Golf Rules That Are Confusing
In this video Neil Tappin is joined by rules expert Jeremy Ellwood to look at the 6 rules golfers find confusing. They cover everything from when to practice on the course to your dropping options when faced with a bunker filled with water. Jeremy's clear explanations should help you avoid any unwanted penalty shots in these scenarios.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to Prince's Golf Club
00:03and this video on the six rules that golfers find confusing. Now, what you're going to watch is a
00:07conversation between myself and Jez Elwood where we've picked out six scenarios out here on the
00:12golf course where certain rules will come into play that you will need to know. Right, let's get
00:17started. That ball's moved, oh no! Uh-oh. Right, I thought it was fairly solidly placed there but
00:31it was obviously a critical blade of grass that I've just disturbed. You've accidentally caused
00:36your ball to move. Yes, indeed. And Jez, in this video we are covering scenarios that golfers find
00:40confusing. Where do you think the confusion arises here? Well, I think the confusion arises because
00:45people want to believe they won't be penalized for anything accidental on the golf course but that's
00:50not always the case. And in the general area where we are here, if you cause your ball to move you are
00:55still penalized. Right. So you do need to tread carefully. There are scenarios where you aren't
01:00penalized on the putting green. Accidental movement is no longer a penalty and when you're searching
01:06for your ball, if you tread on it by mistake, there's no longer a penalty there. In all those circumstances
01:11and even in this circumstance, you must replace the ball where it was before playing on. Yeah,
01:15but in this scenario there's a penalty shot to add. And then what about, what I was going to ask you
01:20about, what about on the tee? So let's say you're about to hit your tee shot and you accidentally
01:25just dink your ball off the tee. Yeah. Somebody in the group says one. Yes. Do you get a penalty
01:30shot in that scenario? You don't because at that point on that hole the ball is not in play. So
01:34it's only when your ball is in play as it is here, you know, close to the green on this hole,
01:39on the general area, that is a penalty. On the teeing area, before you've played your tee shot,
01:44you can knock it off with the toe of your club and it's not a problem. So I think the advice
01:47here is to be careful. If your ball is perched on a tuft like Jez was here, tread carefully around
01:52the ball because if you are deemed to have caused it to move, unfortunately you've broken the rules.
02:02Right Jez, so I'm confused and the reason I'm confused is my ball has come to rest,
02:07you can see on the camera, in the bunker here in the temporary water. Yeah. And I know that I'm
02:11allowed to take a drop here but I can't see anywhere I can drop that means that I won't
02:16still be stood in the water. So what am I allowed to do? What am I not allowed to do in this scenario?
02:21Okay, well I think golfers, a lot of golfers, know that when you're taking relief from something you
02:25have to take complete relief. So typically elsewhere on the course you can't have your
02:30feet still in the water, temporary water. However, in bunkers and also on the putter green, we'll
02:35come on to in a minute, you can take what is called point of maximum available relief. So the
02:40point where you get as much relief as possible from there but your feet might still be in the
02:46water or the ball might still be in a bit of shallow water. Right, okay, so I have the option
02:49then to drop it just to the side there, I'll still be stood in the water or under penalty,
02:55yeah, I've still got the option to take an unplayable here. Yeah, I mean that is the
03:01shot you're trying to save yourself is by still being able to play without taking the penalty
03:05that it would cost you to drop outside the bunker. Yes. So by being able to play that still,
03:11you may get up and down and save par. Going outside to drop, you're trying to get up and
03:16down for bogey. Okay, so clarify for us what you were just referring to about the green.
03:21It's a similar thing on the putting green and you have to remember that with an abnormal course
03:25condition, which typically on the putting green and in a bunker would be temporary water,
03:32you normally only get relief from it. On the putting green, you get relief if it's lying
03:37between you and the hole, if it's on your line of play as well. Right, okay. But again on a really
03:42flooded green, there might be nowhere where you can get complete relief but again on the putting
03:46green, you can take point of maximum available relief where you might have to put through
03:50shallower water. So there you have it, maximum available relief, well worth knowing.
03:55Okay, so the next one on our list of rules that golfers find confusing relates to practicing on
04:04the golf course. Now Jez, what do people need to know here? Well, I mean basically there's
04:09not a lot of practice you can do during a competition round and that's stroke play or
04:13match play but it's not completely restricted. You can putt and chip on or around the green that
04:20you've just played or on or around the tee of the hole you're just about to play but chipping and
04:25putting only, no bunker shots, no other shots but you can do that as long as you're not delaying
04:30play by doing so. Okay, that's clear. So then that begs the question, is there anything else that you
04:34can't do when it comes to practicing on course? Well, in a match play competition ahead of a
04:39match play round, you can go and play the golf course beforehand if you want to. In a stroke
04:42play competition, you can't go on the golf course at all so if the 18th green is clear and you
04:47fancy just going out and having a quick putt to see what pace the greens are rolling out that day,
04:52you can't do that. You're going to have to restrict that to the practice putting green
04:55but not any of the greens you're going to be playing during that round. So there you have it,
04:58those are the keys that you need to know when it comes to practicing on the golf course.
05:01Oh, that's not very good. Now hold on, before you go ahead there, what's that two and a half,
05:18three feet, you've not been that good from that range there. We're playing in a match
05:23and you don't have the right in a match to go ahead and tap in and finish the hole.
05:27The order comes into play in match play more than in stroke play where there's the drive
05:32towards ready golf. In match play, there's a different dynamic. If I now make mine because
05:37it's my turn to play, your putt potentially becomes a lot harder. So for that reason,
05:42the order is more important in match play. So let me ask you a question,
05:45James. What happens if I do go up and just tap it in from here and I make the putt,
05:49what happens next? Have I broken the rules? Well, you've broken a rule but there's no penalty
05:54only if I decide to make you take the ball back out, put it back where it was,
05:58and play the shot again in the correct order. Right, so effectively that putt gets cancelled
06:02and I get another go. You would get another go if I decided that you'd effectively gained an
06:07advantage by getting to go at your shorter putt first. Yes, and it's just one of those things
06:11that that would be pretty awkward, wouldn't it? It would be. I mean, you and I played enough golf
06:15together over the years that I don't think it would be awkward between us. But I think
06:18if you're playing in a match against somebody, you don't want to be left in that situation. So
06:22my advice would be in this particular scenario, just go up and mark the ball. If the player wants
06:26to give it to you, fine. But if not, just put the marker down and avoid any of this kind of
06:31awkwardness that can surround this particular scenario. Okay, so in the scenario we're faced
06:40with here, we've got a golf ball here on the fringe. We've got a clump of sand also on the
06:45fringe and another bit of sand on the green. And there are certain things you can do and certain
06:50things you can't do. I think a lot of golfers, myself included, would find this particular
06:55scenario slightly confusing. Jez, clear it up for us. What can you do? Okay, well, I think the
06:59important thing to say is that under the definitions, sand and loose soil are not
07:04classed as loose impediments. Right. So here, you can't move this on the fringe. However, there is
07:10within the rules special dispensation, if you like, to remove sand and loose soil on the putting green
07:15only. So you could brush that away there, but you can't touch this slightly more prominent
07:21clump of sand here off the green. So there you have it. If your instinct would be to brush away
07:25this sand here, as mine would probably be, then beware. Don't do it, otherwise you'll run into
07:30trouble with the rules. Hold on, can I just stop you there, Tavis? You're not about to play that,
07:41are you? Yeah, I wasn't about to play that, yeah. Right, but this is not the putting green of the
07:46hole you're playing, is it? No, but there's, you know, it's a links course, there's not much
07:51thick grass between me and the green. I reckon I can get this quite close by putting it. And you
07:55possibly could, but sadly, you're not allowed to even attempt to do so because you cannot play
08:00from a wrong green. You must take relief. Okay, right. So even if there was only three feet of
08:07fringe grass between me and the right green, I still wouldn't be able to put this. You wouldn't,
08:10no. The only time you could play from what appears to be the green of a wrong hole to
08:15the correct hole is when it's a double green, a shared green. Right, okay, so what do I need to
08:18do? Where do I go? Well, here, your nearest point of relief is probably over that way,
08:22and it does make the shot a little bit tougher, but unfortunately the rules don't allow you any
08:27leeway. You must take relief from the wrong green, and you cannot play the ball as it lies. Right,
08:33there we go. So there you have it. That's our look at six rules golfers find confusing. I hope you
08:39found that helpful. If you have, please do hit the like button. Also, please do leave some comments
08:43below. Is there anything that we've missed? We're always looking for ideas for future content,
08:47so we'd be interested to hear your thoughts. But that's it for now. Thanks for watching.
08:50We'll see you next time.