To Mark, Or Not To Mark

Saw and heard something that bears some discussion at the end of the Thursday TNT telecast of the PGA Championship. I think Martin Kaymer was playing a ball out of a greenside bunker. The ball travelled past the hole and struck another ball that was already on the green. Of course, this led to the typical discussion about what happens as a result: Martin’s ball remained as it was, the ball he hit was placed back where it was before being struck. Then the comment was made about something that apparently happens with great regularity on the PGA Tour – instead of marking a ball on the green, having a competitor leave it there in case a shot from the sand goes long. The stationary ball will slow down the moving ball and keep the next putt closer to the hole. I think Ian Baker Finch piped in to say he didn’t like that at all – the competitors were not “protecting the field” by creating a backstop for someone else’s pitch. Martin’s putt could have been a good bit longer had it no hit another competitor’s ball. So what do the rules of golf say about this issue? Is it mandatory to mark your ball if it’s on the green and some other player is pitching onto the green? No, marking the ball is at the option of the player who owns it. However, if another player ASKS you to mark your ball because they feel it may interfere with their own shot, they MUST mark the ball (even if the ball does not lie on the green). So, you may indeed leave a ball on the green if someone is pitching onto the green. In my view, however, if a fellow competitor may gain an advantage by having your ball maintain its position, I would mark and remove the ball even if that fellow competitor did not ask me to do so. In a stroke play competition, you never know the outcome, and a single saved stroke can mean a lot (just ask Jason Day). Speaking of marking your ball, these discussions lead me back to some really old golf stories when you could NOT mark your ball in match play – even on the green. A player could snug one up right next to the hole so you could not make a putt directly at the hole or incur a penalty for hitting that ball. It was called a “stymie”. Fortunately for you and I, the option for having your opponent mark his ball and move the mark to allow you unobstructed access to a line of play was enacted in 1952. No stymie for you! Another stupid requirement was done away with in 1984. Until then, a ball was to be dropped over your shoulder (instead of today’s arm-extended shoulder height drop). Looked ridiculous… glad I don’t have to do that anymore. Another tidbit. A friend of mine plays in a league on Monday nights up in Stewartstown, PA. Occasionally I’ll hear about something that happened up there during a match and it will tweak my interest to crack open the rule book. The latest story happened last week – a competitor hit a putt that ran up to a hole and sat there. After watching the ball and expressing disbelief that it hadn’t fallen it, the player walked up to the hole, and after a few more seconds of staring at the ball in amazement, the ball fell in. Does the putt count? There are only a few rules in golf that involve a time limit – you have to show up for a tee time on time, you have five minutes to search for a ball before it becomes lost, and then there’s rule 16-2, which essentially says that after making a putt on the putting green, and after a reasonable amount of time (“no undue delay”) to approach the ball, may watch the ball for an additional 10 seconds to determine if the ball is moving. If the ball falls in the hole during the 10-second period, the putt has been holed. If the ball falls in AFTER the 10 seconds has elapsed, the ball has been judged to have been moved by the player, and the player must add one penalty stroke to his score. In the case of the Pleasant Valley league, the player had made his way to the ball in a reasonable amount of time and hadn’t unduly delayed play, and the ball fell in within 10 seconds – no penalty needed to be assessed. NOW – had that competitor walked up to the ball and jumped up and down in frustration and the ball had fallen in, I think we can all agree that he deserves the penalty stroke that applies when you cause your own ball to move. Tread lightly, walk slowly, don’t jump up and down, and don’t bend down and blow on the ball! Count to 10 (One one-thousand, two-one thousand, etc.) If it still hasn’t fallen in after 10 seconds, tap it in with your putter…. In recent PGA Championship history (and even in this year’s tournament), there were two occasions where tour officials had to review video and count seconds to see if the 10-second rule had been violated. This year, for instance, one of John Senden’s putts fell into the hole after 22 seconds after coming to a stop. Once again, a reasonable time was taken to approach the ball, and the ball fell in just inside the 10-second window. Please keep in mind that the discussion to this point has only focused on putts where the flag stick has already been removed from the hole. I’ve already spent some time on balls leaning against flagsticks and falling in (there’s a special rule for that (Rule 17)) during other blog discussions. Two weeks left before the start of playoffs. For those of you who think you’ll be in the playoffs, I’d suggest refreshing your memory on REGL playoff rules. One good resource for that is a blog entry that I posted two years ago (11 Aug 14) entitled “Playoff Rules”. Good luck to all of you!

#Golf #Marking #OntheGreen