WhenIt’s OK to Play Two Balls

from Arizona Golf Insider - February/March 2023

LPGA*USGA Girls Golf of Phoenix Celebrates The Golden Tees

WORDS BY LOGAN RASMUSSEN

At first glance, the Rules of Golf can be quite daunting – especially when looking at the “Official Guide to the Rules of Golf,” which weighs in at a whopping 525 pages long! Broken down into 25 Rules and a handful of definitions, it can still be quite the undertaking if players are trying to understand them all.

Whether players are new to the game or have been playing for years, the Rules can be very frightening. But it really doesn’t need to be so scary! The Rules of Golf are in place to ensure everyone is playing the game on a fair and equitable playing field. In fact, some Rules can be used to help the player.

The Rules are a lot to understand, and often times players find themselves unsure of how to proceed. What players may not know is that if – or when – this happens, there is actually a rule for this exact scenario! Rule 20.1c(3) allows a player to play two different balls to make sure they follow the rules when they are unsure. The rule states, “A player who is uncertain about the right procedure while playing a hole may complete the hole with two balls without penalty…”

Let’s examine this closer, as there are requirements to use this Rule. First, the player must decide that they need to play two balls before making the next stroke. The player also needs to choose which ball will count for their score if they followed the rules correctly with both balls. They are going to want to announce this to another player in their group, in the interest of transparency. If the player doesn’t choose or forgets to announce which ball they want to count, then the ball that they first make a stroke at is the default for the one they will count. Lastly, if this occurs in a competitive environment, the player MUST report the situation to the Committee even if the score for both balls was the same otherwise you could face a disqualification penalty. Here is a common scenario when a play - er may need to play two balls that occurred at the 2022 AGA Women’s Stroke Play at Anthem Country Club. A player was unsure whether she was entitled to free relief from an area she believed to be Ground Under Repair on the golf course. She proceeded to put a ball into play under the Rule 16.1 (dropping a ball within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief) as though the area is marked as Ground Under

Repair, she announced the ball with which she wished to score (the original ball in the area of potential GUR or the one you are dropping into play) if it is indeed Ground Under Repair, she played both balls into the hole and let the committee know of the situation so that they may go look on the course. If it was determined that it should be marked as Ground Under Repair then the player would be able to score with that ball since it was the one she announced before playing either ball.

Another scenario applies when the player is unsure if they get one or two club-lengths of relief, like free relief from a cart path, but can’t quite remember if they measure their relief area with one clublength or two. The player would first determine the nearest point of complete relief where there is no longer any interference from the cart path. Next the player puts two balls into play, ball A within one clublength from the nearest point of complete relief and ball B within two club-lengths of the nearest point of complete relief. The player then properly announces they want ball B to count for their score, and then plays both balls out.

Let’s say in this situation the player scores a 5 with ball A and a 6 with ball B. When they report to the committee what transpired, the committee lets the player know that they are only entitled to a one club-length relief area from the nearest point of complete relief. This means that the score with ball B is not able to count since it was not dropped within the relief area. Even though they wanted to score with the second ball, it is their lucky day because they get a 5 for the hole since that is what they scored with ball A.

We should never be punished for failing to memorizing all 525 pages of the Rules of Golf. But if there is one rule to remember, make it Rule 20.1c(3)!