In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by Golf Monthly's Rules Guru Jezz Ellwood to discuss the 6 Rules Most Golfers Don't Know. Even though the rules of golf were revised back in 2019 and most golfers were aware of the revisions that were made, it is still easy to miss some of the changes made, and therefore you could be proceeding under the wrong versions of the rules if you're not careful!
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00:00 Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to the London Club
00:03 and this video on the six rules most golfers do not know.
00:07 Now if you play golf long enough you will encounter pretty much all of these
00:11 scenarios at some point and it pays to know exactly what to do.
00:14 Now the advice in this video comes courtesy of Jez Elwood, he'll talk you
00:18 through what you can and what you cannot do in all of these
00:20 different positions around the golf course.
00:23 And now of course if you have any questions or comments about any of the
00:26 things that we're talking about please do leave them below and we'll get
00:29 back to as many of you as possible. But let's get started now looking at the
00:32 six rules most golfers don't know.
00:34 Okay Jez, so I've missed a six footer here for my par,
00:49 bogey on the 13th hole here on the International Course at the London Club.
00:52 I'd quite like to have a little practice and have another go at that.
00:55 Can I? Yes you can as long as you're not unduly holding up play, there's no one in
01:01 the fairway behind, so that wouldn't be a problem here. You
01:04 wouldn't have the honour on the next tee, so you don't need to rush up there, so
01:07 you can have another go at that putt. The rules of golf
01:09 during a round allow you to practice in a very limited way.
01:12 Right so I can practice my putts, can I practice chips?
01:16 You can practice, yep sorry to interrupt. No if I'm just off the chip can I have
01:19 another go at that? Yeah definitely, you can practice your putting
01:22 or your chipping on or near the green you've just played or
01:26 on or near the next tee you're about to play from. The one thing you can't do
01:29 greenside is practice bunker shots. Right okay and the
01:32 key thing is don't delay play. I would say if you're doing it all the
01:35 time it's probably going to start to slightly frustrate your playing partners
01:38 because you'll be slowing play down even if you aren't holding
01:41 anybody up. Is that fair? Probably yes but as long as you're not
01:44 holding play up there is no restriction on practicing
01:48 putting and chipping, green you've just played or the tee
01:51 you're just about to come play. Yeah and in a scenario like this where you've just
01:54 missed a makeable putt it's totally understandable and fine just have
01:58 another go at that. As I say just make sure that you're not holding up play.
02:05 Okay so the next one on our list relates to golf equipment and golf balls in
02:09 particular and I think a lot of people think
02:11 that they need to choose a golf ball, an exact model and then play
02:15 all of the holes during a round with that model and that's true but only for
02:18 certain golfers. It's really only professional and
02:22 perhaps elite amateur level where something called the one ball condition
02:25 is in force which does mean you have to play
02:27 exactly the same brand and model throughout the entire round. Yeah so I've
02:30 got a Pro 1X and a Pro 1 in my hands here you'd have to choose
02:33 which one of those you were going to play with and use it for
02:35 the whole way around but for your average amateur, myself and you included
02:39 Jez, what are the rules for us? Well
02:42 that rule does that condition doesn't exist for us at club level so
02:46 we can actually switch between brands and models as much as we like
02:50 between the playing of holes. During a hole the ball would have to be damaged
02:54 for you to exchange it but between holes you could switch from
02:57 a distance ball on one hole where you've been trying to get it down
03:00 there as far as possible to a softer ball on the next hole where
03:04 you know maybe the green's a bit tricky and you've got to have a bit more
03:06 control coming into the green. Okay what if you lose a ball on a hole so
03:09 halfway through the hole you haven't damaged it but you've lost it, are you
03:12 allowed to change the golf ball? Yeah you'd be able to use a different model then
03:15 yeah and just make sure in that scenario that you are always using a golf ball
03:18 that's on the conforming list. What's the rule number? 6.3a is the rule
03:22 number and as Neil says the conforming list is quite important because there
03:25 are some balls out there which are deliberately designed to go as
03:28 far as possible or straight as possible and some of them don't conform. Yeah so
03:32 there you have it some really handy advice on which golf balls you are
03:35 and are not allowed to use.
03:42 Okay so this one is all about moving your golf ball accidentally and there
03:46 are some circumstances on the golf course Jez when
03:49 actually you're penalised and some when you're not penalised. Let's start
03:52 with the first one so let's say your golf ball's in here my golf ball is in
03:55 here I can actually see it but the rough is so bad here that in order
03:59 to find it you're probably going to be swishing around with your feet and your
04:02 golf club what happens if you accidentally move it in that scenario?
04:04 Okay well in that scenario now from 2019 there'd be no penalty for moving it
04:09 there would have been before right and I think this is perhaps what's
04:12 caused a bit of confusion this and another
04:14 couple of things now if you move it when searching for it
04:18 no penalty you must replace it where it was to the best of your ability
04:22 and play on. Okay Jez so what happens if you accidentally move the golf ball on
04:26 the green or on the tee? Okay well these are the two more
04:29 instances where you wouldn't be penalised on the teeing
04:32 area you wouldn't be penalised if you moved your ball on a practice ring
04:35 because the ball isn't in play at that point. Right okay. So you just tee it
04:38 back up and play on the putting green it's now the case that
04:42 if you move your ball accidentally or your ball marker
04:45 there's no penalty you replace whichever one of the two it was
04:49 and play on without penalty. Right okay but yes
04:52 those are the scenarios when you don't get penalised what are the scenarios
04:55 where you do? Okay well the scenario where you do get penalised is if you're
04:59 in the general area or a penalty area in the rough or the
05:03 fairway and perhaps you move your ball on the practice swing or
05:07 absentmindedly walk into it while you're going to get a club. I think a lot of
05:10 people now think because they've got all these
05:12 concepts of no penalty for accidental movement this is okay
05:16 but it isn't in those areas of the golf course if you move your ball
05:20 accidentally there is still a penalty. Yes. And you must replace the ball that's
05:24 covered under rule 9.4b. Yeah. Penalty shot replace the ball. So it's
05:28 the putting green the tee and if you're searching for it
05:31 other than that there will be a penalty. Right Jez I'm gonna have a go at this.
05:33 Yeah good luck. It's not the most inviting of shots. There's water behind
05:37 there. I don't know.
05:39 Oh get down. Oh that could be.
05:45 Okay so this one is about what happens if the golf ball accidentally hits you
05:53 after you've hit it. So there are two scenarios I think where this is most
05:56 likely to happen. In the bunker where you hit one thin it
05:59 hits the face comes back and hits you or if you're taking on a risky recovery
06:02 shot through the trees perhaps you hit a tree and it comes back and hits you.
06:05 Jez there's been a bit of a change to this rule over the years and there
06:08 I think we we think there's a bit of confusion as a result of that. Clear it
06:12 up for us. Yeah I think some people are living in
06:14 different eras perhaps and they remember that back in 2003 when Jeff Maggott
06:18 contending for the Masters hit a bunker face and it bounced back and hit him
06:21 he got a two shot penalty which effectively killed his chances.
06:25 And that rule was then changed in 2008 to a one shot penalty for the ball
06:29 accidentally striking you after you've hit it and then in 2019
06:33 with the latest revisions it's now no penalty so
06:36 the rule has evolved significantly over a quite a short period of time.
06:39 Yeah there you go it's really important to know so there might be some people
06:42 out there that think that there is a penalty.
06:44 If somebody tries to add a penalty to your score in that scenario you can
06:49 inform that actually in 2019 that rule changed and there is no penalty if the
06:53 ball accidentally hits you after you hit it.
06:59 Right okay so we have a scenario here that I know a few people have written to
07:02 you about and asked you what do you do in this in this specific
07:04 instance. So my golf ball the approach to the green has sort of
07:08 plugged here and it's on a slope and the greens are
07:11 cut nice and tight they're really fast. Now I've
07:15 mended the pitch mark put my marker down if I put the ball back on that spot
07:19 yeah that ball is going to move. Now there's just
07:24 that's just that's going to happen because it's such a steep slope.
07:27 Yeah. Do I play the ball from there? You don't
07:30 and what you do is you have another go at placing it
07:33 and if it then still won't stay at rest, which it won't,
07:37 pretty unlikely.
07:40 So now you have to place it at the nearest spot
07:44 where it will stay at rest and I think the thing people perhaps don't realise
07:48 imagine this is a really steep tier that spot could be a bit more difficult.
07:52 Yeah I mean even in this scenario this is a fairly steep tier the greens
07:58 are so fast I think I would be quite a long way over there
08:01 actually. Yeah if I just rolled a slightly different way that could have
08:03 gone 25 feet away. Yeah. And of course it may stay at rest
08:07 here halfway down the slope because it wouldn't have the same momentum you just
08:10 don't know you've got to find the nearest spot
08:12 where it will stay at rest not nearer the hole. Yes. And when you're on the
08:15 green that can be on the green or in the general area so
08:19 it could be in the fringe and I think you know sometimes not in
08:22 this particular instance but the angle might be that you end up
08:25 being able to place it on the top tier and get in a bit of a lucky break. If the
08:28 green was a bit further behind. There's more green over there and that was the
08:31 nearest point where it would stay at rest rather than
08:33 25 feet down there you could have a bit of a lucky break and end up with a
08:37 single tier putt rather than a. Interesting so in this scenario I think
08:41 my nearest spot would be about here because that's the fringe.
08:44 Right if that's staying at rest then and that is your nearest point
08:48 then that ball would now be in play. And play on.
08:51 Play on yeah.
08:54 Okay so the last one on our list to look at is a rule that I had never heard
09:05 before as the the title of the video would suggest. Jez you're gonna have to
09:08 talk me through this one. Okay so you'll find this
09:10 rule 21.1c one of the exceptions to this rule
09:14 and it's about stable foot scoring so you've got to imagine a scenario you're
09:17 on the fifth hole of a stable foot and you realize you've got 15 clubs in
09:21 the bag. Oops. Yeah now you know most golfers know that that's quite a
09:24 serious penalty in fact it's two shots per hole up to a maximum of four shots
09:29 in total so two holes where you could potentially lose two
09:32 shots. Right so I would lose four shots in that scenario but in a stable foot
09:36 let's say you've just started blob blob. Yeah. You would have had those
09:40 four shots added to your first two holes. Yeah the first two holes at which the
09:43 breach occurred. Yes but in stable foot that's not the case.
09:46 Well it's not the case because as you say if you blob those two holes
09:50 you then get two more shots added to that score it's still a blob isn't it.
09:53 So you're effectively not being penalized so to keep things
09:57 fairer the points are actually deducted from your overall stable foot points
10:01 total at the end two points at each hole at which a
10:05 breach occurred. Yes so 35 points goes down to 31.
10:08 Yeah. Regardless of the fact that you started blob blob. Yeah exactly so it's
10:11 just to kind of keep things fair in a system where
10:15 excess shots get ignored effectively in a stable foot. Yes. Because
10:18 once you've reached a certain level then you're not scoring. Yeah I mean this one
10:22 fairly niche as Jez said but it's worth worth knowing there are penalties
10:25 attached to carrying too many golf clubs even if in a stable foot you start with
10:29 two blobs. So there you have it that's our look at
10:32 the six rules most golfers do not know. If you've enjoyed the video please do
10:35 hit the like button and if you have any comments leave them
10:38 in the box below we'll get back to as many people
10:40 as we can but that's it for now from the London Club we'll see you next time.