- 3 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.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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 hit
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
01:40it off or you drop something on the ball like a head cover or a towel or I don't know
01:45you could be
01:45carrying anything a coin. Yeah well this is where some of the confusion has really come in and I
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
02:39next stroke. 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're looking for
02:48it in deep rough knowing that it's not a penalty but you do have to replace it is key and
02:53it'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 we were going to stress one thing it is that if you move your ball whether it's accidentally or
03:06not
03:06on the fairway in the rough there is still a penalty despite a lot of people believing that there isn't.
03:17Okay 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 is
03:28known or virtually certain. Jez explain to us what's going on in this scenario. Well you'll find that phrase
03:33in the definitions section of the book and in a circumstance like this you've hit your tee shot
03:38it's come around 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 so you haven't
03:59got
04:00certainty and then the rules say virtually certain means 95 percent so yes so that's a bit of an
04:07intangible how you work that out i don't know but for me in this scenario here because this grass is
04:12so
04:13long and thick and right in the spot where your ball was heading for i would find it quite hard
04:18to
04:18say that was 95 certain it went into the water yeah and the truth is different people are likely to
04:23interpret this rule in slightly different ways i think you've got to be honest you've got to be honest
04:27with yourself as well in this scenario am i sure my my ball's gone in there i think i'm probably
04:32maybe at best 60 it could easily be in here i'm obviously going to have a very good look for
04:37it if
04:37i if you find yourself having a good look for it in the thick rough it means you're probably not
04:41certain it's gone in there are you indeed and of course the difference then is can you drop just here
04:47where the ball allegedly last crossed the edge of the penalty area or because you can't find it do you
04:52have to go back and play again under stroke and distance so it's a big difference and i'm sure
04:58a lot of people would err on the side of it must have gone inmate but that's not quite well
05:03if we
05:03were playing a friendly game of golf i wouldn't i wouldn't mind whatsoever in that scenario i'm sure
05:07you would say to me yeah just drop it somewhere near but if we were playing for handicap or you're
05:11playing in a competition you really need to think very carefully about this so uh a rule that is well
05:16worth knowing when you find yourself in this very tricky but not totally uncommon scenario
05:27okay so without question this is one of the most misunderstood rules of golf and jez i'm not
05:32referring here to the um to the cart path this is an immovable obstruction and nobody is expecting you
05:38to play the ball from the cart path no the bit that i think is misunderstood and confused is often
05:45where 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
05:56should under the rules proceed yeah i think it's misinterpretation people think it's on the path
06:02and 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 come
06:17this way i would definitely want to go i'm actually playing in this direction here so going around the
06:22corner there i definitely want to hit mine from over there in the fluffy semi-rough or thick foot
06:26high grass over here um and some people might even say well i can't drop there because i'm not really
06:31getting relief okay i'll go back over there but you have to remember what you're getting relief from
06:36you're getting relief from this abnormal course condition cart path immovable obstruction rules of golf
06:42don't give you relief from thick grass so if the thick grass is your nearest point of complete
06:47relief that is where you have to drop and there's only one nearest point of complete relief there's
06:51not a few different options it's one spot and in this scenario as you said yes 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 hitting
07:01the path on the way through on the way through of course you don't have to take relief you can
07:05play
07:05it from as it lies that'll be down to the individuals to whether they want to kind of potentially
07:10endanger the bottom of their golf club by hitting a shot like this i think i'd probably have to i
07:15would
07:15probably take this relief here yeah and then try and just somehow well see how bad let's have a look
07:20see 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
07:30but i think i can hit this well 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
07:47that helps you when you're in a situation like this
07:58we dear that's not very good i'd quite like to have another go at that jez 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
08:13no one waiting to play in hands on hips waiting for you to get out of the way which there
08:17isn't
08:17anyone on the whole so i'm fine so hit this again there is a limited amount of practice you can
08:21do in
08:22a round um and it's confined to the putting green you've just played or the teeing area you're next
08:29about to play from so you can practice your putting and chipping on or near either of those
08:34two areas you can't practice any bunker shots so if you've fluffed a bunker shot you can't have
08:39another girl i can't think of the time i've ever hit a practice bunker shot on the golf course i'm
08:43sure someone has but you're not allowed to not allowed and and if you are holding up the groups
08:46behind they are going to be very angry about that anyway so you're likely to hear about it after the
08:50round of golf yeah anyway um so this one is fine i can it's fine yeah you'll find all the
08:56detail in
08:57rule 5.5 what if i breach the rule if you breach the rule by playing a practice shot you're
09:02not
09:02allowed to in a place you're not allowed to or you are unduly delaying play you'll get the general
09:07penalty so if it's between holes as it would be in this scenario that would apply to the next hole
09:13you're about to play good so in match play you would get to the next tee and you'd have already
09:18lost that hole before you play it so you might as well walk on to the next hole great okay
09:23well i get
09:23to have another go at this yeah i'm not going to hit such a bad puck this time i promise
09:29yeah a little bit more authority i only just went in though oh i mean there's no in is in
09:33yes 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
09:46find confusing even if they played the game for many years and in order to for us to
09:50illustrate the point we've made two pitch marks one that is off the green just on the free and fringe
09:56here and one that is on the green but both of these are directly on the line of my shot
10:00i would
10:01definitely want to putt this jezz now one of these i can repair one of them i can't explain to
10:06me what's
10:07going on well there's a difference between the green and not the green the putting green as it's
10:12called in the rules you can repair a pitch mark on the putting green at any time okay whether your
10:17ball is lying on the green or off the green so that's no problem the one off the green you're
10:22not
10:23allowed to touch to repair that would be breaking rule 8.1a which talks about conditions affecting
10:29the stroke yeah you're not allowed to improve the turf conditions uh the ground conditions that would
10:34be deemed to be doing that right and the penalty is pretty severe it's two shots in stroke play or
10:39loss of hole in match play so ouch the general penalty definitely want to avoid that so i'm going to
10:44repair this what about if how about if my ball came to rest yeah and then that pitch mark was
10:52made by my
10:52playing partner well it's a it's a one in a million shot probably but in that scenario you would be
10:58allowed to repair it because you're entitled to the conditions that prevailed when your ball came to rest
11:04uh that pitch mark wasn't there at that point so in that rare rare scenario you would be able to
11:09then
11:09repair that pitch mark yeah that was created after your ball had come to rest that is unlikely it is
11:14much more likely that you're going to have a situation like this with a pitch mark yeah it does
11:17happen and i'm going to have to chip this and this is not my favorite shot no
11:24oh 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 and i've
11:40sprayed it mild right and i'm on the the green here and this is not the green of the hole
11:45that i'm
11:46playing i now need to hit a seven iron in this direction here yeah what do i need to avoid
11:50doing
11:50jezz well you need to avoid hitting the seven iron off this finely prepared surface i really don't
11:55want to make a divot the putting greens here are perfect as well this is a wrong green as far
12:00as
12:00the rules of golf are concerned and play from it is prohibited so you cannot play from it you cannot
12:07play if your feet are on the green and your ball isn't you've got to have complete um you've got
12:12to
12:12be completely away from the wrong green yes not in interfering with stance or golf swing so my
12:18nearest point of complete relief somewhere i'm not going to take a divot and it goes from there
12:22there somewhere like that and then yeah down here somewhere so i'd be dropping just here and then i
12:27can continue to play that's it yep and uh that is what you would expect most people to do but
12:35somebody
12:35on the pga tour a few years ago did actually play from the wrong green yes full iron shot because
12:40probably because they're very good at just nipping the ball off the top but that was limbly is in play
12:45to stop you from damaging the damage in the green essentially i think it's important to remember as
12:49well even on a links course where you might be out and back and there are two greens very close
12:54together and it would be quite feasible to put from one to the other you still can't do it you
12:58have to take relief that's good from the wrong green advice because i think i wouldn't even consider
13:03i think a lot of people would just think okay there's only a little bit of fringe i'll just put
13:06back to my green but you can't do that yeah and if you do do it even in that scenario
13:10it's the general
13:11penalty which is two shots it is and you'll find this all in rule 13.1 f there you go
13:16so playing from the
13:18wrong green there's a rule to protect you from doing it because it will damage the golf course
13:22make sure you run through the process that i've just been through and you should be fine
13:32oh no ah
13:39okay so for this one we have over elaborated a little bit yeah and you might need to use your
13:44imagination
13:45a little bit because obviously i'd never hit a putt that bad no well actually i have done but
13:51um it's worth remembering your options when you hit a really awful shot like that one the one that i've
13:56just hit jess that one's gone over the crest of this hill it's gone down into a bunker it's gone
14:00right
14:00into the back of the bunker which is an almost an unplayable position i'm now really scratching my
14:05head thinking what do i do now explain to me what my options might be you've putted it could have
14:10gone
14:10into the water it could have gone into a terrible lie as you say it's now at the back lip
14:14you've got
14:14no 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 and story 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 not wholly
14:39unlikely 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
14:48might be a case where you're very close to a ridge you're only four feet from the hole and you've
14:53just
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
15:07you're allowed to do that on the putting green you can take stroke and distance uh just as you can
15:12anywhere else on the golf course and if that means you're nearer the hole and where your ball have come
15:16to rest you are allowed to do you're allowed to do that so it's worth remembering hopefully a situation
15:21like that doesn't arise for you but if it does try to keep that idea in mind so there you
15:27have it
15:27that's our look at the seven rules golfers still find confusing even if they've played the game for a long
15:32time there are reasons why some of these roles rules are a little bit confusing but hopefully
15:37jezz's explanations have helped to clear things up for you if you do have any questions please do
15:42leave some comments below we'd love to hear what you have to say but that's it for now from the
15:45london cub thanks for watching we'll see you next time
Comments