Hi Linda,
My question concerns the fencing on the edge of one of our
holes.
Up the left hand side of the hole there is housing. Clearly,
over the fence is out of bounds. A player
recently played his ball toward the left. The ball was
clearly inside the boundary but quite close to the fence; he had
no stance.
As luck would have it, the property had
a double car gate beside where the ball finished. The player
opened the gate, had a comfortable swing and played out the hole.
This did actually happen. Did he break any rules? What
would the penalty be (it was a stroke-play round)?
Any feedback appreciated.
Lou from Cessnock (NSW) Australia
Dear Lou,
A gate in an out-of-bounds fence that is closed is part of
the boundary. The player may not
open it [Decision 27/18]. The penalty is two strokes in stroke play, loss of
hole in match play.
If the gate happens to be open, the player may leave it open
or close it. He may not move it to any other position.
Linda
Copyright © 2016 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
