Category: Rules

New USGA rule on Picking Up during play

The new USGA rules allow each organization, like the Pinseekers Club, to establish their own rules on whether a player is disqualified from tournament play if they pick up the ball without holing out.  Prior to the 2019 change, picking up was automatically marked as an “X” for disqualification.

Now, since it is optional, and the existing Pinseekers Rules of Play, Rule 8, addresses what happens when picking up and does not require a disqualification and “X”, the Pinseekers Club rule is that the Player must mark the hole with a stroke count of 10 strokes, but is not disqualified for the sweeps competition.

Maximum Number of Strokes per Hole

The Pinseekers has a club rule (Pinseekers Rules of Play, rule 8) that the maximum number of strokes per hole is 10, and that any player picking up without holing out shall record 10 strokes.

And, if you pick up without holing out, you must mark a “10X” for that hole, signifying that you have withdrawn from the Sweeps competition that day.

Goose Poop, Gophers, and Sprinkler Heads

Recently, I faced all three of these situations in one game with the Pinseekers…
Goose Poop

For some time now the Geese have provided some additional “challenges” on the course.  I have heard that the adult goose produces almost its own body weight in waste every day!  Don’t know if that’s true, but there certainly is a lot to avoid on the tee boxes, fairway, and greens.  I asked Scott Steele how the rules apply to goose “gifts”.  If your ball in on the fairway and lands in goose poop – tough luck, its the “rub of the green” and no lift and clean.  On the green? Then you can mark, lift, and clean.  Poop in the way of your swing or stance?  It is a “loose impediment” and can be moved (you may want to bring a rag to clean you clubs afterwards).

Gophers

My tee shot went way left on Hole 3 and end out in the rough in the middle of lots of disturbed ground with gopher holes and fresh mounds of dirt.  This rule helped me get a better lie.

Abnormal Ground Conditions (USGA Definition)
An “abnormal ground condition” is any casual water, ground under repair or hole, cast or runway on the course made by a burrowing animal, a reptile or a bird.

25-1. Abnormal Ground Conditions (see the USGA Rules for the complete rule)
a. Interference
Interference by an abnormal ground condition occurs when a ball lies in or touches the condition or when the condition interferes with the player's stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player's ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an abnormal ground condition on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt. Otherwise, intervention on the line of play is not, of itself, interference under this Rule.
Note: The Committee may make a Local Rule stating that interference by an abnormal ground condition with a player's stance is deemed not to be, of itself, interference under this Rule.
b. Relief
Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an abnormal ground condition as follows:
(i)Through the Green: If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the condition and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green.   ……….
Sprinkler Heads near the Green – one of my favorite Local Rules – you can get relief!  
Sprinkler Heads on Fringe
If a fixed sprinkler head within two club-lengths of the putting green and two club-lengths of the ball interferes with the intended line of play between the ball and the hole, the player may take relief as follows: the ball must be lifted and dropped at the nearest point to where the ball lay that (a) is not nearer the hole, (b) avoids interference and (c) is not in a hazard or on the putting green.
Future Topics:  
Pace of Play examples, relief from flower beds and staked trees.  
Please send me your requests and I’ll post the rules and rulings from Scott Steele

PINSEEKERS – RULES REMINDER (Updated per Pinseekers Rules of Play, rule 8)

Please remember and observe the Pinseekers Club rule of “no gimmees” on putts and putt every hole out (per USGA Rule 3-2):

3-2. Failure to Hole Out

If a competitor fails to hole out at any hole and does not correct his mistake before he makes a stroke on the next teeing ground or, in the case of the last hole of the round, before he leaves the putting green, he is disqualified

For our Pinseekers competitions, disqualified means from the Sweeps competition, but you still turn in your scorecard for handicap calculation. If you pick up your ball before holing out, you write down you write down ten strokes (per Pinseekers rule 8)  and mark that hole with an “X”.

I am going to produce a series of emails and posts on the website over the next few months with Q&A for common questions about the rules and golf etiquette in general. I welcome your suggestions or requests. Hopefully, we will all learn something new about golf in general and some of our local course rules that we can use to our advantage.

I encourage all club members to refer back as needed to the Pinseekers Rules of Play which are posted on our website at: https://pinseekers.vgcc.club/rules-of-play/