In this video Neil Tappin is joined by rules expert Jeremy Ellwood to look at the 6 rules golfers find confusing. They cover everything from when to practice on the course to your dropping options when faced with a bunker filled with water. Jeremy's clear explanations should help you avoid any unwanted penalty shots in these scenarios.
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly and welcome to Prince's Golf Club
00:03and this video on the six rules that golfers find confusing. Now, what you're going to watch is a
00:07conversation between myself and Jez Elwood where we've picked out six scenarios out here on the
00:12golf course where certain rules will come into play that you will need to know. Right, let's get
00:17started. That ball's moved, oh no! Uh-oh. Right, I thought it was fairly solidly placed there but
00:31it was obviously a critical blade of grass that I've just disturbed. You've accidentally caused
00:36your ball to move. Yes, indeed. Jez, in this video we are covering scenarios that golfers
00:40find confusing. Where do you think the confusion arises here? Well, I think the confusion arises
00:45because people want to believe they won't be penalized for anything accidental on the golf
00:49course but that's not always the case and in the general area where we are here, if you cause your
00:54ball to move you are still penalized. Right. So you do need to tread carefully. There are scenarios
00:59where you aren't penalized on the putting green. Accidental movement is no longer a penalty and when
01:05you're searching for your ball, if you tread on it by mistake there's no longer a penalty there. In
01:10all those circumstances and even in this circumstance you must replace the ball where it
01:14was before playing on. Yeah, but in this scenario there's a penalty shot. There is. And then what
01:20about, what I was going to ask you about, what about on the tee? So let's say you're about to
01:23hit your tee shot and you accidentally just dink your ball off the tee. Yeah. Somebody in the group
01:27says one. Yes. Everyone has a good laugh. Amusingly. Do you get a penalty shot in that scenario? You
01:31don't because at that point on that hole the ball is not in play so it's only when your ball is in
01:35play as it is here, you know, close to the green on this hole on the general area that is a penalty
01:41on the teeing area before you've played your tee shot you can knock it off with the toe of your
01:45club and it's not a problem. So I think the advice here is to be careful. If your ball is perched on
01:49a tuft like Jez was here, tread carefully around the ball because if you are deemed to have caused
01:54it to move, unfortunately you've broken the rules. Right Jez, so I'm confused and the reason I'm
02:05confused is my ball has come to rest, I hope you can see on the camera, in the bunker here in the
02:10temporary water and I know that I'm allowed to take a drop here but I can't see anywhere I can
02:15drop that means that I won't still be stood in the water. So what am I allowed to do, what am I not
02:20allowed to do in this scenario? Okay, well I think golfers, a lot of golfers know that when you're
02:24taking relief from something you have to take complete relief so typically elsewhere on the
02:28course you can't have your feet still in the water, temporary water. However, in bunkers and
02:34also on the putter green we'll come on to in a minute, you can take what is called point of
02:39maximum available relief so the point where you get as much relief as possible from there
02:44but your feet might still be in the water or the ball might still be in a bit of shallow water.
02:48Right okay so I have the option then to drop it just to the side there, I'll still be stood in
02:52the water or under penalty, I've still got the option to take an unplayable here.
02:59Yeah I mean that is the shot you're trying to save yourself is by still being able to play
03:04without taking the penalty that it would cost you to drop outside the bunker. Yes. So by being able
03:10to play that still you may get up and down and save par, going outside to drop you're trying
03:15to get up and down for bogey. Okay so clarify for us what you were just referring to about the green.
03:21It's a similar thing on the putting green and you have to remember that with an abnormal course
03:25condition which typically on the putting green and in a bunker would be temporary water, you
03:32normally only get relief from it. On the putting green you get relief if it's lying between you and
03:38the hole, if it's on your line of play as well. Right okay. But again on a really flooded green
03:42there might be nowhere where you can get complete relief but again on the putting green you can take
03:46point of maximum available relief where you might have to put through shallower water.
03:51So there you have it, maximum available relief, well worth knowing.
03:55Okay so the next one on our list of rules that golfers find confusing relates to practicing on the golf course.
04:05Now Jez, what do people need to know here? Well I mean basically there's not a lot of practice you
04:10can do during a competition round and that's stroke play or match play but it's not completely
04:16restricted. You can putt and chip on or around the green that you've just played or on or around
04:22the tee of the hole you're just about to play but chipping and putting only, no bunker shots, no other
04:27shots but you can do that as long as you're not delaying play by doing so. Okay that's clear, so
04:33then that begs the question is there anything else that you can't do when it comes to practicing on
04:36the course? Well in a match play competition ahead of a match play round you can go and play the golf
04:40course beforehand if you want to. In a stroke play competition you can't go on the golf course at all
04:45so if the 18th green is clear and you fancy just going out and having a quick putt to see what pace
04:50the greens are rolling out that day, you can't do that. You're going to have to restrict that to the
04:54practice putting green but not any of the greens you're going to be playing during that round.
04:58So there you have it, those are the keys that you need to know when it comes to practicing on the golf course.
05:11Oh that's not very good.
05:14Now hold on, before you go ahead there, what's that two and a half, three feet, you've not been
05:20that good from that range there. We're playing in a match and you don't have the right in a match
05:25to go ahead and tap in and finish the hole. The order comes into play in match play more than
05:30in stroke play where there's the drive towards ready golf. In match play there's a different
05:35dynamic if I now make mine because it's my turn to play, your putt potentially becomes a lot harder.
05:40So for that reason the order is more important in match play. So let me ask you a question
05:45what happens if I do go up and just tap it in from here and I make the putt?
05:49What happens next? Have I broken the rules? Well you've broken a rule but there's no
05:53penalty only if I decide to make you take the ball back out, put it back where it was
05:58and play the shot again in the correct order. Right so effectively that putt gets cancelled
06:02and I get another go. You would get another go if I decided that you'd effectively gained an
06:07advantage by getting to go at your shorter putt first. Yes and it's just one of those things that
06:11would be pretty awkward wouldn't it? I mean you and I have played enough golf together over the
06:15years that I don't think it would be awkward between us but I think if you're playing in a
06:18match against somebody you don't want to be left in that situation so my advice would be in this
06:23particular scenario just go up and mark the ball. If the player wants to give it to you fine but if
06:28not just put the marker down and avoid any of this kind of awkwardness that can surround this
06:32particular scenario. Okay so in the scenario we're faced with here we've got a golf ball here
06:42on the fringe we've got a clump of sand also on the fringe and another bit of sand on the green
06:48and there are certain things you can do and certain things you can't do. I think a lot of
06:52golfers, myself included, would find this particular scenario slightly confusing. Jez
06:56clear it up for us what can you do? Okay well I think the important thing to say is that under
07:01the definitions sand and loose soil are not classed as loose impediments. So here you can't
07:08move this on the fringe however there is within the rules special dispensation if you like to
07:13remove sand and loose soil on the putting green only so you could brush that away there but you
07:18can't touch this slightly more prominent clump of sand here off the green. So there you have it if
07:24your instinct would be to brush away this sand here as mine would probably be then beware don't
07:29do it otherwise you'll run into trouble with the rules.
07:39Hold on can I just stop you there Tavis you're not about to play that are you?
07:42Yeah I was about to play that yeah. Right but this is not the putting green of the hole you're
07:46playing is it? No but there's you know it's a links course there's not much thick grass between
07:51me and the green I reckon I can get this quite close by putting it. And you possibly could but
07:55sadly you're not allowed to even attempt to do so because you cannot play from a wrong green
08:01you must take relief. Okay right so even if there was only three feet of fringe grass between me and
08:08the right green I still wouldn't be able to put this? You wouldn't no the only time you could
08:12play from what appears to be the green of a wrong hole to the correct hole is when it's a double
08:16green and shared green. Right okay so what do I need to do where do I go? Well here your nearest
08:21point of relief is probably over that way and it does make the shot a little bit tougher but
08:25unfortunately the rules don't allow you any leeway you must take relief from the wrong green
08:30and you cannot play the ball as it lies. Right there we go. So there you have it that's our
08:36look at six rules golfers find confusing I hope you found that helpful if you have please do hit
08:41the like button also please do leave some comments below is there anything that we've missed we're
08:44always looking for ideas for future content so we'd be interested to hear your thoughts
08:49but that's it for now thanks for watching we'll see you next time.
08:55you