Abnormality (and what to do about it...)

Rules Blog for the week of 18 Jul 16 – post Open Championship thoughts I’ve said it a few times this week – we may never see what happened on Sunday of this year’s Open Championship again in our lifetime. Two players separating themselves from the field and playing spectacular golf in the final round of a major championship. Quite fittingly, the NBC golf coverage was almost exclusively devoted to Phil and Henrik on Sunday, and we were treated to quite a show. Hats off to both of them, and especially to the class that Mr. Mickelson showed in defeat. He didn’t stomp off the final green after a perfunctory handshake, he didn’t wine and moan about unfair lies or pin locations or the weather. He took his hat off, congratulated Henrik with a smile and a hug, congratulated his Henrik’s wife, waved to the crowd, and in his interviews spoke glowingly about his opponents ability to make great shots under pressure. Class act. I hear stories every so often about players in our little evening golf league who become sour winners or losers after playing 9 holes of golf. I hear about players who won’t even acknowledge the presence of their opponents. I hear about golfers shooting very low rounds and being disgruntled that they didn’t hit the ball perfectly. Get over yourself! The Ruggles Evening Golf league is not played for money, prestige or power – it’s played for fun. If you can’t have fun and enjoy the company of a couple of complete strangers or good friends after work, I can only shake my head in disbelief. Playing the game of golf to me (regardless of the way I’m playing) is so much better than many of our ordinary daily tasks. Life is short. Be thankful for the opportunity and embrace it! If you still want to be sour, I wish you’d find somewhere else to play a gentleman’s game. Played Ruggles from the black tees for the first time this week, and it reminded me of the Ruggles of old. For those of you that can remember the old tee box locations, you’ll remember how punishing the course was if you didn’t hit the ball long and straight. Number 4 from the back tees is a really tough hole, and Number 7 really plays like the #1 handicap from the blacks. If you’re looking for a better appreciation of the design of Ruggles, spend some time on the tips. While seeing much more of the course from those back tees and walking as a single, I realized that there are a number of abnormal ground conditions that seem to exist at Ruggles, and very often they’re either poorly marked or not marked at all. I’m talking about ground under repair, leaky water lines, dead grass from hydraulic leaks, etc. It behooves us all to realize what the rulebook says in regard to these conditions that allow us to move the ball to a more playable location and enjoy the game a little bit more. For instance, has anyone noticed that there is a leaky valve just in front of the Number 9 green? Or in the back of the green on #1 there is a bowl with nothing but dirt and sand in it? How about the unfinished bunker repair on #15? A ground under repair region in the middle of the fairway in #16? How do we deal with these issues when our ball lands in or near these areas?

First let’s define some terms that will be applicable to the rest of this blog entry. Ground Under Repair (GUR): any part of the course so MARKED by order of the committee or so declared by its authorized representative. All ground and any grass, bush, tree or other growing thing within the GUR are part of the GUR. GUR includes material piled for removal and a hole made by a greenkeeper, even if NOT SO MARKED. Grass cuttings and other material left on the course that have been abandoned and are not intended to be removed are not GUR unless so marked. When the margin of GUR is defined by stakes, the stakes are inside the GUR and the margin of the GUR is defined by the nearest outside points of the stakes at ground level. When both stakes and lines are used to indicate GUR, the stakes identify the GUR and the lines define the margin of the GUR. When the margin of GUR is defined by a line on the ground, the line itself is in the GUR. The margin of GUR extends vertically downwards but not upwards. A ball is in GUR when it lies in or any part of it touches the GUR. Stakes used to define the margin of or identify GUR are obstructions. Abnormal Ground Conditions: any casual water, GUR or hole, cast or runway on the course made by a burrowing animal, a reptile, or a bird. Casual water: any temporary accumulation of water on the course that is not in a water hazard and is visible before or after the player takes his stance. Snow and natural ice, other than frost, are either casual water or loose impediments, at the option of the player. Manufactured ice is an obstruction. Dew and frost are not casual water. Always remember that unless there’s a compulsory local rule in affect (say for instance Ruggles makes it a policy that you CANNOT play from ground under repair, or a course identifies an area as an Environmentally Sensitive area), you may ALWAYS play the ball as it lies as long as the ball is in bounds. I’ve never seen any compulsory local rule at Ruggles, so I assume we can always play the ball inside GUR or in casual water, or from an area with Abnormal Ground Conditions. However, there are many circumstances in which it will be in your best interest to remove a ball from an abnormal ground condition, and the rules that govern these actions are included in one of the longest rules in the book – Rule 25. This rule covers quite a few areas of interest, but I’ll restrict myself to GUR, abnormal ground conditions and casual water for this entry. So, you tee off on #15 and hit the ball into a sand trap that the maintenance staff has been working on for a couple of days. Only about half of the sand has been placed in the bunker, there are tractor tire tracks in it BUT the staff has not marked this are at GUR (usually at Ruggles they denote the area with a painted white line). Can you seek relief under Rule 25? Sorry, but the answer is “No” since the area had not been marked as GUR. However, if I were playing the hole, I’d play two balls (one from the bunker, and one dropped at the nearest point of relief if the bunker WAS marked as a hazard) and present your scores to the committee. The committee could investigate with the Ruggles staff to see why the bunker was not marked, and may decide that it should have been marked and will make a judgement on which of the two scores was appropriate for the hole in question. Let’s try a slightly different scenario. You arrive at #15 and a greenskeeper is digging a hole in the bunker to add drain tile. He sees that you’re on the tee box, picks up his shovel and moves off the green to await the tee shot that you are doomed to place in the hole he just dug in the bunker. Can you seek relief from the hole? The answer is “Yes” because although the area has not been marked as GUR, it is a “hole made by a greenkeeper” (see GUR definition above). You’d end up playing from the nearest point of relief (dropping the ball in the bunker (and hopefully not in a shoeprint made by the greenskeeper, but still in the hazard (unless you really wanted to play the ball from the bottom of the hole). Other unmarked things to take relief from at Ruggles would include some piles of cut up wood from dead trees or some old sand that’s been piled up for later removal. How about the blessed groundhog holes? Yes, they are an abnormal ground condition covered by Rule 25 and they are present at Ruggles. I have moments of terror when I approach one of the areas on the course known to be homes to those very large rodents. Not because I’m afraid they’ll bite me, but because I KNOW that one day my ball will not be found, and probably trickled down into one of those holes and I’ll be forced to walk back to my previous spot and play another ball. If you’re CERTAIN (you’ve actually seen the ball go down the hole) that a ball has gone down a groundhog hole, it’s not actually lost, and you may find the nearest point of relief for stance and swing (no closer to the hole and not in a hazard or onto the putting green of the hole you’re playing) and drop a new ball within one club length of that spot. I don’t know how many of you once played at Plumb Point (I know, I’m dating myself), but in the last few years of its existence there was a groundhog that lived on the green of the 5th hole. He had actually dug one of his holes in the green itself and the greenskeepers would mow around and over his doorway. On some putts on that green, the groundhog hole was in your intended line of play to the hole. In that case, you are free to take relief not only for stance and ball placement, but also for the intended line of play. You could (without penalty) find the nearest point of relief (no closer to the hole) in which the groundhog hole was not in your intended line of putt and place the ball there. Keep in mind that that might be off of the green and you may not be able to putt, you might have to chip the ball. Early in the spring on some courses you can also see the remnants of mole runs through some of the fairways and into the rough. If your ball ends up in one of these areas, you’re also free to take relief from that abnormal ground condition. Related, but not really an abnormal ground condition - how about goose droppings near your ball? Can you take relief if your ball ends up smeared with goose feces? In REGL, we can roll the ball in the fairway, so the hope would be that the poop could be avoided by rolling the ball away from it. Unfortunately, for other areas of the course, goose poop is covered under the loose impediment rule (if it’s not stuck to your ball) which allows for the removal of such stuff (probably flicking it away with one of your clubs). If it is stuck to your ball, tough $h1t (unless you’re on the putting green where you can lift and clean your ball without penalty). How about that depression on the back of the putting green on #1? It’s pretty clear to me that it’s an area of the green that needs to be filled in and seeded, but it’s been there for many years, and to the best of my knowledge, has never had a white line around it denoting it as Ground Under Repair. With the flagstick all the way back there on the left side of the green this week, that little annoyance was something I had to deal with on our last hole of the night after I hit my approach over the green. I was not on the putting surface, so even if it had been marked GUR I could not have sought relief from it. If I had still been on the green, and it had been marked GUR, different story. I periodically catch up with the head greenskeeper out there at Ruggles, and I think I’ll hound him about filling that hole in. And last but not least, let’s talk about the Ruggles irrigation system. I know that on at least 5 of the 18 holes there are perpetual leaks that create flows of water and mud. What happens if your ball ends up there or if you have to play over the soggy piece of ground? The key is to know the definition of casual water (which is the reason I spelled it out earlier in this blog). If the temporary water (not a water hazard) is visible before or after taking your stance, you’re free to find the nearest point where you can take a stance without bringing up water and you may then drop within a club length of that spot. In the case where you have to play over casual water – no relief for you. So, if you end up just short of #9 with the irrigation valve between you and the hole, you won’t be able seek relief, move your ball and use your putter to get the ball on the green – you’ll have to chip over that mud. If you end up in the mud – different story – seek relief and you can use your putter. One thing about casual water that’s a bit different than relief from regular water hazard is that if you elect to take relief from casual water, you must take complete relief from casual water. That means you can’t drop the ball in a nice spot you like that has just a little bit of casual water, it’s gotta be a spot where you don’t bring up water when you take your stance. Unfortunately, on a really wet day on the golf course – finding a spot could take a good bit of time, and you might find yourself in the rough with a much nastier lie than your original in the casual water. Before you pick up that ball and take relief, see if it’s more beneficial to play the ball as it lies!