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
00:55are still 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're treading it by mistake, there's no longer a penalty there. In all those
01:10circumstances and even in this circumstance, you must replace the ball where it was before playing
01:15on. Yeah, but in this scenario there's a penalty shot. There is. And then what about, what I was going to
01:20ask you about, what about on the tee? So let's say you're about to hit your tee shot and you
01:24accidentally just dink your ball off the tee. Yeah. Somebody in the group says one. Yes. Everyone has to
01:28be laughing. Do you get a penalty shot in that scenario? You don't because at that point on that hole the
01:32ball is not in play. So it's only when your ball is in play as it is here, you know, close to the
01:38green on this hole, on the general area, that is a penalty. On the teeing area, before you've played
01:43your tee shot, you can knock it off with the toe of your club and it's not a problem. So I think the
01:47advice here is to be careful. If your ball is perched on a tuft like Jez was here, tread carefully
01:52around the 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, I hope
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 still
02:17be 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 onto in a minute, you can take what is called point of maximum available relief. So the point
02:41where you get as much relief as possible from there but your feet might still be in the water
02:46or the ball might still be in a bit of shallow water. Right okay, so I have the option then to
02:50drop it just to the side there, I'll still be stood in the water or under penalty. Yeah. I've
02:56still got the option to take an unplayable here. Yeah, I mean that is the shot you're trying
03:02to save yourself is by still being able to play without taking the penalty that it would cost you
03:06to drop outside the bunker. Yes. So by being able to play that still, you may get up and down
03:12and save par. Going outside to drop, you're trying to get up and down for bogey. Okay, so clarify for
03:19us what you were just referring to about the green. It's a similar thing on the putting green
03:23and you have to remember that with an abnormal course condition, which typically on the putting
03:29green and in a bunker would be temporary water, you normally only get relief from it. On the
03:35putting green, you get relief if it's lying between you and the hole, if it's on your line
03:39of play as well. Right, okay. But again on a really flooded green, there might be nowhere where you can
03:44get complete relief, but again on the putting green you can take point of maximum available
03:48relief where you might have to putt through shallower water. So there you have it, maximum available relief.
03:54Well worth knowing. Okay, so the next one on our list of rules that golfers find confusing relates
04:04to practicing on the golf course. Now Jez, what do people need to know here? Well, I mean basically
04:09there's not 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 play
04:31by doing so. Okay, that's clear. So then that begs the question, is there anything else that you can't do
04:35when it comes to practicing on course? Well in a match play competition ahead of a match play round
04:39you can go and play the golf course beforehand if you want to. In a stroke play competition you can't
04:44go on the golf course at all, so if the 18th green is clear and you fancy just going out and having a
04:49quick putt to see what pace the greens are rolling out that day, you can't do that. You're going to
04:53have to restrict that to the practice putting green, but not any of the greens you're going to
04:56be playing during that round. So there you have it, those are the keys that you need to know when it
05:00comes to practicing on the golf course.
05:11Oh that's not very good.
05:14Now hold on, before you go ahead there, what's that two and a half, three feet, you've not been that
05:20good from that range there. We're playing in a match and you don't have the right in a match
05:25to go ahead and tap in and finish the hole. The order comes into play in match play more than in
05:30stroke play where there's the drive towards ready golf. In match play there's a different dynamic,
05:35if I now make mine because it's my turn to play, your putt potentially becomes a lot harder. Yes.
05:41So for that reason the order is more important in match play. So let me ask you a question James,
05:45what 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 and play the shot
05:59again in the correct order. Right so effectively that putt gets cancelled and I get another go.
06:03You would get another go if I decided that you'd effectively gained an advantage by getting to go
06:08at your shorter putt first. Yes and it's just one of those things that would be pretty awkward
06:12wouldn't it? I mean you and I played enough golf together over the years that I don't think it
06:16would be awkward between us but I think if you're playing in a match against somebody you don't want
06:20to be left in that situation so my advice would be in this particular scenario just go up and
06:24mark the ball. If the player wants to give it to you fine but if not just put the marker down
06:29and avoid any of this kind of awkwardness that can surround this particular scenario.
06:39Okay so in the scenario we're faced with here we've got a golf ball here on the fringe,
06:43we've got a clump of sand also on the fringe and another bit of sand on the green and there
06:48are certain things you can do and certain things you can't do. I think a lot of golfers myself
06:53included would find this particular scenario slightly confusing. Jez clear it up for us what
06:57can you do? Okay well I think the important thing to say is that under the definitions
07:02sand and loose soil are not classed as loose impediments. Right. So here you can't move this
07:08on the fringe however there is within the rules special dispensation if you like to remove sand
07:14and loose soil on the putting green only. So you could brush that away there but you can't touch
07:19this slightly more prominent clump of sand here off the green. So there you have it if your instinct
07:24would be to brush away this sand here as mine would probably be then beware don't do it otherwise
07:30you'll run into trouble with the rules.
07:39Hold on can I just stop you there Tavis you're not about to play that are you?
07:42Yeah I was about to play that yeah. Right but this is not the putting green of the hole you're
07:46playing is it? No but there's you know it's a links course there's not much thick grass between
07:51me and the green I reckon I can get this quite close by putting it. And you possibly could but
07:55sadly you're not allowed to even attempt to do so because you cannot play from a wrong
08:00green you must take relief. Okay right so even if there was only three feet of fringe grass between
08:08me and the right green I still wouldn't be able to putt this? You wouldn't no the only time you
08:12could play from what appears to be the green of a wrong hole to the correct hole is when it's a
08:16double green and shared green. Right okay so what do I need to do where do I go? Well here your
08:20nearest point of relief is probably over that way and it does make the shot a little bit tougher but
08:25unfortunately the rules don't allow you any leeway you must take relief from the wrong green and you
08:31cannot play the ball as it lies. Right there we go. So there you have it that's our look at six
08:37rules golfers find confusing I hope you found that helpful if you have please do hit the like button
08:42also please do leave some comments below is there anything that we've missed we're always looking
08:45for ideas for future content so we'd be interested to hear your thoughts but that's it for now thanks
08:50for watching we'll see you next time.