Saturday, June 29, 2013

Ask Linda #681a-15 clubs in bag


Linda, what if the addition of B's wedge to A's bag made A have 15 clubs in his bag email [Ask Linda #681-Another player’s club in your bag]?

Is A penalized for the holes he had B's club in his bag? But he didn't put it there, a competitor did. Hmmmm…

Lou from Virginia

Dear Lou,

The answer depends on several factors [Decision 4-4a/6]:

Player A is not penalized for carrying 15 clubs if all of the following circumstances exist:
   1. Player B put the club in Player A’s bag on the first tee;
   2. the club was added to A’s bag after the group’s official start time; and
   3. the club Player B added to A’s bag was one of the clubs that B had selected for play.
The only way Player A would be penalized under the above circumstances would be if he were to use B’s club. The club may be returned to B and B may use the club during his round.

Player A is penalized for carrying 15 clubs if any of the following circumstances exists:
   1. The added club belongs to a player in a different group.
   2. The club was added to Player A’s bag before his group arrived at the tee.
   3. The club was added before Player A’s starting time.

Basically, if you count your clubs immediately prior to teeing off on the first hole, it is highly unlikely that anything will happen after that to cause you to incur a penalty for carrying too many clubs.

The penalty for carrying more than 14 clubs in stroke play is two strokes per hole, maximum 4 strokes. In match play, the state of the match is adjusted by deducting one hole per breach, maximum two per round. Perhaps the match play penalty would be better understood with an example:

Ted and Matt are playing a match. Matt is 3-down. During play of the fifth hole, Ted discovers that Matt is carrying 15 clubs. The two men complete the fifth hole, which they halve. Once the hole is complete, the state of the match is adjusted two holes. Matt is now 5-down. If the two men had been playing the second hole, Matt had been 1-down, and the second hole was halved, Matt would now be 3-down despite having played only two holes! Where else but in golf?

Linda
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