In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by golf rules guru Jezz Ellwood. They go through the most confusing rules in the book and offer simple explanations about how to proceed. Jezz's advice here will help you avoid any penalty shots whenever you're competing.
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00:00As most golfers know the rules of golf can at times feel fairly confusing and that's
00:05what this video is going to try to tackle. So we're going to look at seven rules that
00:09golfers still find confusing even if they've played the game for quite a while. I'm going
00:14to be joined by Jez Elwood, Golf Monthly Rules Guru and he's going to talk through each of
00:17these scenarios and explain a why they're a little bit confusing and b exactly how you
00:22should proceed in each of these situations. We're here at the London Club, let's get started.
00:34One. Very funny. But this part of the video is about when you are and when you are not penalised
00:42for accidentally moving your ball which I've just done there. Thankfully on the tee, no penalty.
00:47No penalty because at this point on the whole the ball is not in play, you haven't made a
00:51stroke at it unless that was an abnormally short back swing. It was not. So the ball is not in
00:56play so if you move it off the tee, fine. But there are plenty of scenarios on the golf course where
01:01you do get penalised for doing something like this. Jez, let's talk about that. For the first one,
01:06you're searching for your ball, you hit it in some deep rough and you're looking for it,
01:09you're swishing around, you accidentally move the ball, what happens then? Well this is one of the new
01:13exceptions that came in in 2019. Before, if you'd trodden on your ball when you were searching for it,
01:18you would have been penalised. Now you're not. You must replace the ball where it was or where you
01:24estimate it to have been before you kicked it or nudge it with a club to the best of your ability
01:29and then play on penalty free. So no penalty but you must replace the ball. Must replace the ball.
01:34What happens about, let's say you're in the rough or you're on the fairway and you put the club down
01:38behind the ball as I've just done there and you nudge it off or you drop something on the ball,
01:43like a head cover or a towel or I don't know, you could be carrying anything, a coin. Yeah,
01:47well this is where some of the confusion has really come in and we've had quite a lot of letters
01:51golf monthly from people who think there is no longer any penalty for any accidental movement
01:57but that's not the case. The default position is still a penalty if you accidentally or deliberately,
02:03but if you accidentally move your ball with the club by dropping something on it, there is still a
02:08penalty. You've got to be careful around your ball once it's in play in the general area of the golf
02:13course. Yes, but the same isn't true on the putting green. It isn't, again in that previous scenario you
02:19do have to replace the ball before you play on. Yes, very important. Putting green, that was another
02:22exception that came in that any accidental movement, so whether you nudge it with the putter on a practice
02:28stroke or drop a coin on it or catch it with your foot, any accidental movement of the ball on the
02:35putting green is no longer a penalty. You must replace the ball before you play your next stroke.
02:40All really useful to know because these scenarios they do happen. I can guarantee you at some point
02:45in your golfing life you are going to accidentally move the ball while you are looking for it in deep
02:48rough. Knowing that it's not a penalty but you do have to replace it is key and it's worth just
02:53underlining that in all of these scenarios you always have to put the ball back. There's never a
02:57scenario where you move it accidentally and then play it from wherever it's come to rest. That is true and if
03:02we were going to stress one thing it is that if you move your ball whether it's accidentally or not
03:06on the fairway in the rough there is still a penalty despite a lot of people believing that there isn't.
03:12There you go.
03:18Okay so this is one of the very few scenarios in the game of golf where players will need to make
03:22a judgment call and it's not easy this particular scenario and it all boils down to a phrase that is
03:28known or virtually certain. Jez explain to us what's going on in this scenario.
03:32Well you'll find that phrase in the definitions section of the book and in a circumstance like
03:37this you've hit your tee shot it's come around some trees that you can't see. It's heading towards
03:42the penalty area. Yes. You think it's gone in there but when you get down here there's this area of
03:47very thick grass. Big area of thick grass. Right on line with where your ball was heading. Didn't see it
03:52go in. Didn't see it splash. No one saw a splash either in your group or in a group ahead calling back and
03:57saying it definitely went in. So you haven't got certainty and then the rules say virtually certain
04:04means 95 percent. Yes. So that's a bit of an intangible how you work that out I don't know
04:09but for me in this scenario here because this grass is so long and thick and right in the
04:14spot where your ball was heading for I would find it quite hard to say that was 95 percent certain it
04:20went into the water. Yeah and the truth is different people are likely to interpret this rule in slightly
04:25different ways I think you've got to be honest you've got to be honest with yourself as well
04:28in this scenario am I sure my ball's gone in there I think I'm probably maybe at best 60 percent it could
04:34easily be in here I'm obviously going to have a very good look for it and if I if you find yourself
04:39having a good look for it in the thick rough it means you're probably not certain it's gone in there
04:42are you? Indeed and of course the difference then is can you drop just here where the ball
04:48allegedly last crossed the edge of the penalty area or because you can't find it do you have to go back and
04:53play again under stroke and distance so it's a big difference and I'm sure a lot of people would
04:59err on the side of it must have gone in mate but that's not quite well if we were playing a friendly
05:03game of golf I wouldn't I wouldn't mind whatsoever in that scenario I'm sure you would say to me yeah
05:08just drop it somewhere near but if we were playing for handicap or you're playing in a competition
05:12you really need to think very carefully about this so a rule that is well worth knowing when you find
05:17yourself in this very tricky but not totally uncommon scenario
05:27okay so without question this is one of the most misunderstood rules of golf and Jez I'm not
05:32referring here to the um to the cart path this is an immovable obstruction and nobody is expecting
05:38you to play the ball from the cart path no the bit that I think is misunderstood and confused
05:44is often where you get your relief from yeah now we've chosen this specific spot very very
05:50specifically and it does happen so Jez talk us through what often happens in this scenario and
05:56how people should under the rules proceed I think it's misinterpretation people think it's on the path
06:02and that's that's that so you can take relief wherever you get away from the path not nearer the hole
06:08but it's where the ball is lying on the path that's important the key point
06:11uh and you get your nearest point of complete relief from where it's lying and in this case
06:16much as you would want to come this way I would definitely want to go over actually playing in
06:20this direction here so going around the corner there I definitely want to hit mine from over
06:23there in the fluffy semi-rough or thick foot-high grass over here um and some people might even say
06:29well I can't drop there because I'm not really getting relief okay I'll go back over there but you have
06:35to remember what you're getting relief from you're getting relief from this abnormal course condition
06:39cart path immovable obstruction rules of golf don't give you relief from thick grass so if the thick
06:45grass is your nearest point of complete relief that is where you have to drop and there's only one
06:50nearest point of complete relief there's not a few different options it's one spot and in this scenario
06:54as you said Jez it's kind of in here isn't it yeah all of this bad lie the ball bit about here so
06:59that your club has no chance of hitting the path on the way through on the way through of course you don't
07:04have to take relief you can play it from as it lies that'll be down to the individuals to whether
07:09they want to kind of potentially endanger the bottom of their golf club by hitting a shot like
07:13this I think I'd probably have to I would probably take this relief here yeah and then try and just
07:19somehow well see how bad let's have a look see how bad it is and then get it back into play
07:26so that I would say was complete relief your club was sitting much better
07:30but I think I can hit this well I can
07:36yep so you're back in play and you've proceeded in accordance with the rules rather than going to
07:44where you would like to play from and then potentially breaking them hopefully that helps
07:47you when you're in a situation like this
07:58weak yeah that's not very good I'd quite like to have another go at that Jez now yeah in order for
08:03me to do that I need to know whether I'm allowed to practice on the golf course or not during a
08:07competition around a golf do I have permission to have another go at this well you do if there's no
08:13one waiting to play in hands on hips waiting for you to get out of the way which there isn't anyone
08:17on the whole so I'm fine so I can hit this again there is a limited amount of practice you can do
08:21in a round and it's confined to the putting green you've just played or the teeing area you're next
08:29about to play from so you can practice your putting and chipping on or near either of those
08:34two areas you can't practice any bunker shots so if you've fluffed a bunker shot you can't have
08:39another go I can't think of the time I've ever hit a practice bunker shot on the golf course
08:43I'm sure someone has but you're not allowed to not allowed and if you are holding up the
08:46groups behind they are going to be very angry about that anyway so you're likely to hear about
08:50it after the round of golf yeah anyway so this one is fine I can it's fine yeah you'll find all the
08:56detail in rule 5.5 what if I breach the rule if you breach the rule by playing a practice shot you're
09:02not allowed to in a place you're not allowed to or you are unduly delaying play you'll get the general
09:07penalty so if it's between holes as it would be in this scenario that would apply to the next hole
09:12you're about to play good so in match play you would get to the next tee and you'd have already
09:18lost that hole before you play it so you might as well walk on to the next hole great okay well I get
09:23to have another go at this yeah I'm not going to hit such a bad puck this time I promise
09:29yeah a little bit more authority I only just went in though oh I mean there's no
09:33in is in is it yes I know I know I know always second time isn't it yeah yeah
09:42okay so this is a scenario within the rules of golf that many players find confusing even if they've
09:48played the game for many years and in order to for us to illustrate the point we've made two pitch
09:52marks one that is off the green just on the fringe here and one that is on the green but both of these
09:59are directly on the line of my shot I would definitely want to putt this Jez now one of
10:03these I can repair one of them I can't explain to me what's going on well there's a difference between
10:09the green and not the green the putting green as it's called in the rules you can repair a pitch mark
10:14on the putting green at any time okay whether your ball is lying on the green or off the green so that's
10:20no problem the one off the green you're not allowed to touch to repair that would be
10:25breaking rule 8.1a which talks about conditions affecting the stroke yeah you're not allowed to
10:30improve the turf conditions the ground conditions that would be deemed to be doing that right and
10:36the penalty is pretty severe it's two shots in stroke play or loss of hole in match play so
10:41ouch the general penalty definitely want to avoid that so I'm going to repair this
10:45what about if how about if my ball came to rest yeah and then that pitch mark was made by my
10:52plane partner well it's a it's a one in a million shot probably but in that scenario you would be
10:58allowed to repair it because you're entitled to the conditions that prevailed when your ball came
11:02to rest that pitch mark wasn't there at that point so in that rare rare rare scenario you would be
11:09able to then repair that pitch mark yeah that was created after your ball had come to rest that
11:13is unlikely it is much more likely that you're going to have a situation like this with a pitch
11:17mark yeah it does happen and I'm going to have to chip this and this is not my favorite shot no
11:24oh I didn't read it properly oh and that's three feet there no
11:34okay so I have had a total nightmare here I have hit a tee shot from uh way over behind me
11:40and I've sprayed it mild right and I'm on the the green here and this is not the green no
11:45that I'm playing I now need to hit a seven iron in this direction here yeah what do I need to
11:50avoid doing Jez well you need to avoid hitting a seven iron off this finely prepared surface
11:55I really don't want to make a difference the putting greens here are perfect as well
11:59this is a wrong green as far as the rules of golf are concerned and play from it is prohibited so
12:04you cannot play from it you cannot play if your feet are on the green and your ball isn't
12:10you've got to have complete um you've got to be completely away from the wrong green yes not in
12:15interfering with stance or golf swing so my nearest point of complete relief somewhere
12:20where I'm not going to take a divot and it goes from there somewhere like that and then yeah down
12:24here somewhere so I'd be dropping just here and then I can continue to play that's it yep and uh
12:32that is what you would expect most people to do but somebody on the pga tour a few years ago
12:37did actually play from the wrong green yeah full iron shot because probably because they're very
12:42good at just nipping the ball off the top possibly is in play to stop you from damaging the green
12:47essentially I think it's important to remember as well even on a links course where you might be
12:52out and back and there are two greens very close together and it would be quite feasible to putt
12:56from one to the other you still can't do it you have to take relief that's good from the wrong green
13:00advice Jez because I think I wouldn't even consider I think a lot of people would just think okay
13:04there's only a little bit of fringe or just putt back to my green but you can't do that yeah and if you do
13:09do it even in that scenario it's the general penalty which is two shots it is and you'll find this all
13:13in rule 13.1 f there you go so playing from the wrong green there's a rule to protect you from doing
13:20it because it will damage the golf course make sure you run through the process that I've just been
13:24through that you should be fine oh no ah
13:39okay so for this one we have over elaborated a little bit yeah and you might need to use your
13:44imagination a little bit because obviously I'd never hit a putt that bad no well actually I have done but
13:52it's worth remembering your options when you hit a really awful shot like that one the one that I've
13:56just hit Jez that one's gone over the crest of this hill it's gone down into a bunker it's gone right
14:00into the back of the bunker which is an almost an unplayable position I'm now really scratching my
14:05head thinking what do I do now explain to me what my options might be well you've putted it could have
14:10gone into the water it could have gone into a terrible lie as you say it's now at the back lip you've
14:14got no shot you're thinking you might have to take an unplayable but what you're probably not thinking is
14:19why don't I just putt it again under stroke and distance yes yes there's a shot to add
14:24so if if you two putt from there you know it's effectively three more shots but sometimes that
14:29just might be your best option best option in a scenario like this it's also worth remembering
14:34that if you've chipped so in that scenario if I was just off the green I'd thinned my chip
14:38not wholly unlikely again that option is open to me just remember that because I think when people get
14:44onto the green they sort of forget that that is a possibility don't they yeah definitely I mean
14:47it might be a case where you're very close to a ridge you're only four feet from the hole and
14:52you've just hit it a fraction too hard and suddenly it's off the front of the green well having seen
14:57the first part you might think okay my best chance here is to have another go at that four footer yes
15:02and you might be thinking okay well that means taking stroke and distance from it nearer the hole but
15:07you're allowed to do that on the putting green you can take stroke and distance just as you can anywhere
15:12else on the golf course and if that means you're nearer the hole and where your ball have come to
15:16rest you are allowed to do you're allowed to do that so it's worth remembering hopefully a situation
15:21like that doesn't arise for you but if it does try to keep that idea in mind so there you have it
15:27that's our look at the seven rules golfers still find confusing even if they've played the game for
15:32a long time there are reasons why some of these roles rules are a little bit confusing but hopefully
15:37Jez's explanations have helped to clear things up for you if you do have any questions please do leave
15:42some comments below we'd love to hear what you have to say but that's it for now from the London
15:45Club thanks for watching we'll see you next time