This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write. I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf. The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie. And it is where you want to be on a golf course.
Are there any more complicated rules in sport than those that apply to golf?
The answer is “no.”
One justification is that the rules apply to a host of outside venues where the game is played, not just to an arena or a stadium.
Still, those who write golf rules ought to strive for more for clarity and precision of language. I say this after having gone through several seminars on the rules of golf.
In addition to better writing, I offer another important change: Focus on the 20 golf rules that a rules official – or a player, for that matter – is most likely to face on the course.
Instead, the most likely rules are buried in an avalanche of information on ALL golf rules, thus making going through a rules class an endurance test. The test you take after a seminar is even more complicated, with many questions designed to be confusing rather than designed to gauge your basic knowledge.
In this context, a recent edition of Golf Digest focused on 10 of the most misunderstood rules of golf. Here is a quick summary, first with an introductory paragraph:
“Much was made in 2019 of the USGA and R&A introducing a ‘modernized’ version of the Rules of Golf. And kicking off 2023, they did more of the same with some additional rules updates. It was an acknowledgement from golf’s governing bodies that earlier editions of the Rules often required more than merely common sense for those who were striving to be faithful followers. Try an upper-level college degree in linguistics.”
• • •
Your ball doesn’t have to be touching an immovable obstruction to get relief
(Rule 16.1)
Where and how to take proper relief anywhere on the course can be confusing, but one area in particular rule that trips up causal players is immovable obstructions. We’re talking about sprinkler heads, drains, cart paths or any other man-made object that cannot be moved without “unreasonable effort” or causing damage to the course.
Part of the reason for this is that golfers have a misperception that a ball must be touching the obstruction to receive relief. In fact, you can take relief if the obstruction merely interferes with the area of your swing or your stance.
One more thing: You can take relief from immovable obstructions anywhere on the course except if your ball is in a penalty area or when your ball is in a lie that is clearly unreasonable to be played (such as if it’s nestled in a bush).
• • •
You can touch the sand in a bunker … sometimes
(Rule 12.2)
When the USGA and R&A approved the 2019 modernized rules, they made several fundamental changes that helped everyday golfers. Arguably the biggest was regarding bunkers, where the rules were relaxed so players weren’t wasting time nervously tiptoeing in the sand trying to avoid anything that might constitute a penalty. Golfers can now touch the sand in a variety of instances without worry, so long as they’re not purposely attempting to test the sand while they’re doing it.
Among the things now permitted:
- Placing a club or other equipment in the sand (if you’re between clubs and you drop one you’re not using, it’s fine if it’s in the bunker).
- Hitting the sand in anger or frustration (it’s not a great look, but doesn’t come with a penalty).
- Leaning on a club in a bunker (as when you might be waiting for another player to hit a shot).
- Digging your feet into the sand when preparing to hit a shot.
- Removing loose impediments like pebbles, leaves and pinecones (provided you don’t cause the ball to move in doing so).
Conversely, here’s what you still are not allowed to do:
- Grounding your club at address in the sand prior to the stroke.
- Touching the sand during a practice swing or with your backswing.
- Deliberately touching the sand to test its condition or learn information to help you in making your next stroke.
[A personal perception here is that allowing “hitting the sand in frustration or anger” is stupid. That deserves a penalty.]
• • •
You can ground your club in a penalty area
(Rule 17.1)
Similar to bunkers, the USGA and R&A made substantial changes to what golfers can do in penalty areas in 2019. The biggest? There are no longer special rules that apply to you when playing from a penalty area. So now you’re allowed to ground your club and take practice swings like you would elsewhere on the course. You can also remove loose impediments so long as you don’t move your ball, improve your lie, or improve the conditions affecting your stroke.
• • •
You can accidentally hit your ball on the green with no penalty …
(Rule 9.4)
The green is yet another place where the rules have gotten friendlier. Say you accidentally cause your ball to move on the putting green, even with a practice swing. You can replace the ball with no penalty. Same if you cause your ball marker to move.
There’s also no penalty if your ball moves because of natural forces (such as wind or water). However, where you play your ball from after it moves varies. If you had already marked your ball on the green, replaced it, and now a gust of wind comes up, you should return the ball to where it was when you marked it. You “own” that spot.
• • •
… And on the tee box
(Rule 6.2)
Zach Johnson has won two major championships, but he’s also known for an infamous tee shot at the 2019 Masters. He took a practice swing, hit the ball, and, while it went off the tee, it never left the tee box. He was allowed to re-tee without penalty.
Unless a player was intending strike the ball, it’s not considered a stroke if he or she caused their ball to be knocked off the tee. There is no penalty, plus under Rule 6.2b(5), the player can retee the ball and go on … embarrassed but still lying 0.
• • •
You can’t always hit a provisional ball
(Rule 18.3)
Hitting a provisional ball is allowed under the rules in the interest of saving time when you believe your original ball might be out-of-bounds or lost OUTSIDE a penalty area. You must, however, announce that you’re playing a provisional ball, or the next shot you hit will be considered in play as if you took a stroke-and-distance penalty.
There is, however, a time when you’re not allowed to hit a provisional ball: When you believe a ball is lost INSIDE a penalty area.
One more thing about hitting a provisional: If you hit one off the tee and it lands in the middle of the fairway and you’re pretty sure your original ball will be in a precarious spot if it’s somehow found, you can elect not to search for the original ball. Though you cannot declare your ball lost, if you play your provisional ball from a place nearer the hole than the estimated spot of your original ball, your provisional becomes your ball in play. This is important to note because, if the original ball is found before you’ve played the provisional, either by you or somebody else, and is in bounds, you must now play that original. And if the lie is unplayable, you can’t just use your provisional ball. You must take relief for an unplayable lie, which might mean you still have to go back to the tee and hit another shot.
• • •
Your ball is not considered embedded if somebody stepped on it
(Rule 16.3)
How to determine if you have an embedded ball and what relief you’re entitled to became a hot-button issue a couple years ago when golf pro Patrick Reed encountered the situation during the third round of the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. While many who followed his actions at home questioned Reed’s tactics, by the letter of the rule book, he proceeded correctly.
Under Rule 16.4, a player can mark and lift a ball to see if it lies in a condition where relief is allowed. If you proceed under this rule and it’s determined that the ball isn’t embedded, you replace the ball on its original spot and play from there.
• • •
You’re only out-of-bounds (OB) if your entire ball is OB
(Rule 18.2)
While tricky at times because OB boundaries aren’t always continuous on golf courses, the standard for determining if a ball is out of bounds is straight forward: The entire ball needs to be out of bounds for the ball to be considered OB. So, if there’s a painted line and half the ball is on the painted line and half is on the course, the ball is in play. If there are stakes where you might use string from stake-to-stake but you don’t have string and you’re eyeballing it, if a part of the ball is on the course, you’re in play. If the entire ball is touching the painted line, none touching the course, then it’s OB.
One other note: If your ball is in bounds, you are allowed to stand out-of-bounds to play the shot.
• • •
You must correct hitting a wrong ball, even though it will cost you
(Rule 6.3c)
You hit your drive into the rough off the tee, walk to where you think your ball is and hit your second shot short of the green. You chip your ball up on the green with your third but, when you mark, it you realize it’s not your ball. Now what?
In match play, the hole is over because the penalty for playing a wrong ball is loss of hole. In stroke play, the proper way to proceed is to correct your mistake. That means you need to go back and play your original ball. If you find the ball, add two strokes as the penalty for playing the wrong ball, but don’t count any of the strokes you hit with the wrong ball. You’re hitting 4 and you play on.
• • •
Red penalty areas give you three relief options, yellow gives you two
(Rule 17.1)
There is one notable difference between the options a player has when taking relief after hitting a ball into a red penalty area versus yellow. Red stakes allow players to also take lateral relief (up to two club-lengths no nearer the hole) from where the ball entered the penalty area in addition to returning to the spot from the previous shot and back-on-the-line relief where you can drop anywhere on an imaginary line drawn from the hole through the spot where the ball last crossed into the penalty area.
The last two are the lone options if the penalty area is yellow. All options require a player take a one-stroke penalty, but the player does also have the option to play the ball as it lies.
Perspective from the 19th Hole 