Golf rules

[philfrance]

There are all sorts of situations where we are not sure of golf rules. THink we should start a thread with questions and answers.


Example. During a tournament, I tee of with my regular set of 14 clubs in my bag. Climbing a hill on the course, I use my putter as a walking stick and accidentally break it. Am I allowed to replace my putter with another club? How about if I broke it while putting? How about if I only had 13 clubs in my bag when teeing off?

[PA Jayhawk]

Well, should this thread take off since it is probably a nice idea, I will simply throw this in for anyone looking for a rules clarification, so they will not need to search around to find official information.

USGA Rules:
http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/rules_of_golf.html

... and for our friends across the pond.

R&A Rules:
http://www.randa.org/index.cfm?cfid=...ion=rules.home

[fred3]

There are all sorts of situations where we are not sure of golf rules. THink we should start a thread with questions and answers.


Example. During a tournament, I tee of with my regular set of 14 clubs in my bag. Climbing a hill on the course, I use my putter as a walking stick and accidentally break it. Am I allowed to replace my putter with another club? How about if I broke it while putting? How about if I only had 13 clubs in my bag when teeing off?

what the rule is about breaking it using as a walking stick. I always understood if it was broken during the normal course of play it could be replace with a like club. Good question. Not sure I could break a putter while playing if I was using it as it was intended.

You can play with as few clubs as you like.

[PA Jayhawk]

I think you will find it can be replaced under normal golf use, but not as say a walking stick. In the same since as if you snap it off in anger, saying you were swatting flies may not justify being able to replace the club. I believe it was Hal Sutton that snapped the head off of his driver on one occasion while bending down to tee a ball. He said it almost cost him (or did cost him) a tournament, he said he stopped using it in that way after that point. I find I do this alot when standing up from teeing and ball and do not notice, except on the occasion where is slides.

[tom p]

what the rule is about breaking it using as a walking stick. I always understood if it was broken during the normal course of play it could be replace with a like club. Good question. Not sure I could break a putter while playing if I was using it as it was intended.

You can play with as few clubs as you like.

I always play with the official rules book by R&A in my bag. Just if it is needed, only usually to determin a water hazard or something simiar. But i agree without looking, many rules are not known by heart by myself.

TOM

[GoneGolfn]

<>

No, you may not replace the putter until the round is over..

[philfrance]

The answer is .... you cannot replace it since you already had 14 clubs in your bag when teeing off the first hole. if you had 13 you couldn't either, since it was broken outside normal use of play (used as a walking stick) - Otherwise, with thirteen clubs in the bag, you can add another at any time (with or without having broken it) and it could have been replaced if broken under normal play.....

[golfaholic]

Phil are you sure because i thaught u had to finsish the round with the clubs you started with unless it was broken durring the use of play. for instance it you tee'd off on the first hole in a tourniment with a taylormade driver. you have to finish the round with that exzact same taylormade driver( unless its broken). you can decide you want to use your ping driver at the turn and switch them out. this happend to paula creamer durring a weather dalay that forced play to be carried over to the next day. and paula made a change in her equipment and as a result she would have had incured a 2 stroke penilty. BUT she dident know this and she singned her card without adding 2 strokes, and she was DQ'd from the trny..

or have i misunderstood your post???

[divotman]

Phil are you sure because i thaught u had to finsish the round with the clubs you started with unless it was broken durring the use of play. for instance it you tee'd off on the first hole in a tourniment with a taylormade driver. you have to finish the round with that exzact same taylormade driver( unless its broken). you can decide you want to use your ping driver at the turn and switch them out. this happend to paula creamer durring a weather dalay that forced play to be carried over to the next day. and paula made a change in her equipment and as a result she would have had incured a 2 stroke penilty. BUT she dident know this and she singned her card without adding 2 strokes, and she was DQ'd from the trny..

or have i misunderstood your post???

you cannot switch clubs at the turn...unless it broke in the usual course of play.

if a club breaks in the normal course of play it can be replaced. if it broke because of something you did (in anger, or leaned on it) it cannot be replaced.

also, you cannot play with a broken club because it "has been altered during the course of play" regardless of how it was altered or if it was intentional.

[PA Jayhawk]

4-3/7 Club Broken While Used as Cane


Q. A player uses one of his clubs as a cane while climbing a hill and the shaft breaks. May he replace the club during the round?

A. Yes. A club broken in such circumstances is considered to have become “damaged in the normal course of play” as its use as a cane is considered a reasonable act — see Decision 4-3/1. (Revised)

*******I guess the Hal Sutton deal, it was not considered as a cane???******

4-3/8 Player Starting with 13 Clubs Breaks Putter in Anger and Replaces It


Q. A player who started a round with 13 clubs broke his putter in anger, i.e., other than in the normal course of play, during the first nine holes. He bought another putter in the pro shop after the first nine holes and used it for the remainder of the round. Rule 4-3a(iii) permits replacing a club only if it becomes unfit for play in the normal course of play. Was the player subject to penalty?

A. No. Since he started with 13 clubs, he was entitled to add another club under Rule 4-4a.
...
4-4a/1 When Club Is Considered Added


Q. A player finds on the first green that he has no putter and is carrying only 13 clubs. He continues play but sends his caddie back to the clubhouse. The caddie fetches one of two putters which he finds and gives it to the player. May the player then tell the caddie to take it back and fetch the other one instead?

A. Yes, provided he did not play a stroke with any club when the first putter was in his possession.

[philfrance]

Phil are you sure because i thaught u had to finsish the round with the clubs you started with unless it was broken durring the use of play. for instance it you tee'd off on the first hole in a tourniment with a taylormade driver. you have to finish the round with that exzact same taylormade driver( unless its broken). you can decide you want to use your ping driver at the turn and switch them out. this happend to paula creamer durring a weather dalay that forced play to be carried over to the next day. and paula made a change in her equipment and as a result she would have had incured a 2 stroke penilty. BUT she dident know this and she singned her card without adding 2 strokes, and she was DQ'd from the trny..

or have i misunderstood your post???

i reviewed the rules and they state that a player must begin a conventional round with 14 clubs maximum. the player is limited to those clubs unless he begins the round with less than 14 clubs, and he can add as many as we wishes as long as the total number of clubs does not exceed 14 ( translation of rule 4-4a) in this case, unfortunately the player began the round with 14 clubs and consequently cannot add another club and must finish the round with his 13 clubs.

[dorkman53]

4-3/7 Club Broken While Used as Cane


Q. A player uses one of his clubs as a cane while climbing a hill and the shaft breaks. May he replace the club during the round?

A. Yes. A club broken in such circumstances is considered to have become “damaged in the normal course of play” as its use as a cane is considered a reasonable act — see Decision 4-3/1. (Revised)

*******I guess the Hal Sutton deal, it was not considered as a cane???******

4-3/8 Player Starting with 13 Clubs Breaks Putter in Anger and Replaces It


Q. A player who started a round with 13 clubs broke his putter in anger, i.e., other than in the normal course of play, during the first nine holes. He bought another putter in the pro shop after the first nine holes and used it for the remainder of the round. Rule 4-3a(iii) permits replacing a club only if it becomes unfit for play in the normal course of play. Was the player subject to penalty?

A. No. Since he started with 13 clubs, he was entitled to add another club under Rule 4-4a.
...
4-4a/1 When Club Is Considered Added


Q. A player finds on the first green that he has no putter and is carrying only 13 clubs. He continues play but sends his caddie back to the clubhouse. The caddie fetches one of two putters which he finds and gives it to the player. May the player then tell the caddie to take it back and fetch the other one instead?

A. Yes, provided he did not play a stroke with any club when the first putter was in his possession.

Quiet! You're spoiling all of the interesting conjecture and speculation by resorting to the facts!!

[Chip]

Funny coincidence: Just watching the golf channel and they had a rules official explaining some of the 111 changes in the 06-07 rules. One major rule clarification pertained to club replacement.

Replacable when broken "during normal course of play" is still the standard, but "normal course of play" has now been expanded to include Hal Sutton's case, as well as leaning on a club to prevent one's self from falling etc.

As they put it: so long as the club was not broken out of anger, it will be replacable.

[divotman]

Funny coincidence: Just watching the golf channel and they had a rules official explaining some of the 111 changes in the 06-07 rules. One major rule clarification pertained to club replacement.

The repalcement when broken "during normal course of play" is still the standard, but "normal course of play" has now been expanded to include Hal Sutton's case, as well as leaning on a club to prevent one's self from falling etc.

As they put it: so long as the club was not broken out of anger, it will be replacable.

what if it breaks while being used to ward off an alligator or mountain lion???

[golfaholic]

yes, i just watched that to.

[golfaholic]

what if it breaks while being used to ward off an alligator or mountain lion???

then chances are, your not going to be in good enough shape to swing a club.

[Chip]

what if it breaks while being used to ward off an alligator or mountain lion???

NO. There's a specific "Fending off wild animals" exception to the new more lenient standard. If caught fending off wild animals wth club, 2 stroke penalty.

[fred3]

Strangely enough the golf channel actually just covered this point today. The decisions of golf now say that unless a club was intentionally abused(slammed to the ground, whacked against a tree, thrown at your bag) then it could be replaced with no penalty(this included leaning on it like a walking stick-which probably doesn't include intentionally throwing all your weight against it with intent to cause the club bodily harm :-).

[gt77]

i dont think that you could. twice last year i saw players putting with wedges because of putter damage (daly, sergio). i have a question about this: must you putt with you highest lofted club because i always we them putting with lwedges when their putters are damaged, and it is much easier to putt with a long iron, or metal wood?
thanks.

As we have just clarified, the new rules now allow replacement if club is used as a cane to brace one's self. In daly's incident (not sure about sergiro) he altered his putter, i think, by tossing it down on is bag for his caddy to put away. Though it was unintentional, it was not during the course of play. (It is pretty hard to alter a putter in normal course of play). Even if it was in normal course of play, he could not use that putter because it had been alered, and probably was on the back nine and too lazy to have some one fetch him a new putter.

Also, people use their wedges to putt because they are the easiest to blade, and are the most upright club in the bag, most similar to a putter's length and angle.

[dorkman53]

What if, during the course of play, your playing partner or opponent says or does something that annoys you, and you take your 45" driver and ram the shaft up his tailpipe until it comes out his mouth. Then after you withdraw it, it is kind of goopy with red and brown slime........Is there a rule that would allow replacing the club at that point? Is that considered "normal use"? lol

[bethpage caddy]

<>

No, you may not replace the putter until the round is over..

hence why we often see John Daly putting with his lob wedge

[Sandpiper6]

K i got this putter from a buddy of mine, it is bent like 3 different ways down the shaft.... i putted great with it but was time to get a new one, but because it was bent so many times i dont know if it was still legal....

[golfaholic]

no it wasnt

[PA Jayhawk]

The repalcement when broken "during normal course of play" is still the standard, but "normal course of play" has now been expanded to include Hal Sutton's case, as well as leaning on a club to prevent one's self from falling etc.

I have a pretty good memory, I thought I remembered the article on Sutton correctly from a couple years ago. I guess that is the explanation.

Thanks.

[golfaholic]

Is a non replaced diviot considerd a loose impediment??..if it was touching a players ball in the fairway does he get to remove the divot?...im talking about the clump of grass and not the hole in the ground..if that helps...