off this finely prepared surface i really don't want to make
11:56a difference the putting greens here are perfect as well uh this is a wrong green as far as the
12:00rules
12:01of golf are concerned and play from it is prohibited so you cannot play from it uh you cannot play
12:07if your
12:08feet are on the green and your ball isn't you've got to have complete um you've got to be completely
12:13away from the wrong green yes not in interfering with stance or golf swing so my nearest point of
12:18complete relief somewhere i'm not going to take a divot and it goes from that there somewhere like
12:23that and then yeah down here somewhere so i'd be dropping just here and then i can continue to play
12:30yep and uh that is what you would expect most people to do but somebody on the pga tour a
12:36few years ago
12:37did actually play from the wrong green with a full iron shot probably because they're very good at
12:42just nipping the ball off the top but that's more limbly is in play to stop you from damaging the
12:47green essentially i think it's important to remember as well even on a links course where you might be
12:51out and back and there are two greens very close together and it would be quite feasible to put from
12:56one to the other you still can't do it you have to take relief that's good from the wrong green
13:00advice yes because i think i wouldn't even consider i think a lot of people would just think okay there's
13:04only a little bit of fringe i'll just put back to my green but you can't do that yeah and
13:08if you do
13:09do it even in that scenario it's the general penalty which is two shots it is and you'll find this
13:13all
13:13in rule 13.1 f there you go so uh playing from the wrong green uh there's a rule to
13:19protect you from
13:20doing it because it will damage the golf course make sure you run through the process that i've
13:24just been through and you should be fine
13:39okay so for this one we have over elaborated a little bit yeah and you might need to use your
13:44imagination a little bit because obviously i'd never hit a putt that bad no well actually i have
13:50done but um it's worth remembering your options when you hit a really awful shot like that one the
13:56one that i've just hit jess that one's gone over the crest of this hill it's gone down into a
14:00bunker
14:00it's gone right into the back of the bunker which is an almost an unplayable position i'm now really
14:04scratching my head thinking what do i do now explain to me what my options might be you've putted it
14:10could
14:10have gone into the water it could have gone into a terrible lie as you say it's now at the
14:13back lip you've
14:14got no shot you're thinking you might have to take an unplayable but what you're probably not thinking is
14:19why don't i just putt it again under stroke and distance yes yes there's a shot to add
14:24so if if you two putt from there you know it's effectively three more shots but sometimes that
14:29just might be your best option best option in a scenario like this it's also worth remembering that
14:34if you've chipped so in that scenario if i was just off the green i'd thinned my chip
14:38not wholly unlikely again that option is open to me just remember that because i think when people get
14:44onto the green they sort of forget that that is a possibility don't they yeah definitely i mean it might
14:48be a case where you're very close to a ridge you're only four feet from the hole and you've just
14:53hit it a fraction too hard and suddenly it's off the front of the green well having seen the first
14:57part you might think okay my best chance here is to have another go at that four footer yes and
15:02you
15:02might be thinking okay well that means taking stroke and distance from it nearer the hole but you're
15:07allowed to do that on the putting green you can take stroke and distance just as you can anywhere else
15:13on the golf course and if that means you're nearer the hole and where your ball have come to rest
15:17you are
15:17allowed to do you're allowed to do that so it's worth remembering hopefully a situation like that
15:21doesn't arise for you but if it does try to keep that idea in mind so there you have it
15:27that's our
15:27look at the seven rules golfers still find confusing even if they've played the game for a long time
15:32there are reasons why some of these roles rules are a little bit confusing but hopefully jezz's
15:37explanations have helped to clear things up for you if you do have any questions please do leave some
15:42comments below we'd love to hear what you have to say but that's it for now from the london club
15:46thanks for watching we'll see you next time
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