I. Facts — Rain Issues

“If it’s not raining, it’s fixin’to” goes the saying, and unfortunately golfers have seen a lot of rain this summer in the mountains. In addition to general soggy conditions and cart path restrictions, golfers seem to deal time and again with the same questions concerning play:

1. The Horn

The gathering of dark clouds on the horizon, accompanied by a rumble, is followed often by the horn, signifying a lightning alert and the mandatory stoppage of play. Some players immediately mark their ball and seek shelter. Others insist they are entitled to finish their hole. Others continue on despite the horn, confident that they have enough sense to depart the course when the situation truly warrants an exit. Those players in a hot group, or with a possible skin, often fall in the latter group as they know they need to finish to collect.

Ruling

Under penalty of Disqualification, “If the Committee declares an immediate suspension of play, a player must not make another stroke until the Committee resumes play… (T)heCommittee should use a distinct method of telling players about an immediate suspension.” R5.7(b). F thinks the Rule is referencing the Horn here.

F has noted that in some instances Committees send mixed messages re the Horn…(1)get off the course and seek shelter, or (2) finish the round despite the Horn , and we will pay you if you win the Men’s Game!

Which is it?

2. The Unfound “Plugged” Ball

F has witnessed a couple of occasions where a perfectly good drive, seemingly in the middle of the fairway, simply cannot be found despite a diligent effort. Reader TD reports this happened to him after a straight drive on #12 at HCC. He took free relief. (Reader CM suggests TD relays this incident only to let everyone know he can hit a “straight” drive).

The Par 5 fifth hole at OEI offers another perfect example. A good tee ball disappears over a cliff into a soggy bottom with players unable to see the actual landing spot from the tee box. OEI players often lose a plugged drive on this hole.

On other occasions (playing with the young guys), F has found that they hit it so far, no one can see the ball land anyway. But all agree, the ball certainly appeared to be heading for the General Area!

A variation on this theme is when the ball is smashed, but in the general direction of the cartpath. No one saw the ball land, and the ball could have plugged in the fairway or the rough in the General Area, or even in the woody penalty area beyond the cart path.

When is a player entitled to free relief for an unfound plugged ball?

Ruling

Under R16.3, in the absence of a Local Rule providing free relief, a player must declare his clearly-embedded ball “Lost” if unfound after a three-minute search, and he must then proceed under the “Lost Ball” provisions of R18.2.

Bottom line: know your Club’s Local Rule! Players need to know whether their course has adopted a LR for an unfound embedded ball, and its precise wording if in place, as the standard for determining relief may vary from “virtual certainty” to “reasonable certainty”. As Reader and rules official JH noted, a player who is also looking for his ball under the bushes in the PA at the edge of the woods is indicating he does not have “virtual certainty” that the ball is embedded in the General Area.

F also discovered another feature of the embedded ball rule in his research. Very recently F took a mighty swing from the fairway with his brand new rescue club. “Where did it go?, he asked. F looked down and saw that he had driven the ball straight down. He played the ball as “embedded” taking free relief. A look at this Rule has revealed that a ball must become “airborne” to be deemed “embedded”. R16.3a(2). F should have taken relief for an Unplayable Ball with a one-stroke penalty.

(Anyone need a rescue club?).

3. Soggy Conditions

This condition really isn’t much of a concern these days in the fairways, as most courses generally play under “lift, clean, and place” rules in one’s own fairway, and often, even play the LCP rule for soggy conditions “through the green”.

If playing the ball down, temporary water is an “Abnormal Course Condition” (See, Def). Free relief is allowed when a ball touches or is in the ACC, or the ACC interferes with a player’s stance or swing. As Reader and rules official PP has long advised, water must rise on the shoes as a player takes his normal stance for relief…”It’s the stance and not the dance”.

Note: taking relief, particularly “no closer”, may result in better or worse conditions for the player. (See, Clar 16.1/1). F has noticed this possibility coming into play on the redesigned 17th hole at HCC where a fairway drainage area (almost a culvert) fronts a sharp embankment to the green. Shots just short of the green roll back into the culvert which under rainy conditions often has visible standing water. Although putting up the steep embankment is often the choice of play(particularly for a front right pin), “nearest” relief “no closer” would require the player to drop behind and then putt back through the casual water from which he took relief, or pitch over the casual water from a slight downhill slope to the uphill embankment. Does a player really want to take relief from temporary water in the culvert?
  II. Facts -“Competitive Eating”

On a recent golf excursion, the foursome agreed, as usual, to split all submitted expenses evenly … green fees, restaurant bills, snacks, beverages, etc…everything but the wives’ shopping expenses. The benefit of this “split expense” policy is that it allows any participant to handle common group charges without the administrative hassle of constant bookkeeping and reimbursements, and is one that is known to square out fairly evenly for participants over the course of an excursion.

In earlier days, however, this “split expense” policy was known as “competitive eating”, as it sometimes encouraged participants to indulge in expensive dining options knowing that the tab would be shared by the group. Of course, today, Foremost’s fellow golf participants are older and more mature. He was somewhat shocked, therefore, when a charge under the “competitive eating” policy fell into dispute among his golfing partners.

On the occasion at hand, player RM submitted a $10 expense he incurred for tipping a bag attendant post-round. Player Sandwich protested, noting that he had tried to tip his bag attendant, and the attendant had politely refused the offer citing the Club’s strict “No Tipping” policy. Sandwich maintained that others should not be required to reimburse a player who had blatantly violated Club Rules.

In his defense, RM stated that he was unaware of the Rule and, in fact, had seen other players tipping bag attendants at other venues, and even tipping car parking attendants at this very site. He stated that he had entered into the transaction with “clean hands”, and argued therefore that, in good faith, all should participate in the generous tip he bestowed to the bag attendant.

F was asked to moderate this dispute.

Ruling

F’s only experience in dealing with this type of situation occurred years ago, once after an excursion to Pebble Beach. F and partner RM (the same) had watched with joy as playing partners JSp and FA vehemently argued (unsuccessfully) their 1/4 of the room bill charges at check-out after the group’s three-night stay. Unfortunately, they had not taken advantage of their room mini-bars, while F and RM had enjoyed a pre-dinner cocktail or two and peanuts each night in their robes before a lovely fireplace. Furthermore, there might have been a shrimp platter and a few room service breakfast charges on the F and Rm side of the joint room bill ledger.

This billing dispute continued on the long flight home and eventually boiled over when RM reached into his travel bag and proudly displayed a sleeve or two of Pebble Beach golf balls which he had, also, taken from his mini-bar.

The mini bar incident, while egregious, paled in comparison to the performance of undisputed “competitive eating” champion, Reader EC, who unbeknownst to his 7 golfing companions in Vegas, ordered for the table the 3-4 foot lobster from the restaurant’s aquarium in the Caesars Palace lobby. F, who had already aggressively ordered himself, as had the others, was shocked when the creature was delivered to the table, and frankly in awe of the order as the realization sunk in that the cost would be shared by all under “competitive eating” rules. F recalls that as the group received and gravely pondered the enormously hefty dinner bill, EC struck again with the delivery to him of a flaming Grand Marnier after-dinner drink, a drink which was accompanied by another tab for the group.

Of course, in the case at hand, the sum for the tip was a mere $10… $2.50 per man. Nevertheless, Sandwich had a point. Unlike the episodes at Pebble and in Vegas, a Rule had been broken! Looking to the ROG for guidance, F notes a Player’s responsibility for knowing and applying the Rules is a central tenet of Golf (R1.3b(1).

F is a stickler for Rules, and hesitates to jeopardize the good standing and reputation of his group, by agreeing to jointly subsidize a clear violation of sacred Club Rules. RM’s $10 reimbursement request is hereby most regrettably declined.

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F