RULES
101
Ball at Rest Moved
As almost all golfers know, the USGA and the R&A have made dramatic changes to the rules of golf that went into effect on January 1, 2019. All of these rules will apply to the SCPGA with the exception of the very few that the USGA and R&A have deemed to be at the discretion of the Committee. A very brief description of the old rule and the new rule follows. This is by no means a complete list of all rules changes, but a few of the more common rules that a player will apply perhaps many times during a single round.
IF A PLAYER ACCIDENTALLY MOVES THEIR BALL DURING A SEARCH: Old rule: 1-stroke penalty. New rule: No penalty. IF A PLAYER ACCIDENTALLY MOVES THEIR BALL OR BALL MARKER ON THE PUTTING GREEN Old rule: 1-stroke penalty. New rule: No penalty.
Taking Relief and Dropping Procedures DROPPING PROCEDURE You must drop the ball in the right way, which means all three of these things: *You must drop the ball (neither a caddie nor anyone else may do so). *You must drop the ball from a location at knee height so that the ball falls straight down, without spinning, rolling, throwing or using any other motion that will affect where your ball will come to rest. The ball must not touch any part of your body or equipment before it hits the ground. *You must drop the ball in the relief area, you may stand in or outside of the relief area while dropping. WHERE A BALL MUST BE DROPPED Old rule: Sometimes the drop is in a specified area, sometimes it is on or as near as possible to a spot or a line. New rule: Drop in a defined relief area. WHERE A DROPPED BALL MUST COME TO REST: Old rule: The ball must be re-dropped if it rolls to any of the nine specified areas (Rule 20-2c), such as rolling more than 2 club-lengths from where the dropped ball struck the ground. New rule: The ball must come to rest in the relief area where it was dropped, or else the ball must be redropped. MEASURING THE SIZE OF THE RELIEF AREA WHERE A BALL MUST BE DROPPED AND PLAYED Old rule: Measured by using 1 or 2 club-lengths (with any length club the player chooses). New rule: The relief area is measured by a fixed distance of 20 inches or 80 inches from the reference point or the reference line; this can readily be measured by using markings on the shaft of a club.
Lost Ball TIME ALLOWED TO SEARCH FOR BALL Old rule: A ball is lost if not found in five minutes. New Rule: A ball is lost if not found in three minutes.
Areas of the Course PUTTING GREEN Old rule: A player may only repair ball-marks or old hole plugs on the putting green. New rule: A player may repair almost any damage (including spike marks and animal damage but not including natural imperfections) on the putting green including those in his/her line of putt. Old rule: Loss of hole/2-stroke penalty if the ball is played from the putting green and hits the unattended flagstick in hole. New rule: No penalty if a ball played from the putting green (or anywhere else) hits the unattended flagstick in hole. PENALTY AREAS: PLAYER MOVES LOOSE IMPEDIMENTS, TOUCHES THE GROUND WITH HAND OR CLUB OR GROUNDS THE CLUB Old rule: Loss of hole/2-stroke penalty (with exceptions). New rule: No penalty. It may be important to note that although the majority of rules remain the same, almost all the rules have been renumbered. One rule of note that has not changed is the old rule 3-3 remains the same but has been renumbered to rule 20.1c(3). This is the rule that allows for a player to play two balls when they are unsure as to how to correctly proceed under the rules. 28
PROGRAM MAGAZINE - SPRING ISSUE