Dear Linda,
Quick question for you on a golf rule that I haven’t been
able to find: I had an approach shot embed in the face of a sloped green. Once
I removed the ball from the crater and repaired the ball mark, I found that I
could not get the ball to stay put when I tried to replace it (due to the slope
of the green). If I let it roll, it literally would have rolled about 30 feet
away; the closest spot where the ball would not roll was probably 10 feet away
(and not sure if that would have been at the bottom or top of the slope). Not
knowing what the rule was for this case, I ended up pushing the ball into the
green just hard enough to keep it from rolling. I could easily see the same
issue coming up in sloped fairways when playing "lift, clean, & place."
Just so I know for next time, what is the correct ruling for this case?
Thanks,
Dear Lou,
The Rule you are looking for is 20-3d: “Ball Fails to Come
to Rest on Spot.” When you place a ball, and it rolls away, you must try to
place it a second time. If it won’t stay put after the second try, you must
place it at the nearest spot where it will stay still that is no closer to the
hole.
The Rules do not permit pressing the ball into the ground to
keep it from moving. Doing so would be a breach of Rule 1-2, and the player
would incur a two-stroke penalty in stroke play, loss of hole in match play
[Decision 1-2/9].
Note that if you place the ball and it comes to rest, and subsequently
moves, you must play the ball from its new position, even if that new position
is 30 feet away or 10 feet closer.
Linda
Copyright © 2017 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
