I was sitting in for Captain Jimbo a couple of weeks ago in the annual captains meeting (having actually remembered to turn onto Maryland Blvd and turn left into Ruggles - last year I was supposed to go and drove on autopilot, home for the evening). Meeting predominantly addressed a couple of proposed (and adopted local rules) for league play.
I won't go into a dissection of what I think of each of these rules. We'll just say that I registered a "no" vote for each. Majority wins. Now that they've been adopted, it's up to this space to state each of these new rules and talk about how they will be employed in league play.
Let's get to the easiest. Because people continue not to be able to play at a decent pace (keeping up with the group ahead of them), carts are probably going to be required to be used in playoff matches (the commissioner wants a chance to revisit this one prior to the start of playoffs - he's thinking the other rules adopted may speed up play enough that we won't need to implement the mandatory carts).
The second easiest. If you do not like your lie in any bunker, pick up your ball, rake under that spot to your heart's content, drop the ball (from knee height) at the estimated spot where you removed it from the bunker, and play away with no penalty. You get one drop and one drop only. You do not have to rake, it is an option open to you. Ball rolls out of the raked patch? Too bad. Play from that new point (even if it's now closer to the hole).
Now the one that's going to take some getting used to which addresses lost balls and balls out-of-bounds. You're teeing off on #1 and yank your drive left into the tall grass. You're probably not going to find it, especially in the summer when the grass is a good foot tall and mingled with thistles and weeds. In the past you'd hit a provisional ball and when you didn't find the first one, the provisional would become the ball in play and you'd play your fourth shot into the green on #1. In 2019, a local REGL rule allows you to estimate where your ball crossed into the tall grass, and you may drop within 2 club lengths of that entry point with a one-stroke penalty. So, in 2019, you'd play your 3rd shot into the 1st green. Same goes for out-of-bounds. Slice your second shot on #16 into the tall grass marked with white telephone poles. Take one penalty stroke and drop your ball within 2 club lengths of the point of entry into the tall grass and play your 4th stroke into the green.
Time for searching for a ball has dropped to 3 minutes per the USGA from the time you get to the spot where you begin your search. So, you walk up #9 on the right hand side of the fairway to find your ball in the rough and can't find it in 3 minutes. Take one penalty stroke and estimate where your ball should have been found (get concurrence from your opponent - your opponent HAS to be happy with the position) and drop a new ball and play it from there.
Here's a conundrum.... You're playing the 16th hole right into the sun. You hit a ball and ask if anyone saw it. No one did. You hunt for 3 minutes, but where would your opponent want you to drop if you and he never saw it? Personally, I'd have you hit from the same damn spot (stroke and distance....).
Then there are the parking lots and driveways that are "out of bounds" for league play behind the 1st, 9th and 13th greens. Sail one into the parking lot and just drop a ball in the grass within 2 club lengths of the place where your ball crossed the driveway (this is actually closer to the hole, but why split hairs with this local rule) with a one-stroke penalty. The diagram below is an aerial view of the 13th green. For this example the red line is the ball flight for an approach into the green that kept right on going and landed in the grass over the driveway into the club. For a one-stroke penalty, find the point where the ball crossed the road and drop a ball within a two club-length area (a blue triangle that should actually be a semicircle) on the in-bounds side of the road.
