Speaker 1: Golf Smarter number four hundred and twenty nine, published on
Speaker 1: April twenty five, twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: Welcome to golf Smarter Mulligans, your second chance to gain
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Speaker 2: golf Smarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction Never gets Old. Our
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Speaker 3: If you're practicing, that's not a stroke. That's a swing
Speaker 3: because you don't have intent to hit the ball. So
Speaker 3: you know, quite often we're practicing a little too close
Speaker 3: and we knock it off. That is not a stroke.
Speaker 3: There is no penalty for.
Speaker 1: That, okay, So let me try to graphically explain this one.
Speaker 1: So your go to address the ball, you place your
Speaker 1: driver right down next to it, and it taps the
Speaker 1: ball and the ball falls off the tee.
Speaker 3: That is not a stroke.
Speaker 1: That is not a stroke. Because you'll have guys in
Speaker 1: your forest and all. That's one and you can turn
Speaker 1: around and say no, it's not right, okay.
Speaker 3: Good. On the opposite side, you can swing with the
Speaker 3: intent of putting it out there and it go two inches.
Speaker 3: That it would have that is a stroke and that
Speaker 3: is your ball played.
Speaker 1: More on the Golf Rules Stroke Play with Richard Todd.
Speaker 1: This is Golf Smarter. Welcome back to Golf Smarter, Richard.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Bred, it's great.
Speaker 1: To have you on again. I want to get right
Speaker 1: back into the conversation about your fun little book called
Speaker 1: the Golf Rules Stroke Play. Learn the rules of golf
Speaker 1: by watching others break them again, a fun little read.
Speaker 1: I was picking your brain. I'm so curious. You know,
Speaker 1: now that you have the book out, do you talk
Speaker 1: to people about rules or do you get a sense
Speaker 1: that people always follow the rules or that they admit
Speaker 1: they broke the rule? Do you get any sense of that?
Speaker 3: Yes? Actually, I was just at the Cleveland Golf Show.
Speaker 3: Twenty five thousand people came through, and most everybody I'm
Speaker 3: sure it's tongue in cheek, but it's a lot of
Speaker 3: smart alec comments saying, oh, we don't play by the rules,
Speaker 3: we don't need the rules, I don't like the rules,
Speaker 3: those kind of things. Although we know that at least
Speaker 3: to a great extent, everybody plays by the rules. You
Speaker 3: might have your personal ones that you like to bend
Speaker 3: a little as you were saying before. Inside the leather
Speaker 3: is good, but overall, selling the rule book was akin
Speaker 3: to setting up an alcoholics anonymous table at a bar.
Speaker 3: At least, that was my takeaway from everybody that came by.
Speaker 3: Loved the idea, but they were shy of admitting that
Speaker 3: they knew less than everything.
Speaker 1: So they don't admit that they're breaking the rules, but
Speaker 1: they also won't admit that they know the rules exactly. Wow. Well, uh,
Speaker 1: I'll fall in that kind of I know, I admit,
Speaker 1: I admit I know there are rules that I break
Speaker 1: because I just don't care. I think that they're absurd.
Speaker 1: I think that there's some of these rules are just
Speaker 1: ridiculous and I and it's it's part of my whole
Speaker 1: issue with the us GA and having a driver up there,
Speaker 1: you know up It just drives me crazy. Why to me,
Speaker 1: so many of these rules are to be And I
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna really upset a lot of people with this,
Speaker 1: but I get the sense that these rules are to
Speaker 1: be the advocate for the golf course, not the advocate
Speaker 1: for the golfer.
Speaker 3: I've heard you say.
Speaker 1: That before, and it never made sense to you then,
Speaker 1: And it doesn't make sense to you.
Speaker 3: I know, I understand what you're saying, but I have
Speaker 3: more of a perspective after dealing with the USGA and
Speaker 3: for the book and going through the rural school, and
Speaker 3: to make another metaphor, I feel like the USGA is
Speaker 3: a police officer. Nobody wants to see a police car
Speaker 3: in their rear view mirror with the lights on, but
Speaker 3: when somebody is trying to break into their house, they
Speaker 3: don't mind calling nine one one for some reason. That's
Speaker 3: just the way people feel. You know, if you're speeding,
Speaker 3: it's very simple. You know, here's the speed limit. If
Speaker 3: you break it, there's the potential for the penalty.
Speaker 1: So if you're a victim, that's one thing. If you're
Speaker 1: the perpetrator.
Speaker 3: Exactly, so you know, the question is that you are
Speaker 3: you're breaking the rule intentionally and you're trying to get
Speaker 3: away with something or is it an accident and you
Speaker 3: just need to talk your way out of the two
Speaker 3: stroke Banetley Okay.
Speaker 1: Fine, so let's let's let's pick into the book. I
Speaker 1: would love to go over some of the rules that
Speaker 1: seem to be common mistakes or common misinterpretations or just
Speaker 1: I didn't know that type of rules and so I'd
Speaker 1: love to do two things. One, I'm going to ask
Speaker 1: you a series of questions and see if we can
Speaker 1: get a ruling from our official, even though you're not
Speaker 1: the official, you wrote a book. And then also, if anybody,
Speaker 1: let's just do this. If anybody has any rules questions
Speaker 1: they're not sure of and would like clarification, send me
Speaker 1: an email. I'll get Richard on Skype and we'll do
Speaker 1: a little video of Richard explaining that rule to you.
Speaker 1: I mean, and if it works or not. So just
Speaker 1: go click on the Hey Fred button and send me
Speaker 1: your question and we'll get Richard to answer the question.
Speaker 1: So Richard here, let's start right at the tea box.
Speaker 1: Is there's rules there, you know, like are the rules
Speaker 1: where the your playing partners are allowed or not allowed
Speaker 1: to stand while you're teeing off?
Speaker 3: There are not rules, but that's an etiquette.
Speaker 1: Issue and that's in the next book.
Speaker 3: That is in the next book. You know. The tea box,
Speaker 3: of course, is an interesting thing. It is defined by
Speaker 3: the tea markers, which actually the tea box goes to
Speaker 3: the outside of the tea markers. So if you depending
Speaker 3: on if you have the little balls or blocks, it
Speaker 3: actually extends on the outside.
Speaker 1: Of that how far outside just to.
Speaker 3: The end of it, right to the outside outside edge, right,
Speaker 3: and it's two club blanks back. Granted that don't remember
Speaker 3: the USGA specifying which club. But you know, for some people,
Speaker 3: like there's an issue in the book where one of
Speaker 3: the players knows he it's his eight iron one hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty five yards and the tea markers at one
Speaker 3: hundred and thirty and so he backs up five yards. Well,
Speaker 3: that was outside of the actual defined tea box. And
Speaker 3: so that's something you can't do, okay, because if you're
Speaker 3: playing outside of the tea box, you effectively didn't tee
Speaker 3: off properly, then you can qualification.
Speaker 1: Right. Are you allowed to not use a T on
Speaker 1: the tea box, Yes, but you're not allowed to use
Speaker 1: a T anywhere else. But I'm just making I'm just
Speaker 1: asking here.
Speaker 3: I've heard that starters should do that. But yes, no,
Speaker 3: you cannot use a tee throughout the green or through
Speaker 3: the green as we were just talking about. Four that's
Speaker 3: the definition of the area between the tea box and
Speaker 3: the putting green through the green, okay.
Speaker 1: And when you say that, you can set up two
Speaker 1: club lengths generally, I would think that's people using their driver.
Speaker 1: Whenever there's a two club length thing, people pull out
Speaker 1: the longest club, which would be the driver. Right. Usually
Speaker 1: you can't use your you're not you're not allowed to
Speaker 1: use your ball retriever that has still a scopic ball retriever,
Speaker 1: right right, Okay, So.
Speaker 3: And the interesting thing with that is the ball has
Speaker 3: to be in the T box.
Speaker 1: Yeah, That's what I was going to ask, is like
Speaker 1: can the ball be well, it can't be right to
Speaker 1: the outside edge because you may hit it. But if
Speaker 1: you put the ball like right, say you're a right
Speaker 1: handed hitter and you go to the tea box when
Speaker 1: you're facing the fairway the T box, it's on the
Speaker 1: far left right, the left side, which is for a
Speaker 1: right handed here, so you put the you put the
Speaker 1: ball just inside that that marker, but you could stand.
Speaker 1: Is it legal to stand outside that?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: Okay, good, good to know you.
Speaker 3: You'd have to have a really strange fairway that you'd
Speaker 3: want to be able to do that, but yeah, it's
Speaker 3: an option.
Speaker 1: Well no, I mean it's like I know when like
Speaker 1: when I go bowling. Okay, And it's a weird analogy here,
Speaker 1: and you know you're from Ohio. You bowl, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was not good. So anyway, so like you know,
Speaker 1: you got the seven to ten, you know the outside
Speaker 1: pins right, you got the ten pin over on the
Speaker 1: far right. Now, to me, it makes much more sense
Speaker 1: to start on the far left of the lane and
Speaker 1: give yourself the angle to go at it. Then try
Speaker 1: to just hug the ball straight down the right side
Speaker 1: and hope that it hits it right. So for me,
Speaker 1: the same thing. If my target line is to put
Speaker 1: the ball on the right side of the fairway to
Speaker 1: give me a better angle to approach the green, then
Speaker 1: I'm going to hit from the left side of the
Speaker 1: t box.
Speaker 3: It's something you could do.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, that's not a rule thing. That's just how
Speaker 1: I approach it. It's like, yeah, I'll hit on the
Speaker 1: far side. I think, now you've listened, because I don't
Speaker 1: listen to my interviews when I'm doing them. I'm just
Speaker 1: like recording them so I hear. But I remember when
Speaker 1: I asked when I had the woman at TPC Scottsdale
Speaker 1: and I asked her if she noticed anything, and she
Speaker 1: she said to me, oh, yeah, you tea up on
Speaker 1: the right side of the tea box every time, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I do. I don't think I do, And
Speaker 1: she said that I do.
Speaker 3: That is exactly what came into my mind when you
Speaker 3: gave your description.
Speaker 1: Is what she said. Yes, dude, you're not supposed to
Speaker 1: take notes on the on the shows. You're just supposed
Speaker 1: to listen. It's a podcast.
Speaker 3: It's a great podcast.
Speaker 1: Stop. Thank you.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that's very nice.
Speaker 1: Can you tell people in my family that it's like
Speaker 1: we're thet They're like, why do you still do that?
Speaker 3: Okay, let's go to the book.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you kidding, it's it's already in a frame and no,
Speaker 1: it's going to be though. I'm just so touched. Water hazards.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to because we talked about water hazards
Speaker 1: and you know, I kind of caught you off guard there.
Speaker 1: Let's go over the water. You've done a little research, now,
Speaker 1: what can you tell me?
Speaker 3: First, we're talking about We mentioned water hazards versus lateral
Speaker 3: water hazards before, and the lateral water hazard can actually
Speaker 3: be part of a water hazard, but the lateral part
Speaker 3: is positioned so that you can't play behind it. You're
Speaker 3: outside of the you can't drop a ball behind the
Speaker 3: water hazard and still be in the playing area. That
Speaker 3: goes back to what we were saying. Okay, so there's
Speaker 3: four things you can do when you're in a water hazard.
Speaker 3: First one is play it as it lies. And this
Speaker 3: is one of those things you got to think about
Speaker 3: for a second because most people like, well, my ball's
Speaker 3: in the water, how can I play it? Well, your
Speaker 3: ball doesn't have to be in the water to be
Speaker 3: in a water hazard. You know, if you see those
Speaker 3: those red lines or the red steaks, you're you could
Speaker 3: technically be in the water hazard but still have a
Speaker 3: nice dry approach way.
Speaker 1: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 3: Oh caught you with that one. Huh.
Speaker 1: Well, no, it's like, say, say that the golf course,
Speaker 1: you know, the water begins and there's crocodiles, you know,
Speaker 1: the waters there, and the ball is like three or
Speaker 1: four inches before it gets into the water, and yet
Speaker 1: there's a red line that's been spray painted onto the
Speaker 1: grass about two feet away from the water. Now that
Speaker 1: red line is ob is it not?
Speaker 3: Now that's well the water that's a water hazard.
Speaker 1: Okay, that says it's the water red lines. So even
Speaker 1: though it's inside the red line, but not in the water.
Speaker 1: You can still hit from there without penalty. Yes, oh okay.
Speaker 3: So you can hink you and as we're saying, you
Speaker 3: can go back to the tee or not necessarily a
Speaker 3: tea box, but you can go back to where your
Speaker 3: last shot was, which may not be in the tea box.
Speaker 3: You could have been like a Part five, you could
Speaker 3: have put it in the water from your second, third,
Speaker 3: or eighth shot. So there's number two three is we're
Speaker 3: talking about dropping a ball online from the tee or
Speaker 3: not the t the flag stick behind the water hazard,
Speaker 3: and you can go as far back as you want, but.
Speaker 1: You have to stay online from where you pull the
Speaker 1: ball out the line, not the line your ball flight was,
Speaker 1: but the line to the flag.
Speaker 3: Yeah, where it crossed the water hazard to the flag.
Speaker 3: And there are options where you were saying about dropping
Speaker 3: within two club links, not near the hole. Now, an
Speaker 3: interesting part on that one is we know closer to
Speaker 3: the hole, we can see that, but that line goes
Speaker 3: left and right, so you literally could possibly drop on
Speaker 3: the other side of the water being the same distance
Speaker 3: from the hole. It's an interesting one. The rule book
Speaker 3: does have a nice little diagram for that, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure the USG website also discusses that or has that
Speaker 3: same graphic. But again, this just goes to show you
Speaker 3: why it's so difficult to play by the rules. Yeah,
Speaker 3: as opposed to just take it back and hit another one,
Speaker 3: as you were saying before, you could hit a provisional,
Speaker 3: but there are other options.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Then I'm still not clear on when you're allowed
Speaker 1: to just move the ball, the difference between taking the
Speaker 1: ball all the way back to where you originally hit
Speaker 1: or just saying, you know, out it's over here, but
Speaker 1: I'm moving it so it's in play here and hitting
Speaker 1: it here and taking hitting three versus going back to
Speaker 1: the T box hitting three. Is there an instance where
Speaker 1: I'm allowed to hit it from where it is out
Speaker 1: of bounds and just move it laterally and then take
Speaker 1: my third shot from there? Is that legal?
Speaker 3: Every I'm trying to say yes, but I'm having a
Speaker 3: tough time remembering the exact situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, We're gonna have to do a little more
Speaker 1: research on that one.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that goes back to your question you ask
Speaker 3: me a little earlier. Do people come up and ask
Speaker 3: me rule questions? And that happened a lot at the
Speaker 3: golf show. And I'm an author. I'm not a rules
Speaker 3: official for the USGA, so I will from time to
Speaker 3: time just like everybody else. Forget how that rule goes.
Speaker 1: Dude, you're a compliance guy.
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean we're always right. That's our goal.
Speaker 1: Well that you know. I don't believe the rules are
Speaker 1: always right, but I have to play by them. He's
Speaker 1: not comment on that. No, Okay, are you? Are we
Speaker 1: there more water hazard things that we should know?
Speaker 3: Yes, but you know that's more than enough for today.
Speaker 3: All right, so much to have fun with?
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right, right right? Let's see what about testing hazards?
Speaker 1: What is the ruling on that? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Like you know with bunkers? I remember that? Is that
Speaker 1: a us open Like if it's if.
Speaker 3: You know, are you talking about Let's see what was
Speaker 3: that Johnson?
Speaker 1: Was that Dustin Johnson?
Speaker 3: Justin Johnson?
Speaker 1: If it's it's a hazard?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: And he was like that he got penalized and laws
Speaker 1: It was like terrible.
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. Is I actually struck up a
Speaker 3: conversation with one of the presenters at last year's Real
Speaker 3: School about that, and he was laughing because he was
Speaker 3: there and he was telling me how every caddy and
Speaker 3: player was told over and over and again, you know
Speaker 3: they were they were shown where all the bunkers are at.
Speaker 3: And even as I guess as Dustin was going up there,
Speaker 3: his caddy was told, that's a that's a bunker hazard.
Speaker 3: So what we see on TV doesn't always actually happen
Speaker 3: is the way we think it does. Uh, and sometimes
Speaker 3: they just don't pay attention. So uh, but yes, to
Speaker 3: answer your question, you can. You can dig your feet in.
Speaker 3: You can, I think the rules call that getting a
Speaker 3: firm stance. Uh. You cannot take a practice stroke that
Speaker 3: means hitting the sand, but you can take a practice
Speaker 3: swing into the air. Again, that goes back to your
Speaker 3: h the legal descriptions of swing versus stroke.
Speaker 1: Like my ball versus the A ball.
Speaker 3: Right right, So as long as you don't swing into
Speaker 3: the sand, you're okay in those in those situations.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay. So then testing hazards no, no, correct, cannot
Speaker 1: have your club touch the hazard while practicing correct, Okay,
Speaker 1: don't do it. Don't do that, but they have to
Speaker 1: be designated. Now, obviously that was tournament play and there
Speaker 1: was you know, like that hazard that he got penalized
Speaker 1: for it was like the size of a size seven shoe, right,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 3: Believe there were a spectator standing in it too, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: It makes it even more difficult to.
Speaker 1: Oh that was so painful. Yeah, that was so painful. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you really, if you're just playing, you should know
Speaker 1: your course. But I mean they're probably.
Speaker 3: No, there are, Yes, that's always an interesting question to
Speaker 3: ask before you t off, you know, at the starter
Speaker 3: and what is defined as the hazards on the courses,
Speaker 3: and you know they'll always give you recommendations and suggestions
Speaker 3: and things to watch out for because you know they
Speaker 3: know the course and they want you to have a
Speaker 3: good time.
Speaker 1: Yes, sure they do, all right, Well, they want you
Speaker 1: to come back, that's what they want. You care if
Speaker 1: you enjoy yourself or not. They want you to shoot
Speaker 1: on hundred and thirty. So then then I guess that
Speaker 1: would bring up the conversation about debris or what are
Speaker 1: they called obstacles or impediments.
Speaker 3: Loose or faced impediments and.
Speaker 1: Fixed.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm sorry, I'm losing my thought process again.
Speaker 1: And I understand that. I apologize. You know, we're three
Speaker 1: hours difference on time zone, and I'm just throughout. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm getting it's getting late in your day, and I
Speaker 1: apologize you get a pot.
Speaker 3: You had made a comment earlier about the being on
Speaker 3: the tee box and knocking the ball off the tee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's gonna go.
Speaker 3: That kind of goes with being in the bunker. Is
Speaker 3: it a stroke or is it a swing? If you're
Speaker 3: practice practicing, that's uh, not a not a stroke. That's
Speaker 3: a swing because you don't have intent to hit the ball.
Speaker 3: So you know, quite often we're practicing a little too
Speaker 3: close and we knock it off. That is not a stroke.
Speaker 3: There is no penalty for that, okay.
Speaker 1: So like so let me let me try to graphically
Speaker 1: explain this one. So your tea, you're you've teed up
Speaker 1: the ball, you're about to do it. You go to
Speaker 1: address the ball, you place your driver right down next
Speaker 1: to it, and it taps the ball and the ball
Speaker 1: falls off the tee.
Speaker 3: That is that is not a stroke.
Speaker 1: That is not a stroke. Because you'll have guys in
Speaker 1: your forest and all going that's one you're and you
Speaker 1: can turn around and say no, it's not right, okay, good.
Speaker 3: Now on the opposite side, you can swing with the
Speaker 3: intent of putting it out there two seventy five and
Speaker 3: it go that two inches that it would have. That
Speaker 3: is a stroke and that is your ball played. And
Speaker 3: some people think, well, okay, I went three inches, let
Speaker 3: me just pull it back, put it back on the tee. Well,
Speaker 3: effectively you've gone back to what we just talked about,
Speaker 3: that stroke and distance, and.
Speaker 1: And then you you do not get to tee it
Speaker 1: up again right at that point? Well, no, the balls
Speaker 1: you play it where it lies. If you only had
Speaker 1: three inches, you got to hit it there, right, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: And and but what about uh say you take a
Speaker 1: practice swing. No, you take you address the ball. You
Speaker 1: take your swing and miss the ball completely. It has happened.
Speaker 3: It has happened. And that is a stroke because you
Speaker 3: had the intent of hitting it.
Speaker 1: So if you swing and miss completely and this was
Speaker 1: your swing, but you're missing and the ball is still
Speaker 1: sitting exactly where it was when you started, that counts
Speaker 1: as a stroke.
Speaker 3: That strike one.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh wow, No I don't do that. I do that. No, never,
Speaker 1: never do that. No, but I've seen I've seen it
Speaker 1: happen because I don't I play with anybody. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you've never played golf. Come on, let's go on. This
Speaker 1: will be fun. But so that actually counts as a stroke.
Speaker 1: That would be defeating if you were that happened to
Speaker 1: you and you weren't very good players, Like, well, I
Speaker 1: don't want to play. That's going to count.
Speaker 3: At least there's no penalty because you don't have to,
Speaker 3: you know, bring the ball back. You're still in a
Speaker 3: good lie.
Speaker 1: What do you mean there's no penalty. I didn't hit
Speaker 1: it and it counts, well, there's no penalty. But you're right.
Speaker 1: I like that you actually said strike one that you
Speaker 1: know that counts as a swing. Say you hit your
Speaker 1: ball and it goes into the woods, and I hope
Speaker 1: I'm okay with this. It goes into the woods and
Speaker 1: the ball lands under some stuff that has fallen from
Speaker 1: the tree, you know, and then there's a branch here
Speaker 1: and there, and there's some leaves and the balls under there.
Speaker 1: And what am I allowed to do to make it
Speaker 1: so I can get a clean shot at the ball?
Speaker 3: No, we've we saw again. Not to bring up the tour.
Speaker 3: There was an interesting one not too long ago. I
Speaker 3: think it was down a Hilton head where it was
Speaker 3: live thick brush and in the backswing. If you clear
Speaker 3: out some of that brush, that is a penalty, even
Speaker 3: though I don't know how you could not do it.
Speaker 1: Wait live but live brush, yes.
Speaker 3: Some tall weeds. Okay, And I think there's been other
Speaker 3: people that have called a penalty on themselves or something
Speaker 3: which somebody watching from TV at home. But you've got
Speaker 3: to be very careful about changing the lie.
Speaker 1: So am I allowed to if it's if it goes
Speaker 1: into the fescue and there's all this tall grass around
Speaker 1: it and I can get to it. But if I
Speaker 1: hit it, it's just going to get caught up in
Speaker 1: this tall stuff. So I can't pat down the grass
Speaker 1: in front of it on the direction my SHOT's going,
Speaker 1: I can't correct.
Speaker 3: You can't go in there and clear out your path.
Speaker 3: H Okay, And no, I don't know how you'd really,
Speaker 3: I guess just smack away and try.
Speaker 1: To Can you say you know? But you can say listen,
Speaker 1: I know that if I try to hit this, it's
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. I'm going to take five or six strokes.
Speaker 1: I'm stuck in this. Can you just can you say
Speaker 1: I'm going to take a drop, I'm going to move
Speaker 1: the ball and take a drop over there, you.
Speaker 3: Can play it as a drawing a blank on the
Speaker 3: terminology shown unplayable.
Speaker 1: Lie, unplayable Ie, Okay.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think though, where your drop zone is
Speaker 3: at very if I'm sure it's going to be close
Speaker 3: to where the ball's at. So if you're if you're
Speaker 3: surrounded by fifteen feet of this stuff, I don't think
Speaker 3: you're going to get out easily.
Speaker 1: Right, But there's a penalty involved with that. I mean
Speaker 1: you can.
Speaker 3: Exactly right, yes, And that kind of goes back with
Speaker 3: the rule you're not trying to get out of trouble
Speaker 3: because you know I played the course as it lies.
Speaker 1: No, I'm just trying to get closer.
Speaker 3: You're trying to well, right, but you're trying to get
Speaker 3: relief from something that is not normal, like on a
Speaker 3: cart path. And that's probably one area that most people
Speaker 3: don't understand. You can be on a cart path and
Speaker 3: most everybody will drop to the fairway side of the
Speaker 3: cart path. Well, that may not be your quote quote
Speaker 3: closest point of relief. It depends if you're a right
Speaker 3: hand or a left hander. You know, you you literally
Speaker 3: have to almost measure where that ball's at and how
Speaker 3: far you have to move it so that you can
Speaker 3: take a stance to play the ball. And it may
Speaker 3: be to the inside, it may be into the rough.
Speaker 3: And I've even seen where your closest point of relief
Speaker 3: could be right behind a tree. Now you're not taking relief.
Speaker 3: You're not trying to better your next shot. You're just
Speaker 3: taking relief from the car path. That doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: you're going to have a great next shot, but it
Speaker 3: means you're not going to hit on the carpath right.
Speaker 1: And if you do land on the card path and
Speaker 1: you take relief from that, is there a penalty. No,
Speaker 1: So you should not hit from the card.
Speaker 3: Path unless you have no good relief. I mean you
Speaker 3: can get relief from the car path, but that could
Speaker 3: put you into a more troublesome position. You could have
Speaker 3: roots on one side tree, maybe the dirts all tore up.
Speaker 1: Do you remember, now this is funny. Do you remember
Speaker 1: the interviews that I did with the caddies at Pebble
Speaker 1: Beach a couple of years ago, number of years.
Speaker 3: Ago about using some other guy's club.
Speaker 1: Yes, I love that story. I love the guys, The
Speaker 1: guys like they were playing you know, I gotta play
Speaker 1: it real, liies gotta play it real lies. And the
Speaker 1: guy's like, he landed on the card path and it
Speaker 1: was like like it was asphalt. It wasn't just a cement.
Speaker 1: It was asphalt, right, So there's rocks in it and
Speaker 1: pebbles and it's rough. And the guy was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm going to just take relief here, and his playing
Speaker 1: partner said, no, got to play it where it lies. Now.
Speaker 1: Was he wrong?
Speaker 3: Well, yes, that's not the rules. The rule says you
Speaker 3: could you can take free relief from there. Those two
Speaker 3: were they Well, again, they broke the rules before they
Speaker 3: even started because they decided that they were going to
Speaker 3: play everything down and that was contrary to taking your
Speaker 3: a loud relief mm and so yes. And then the
Speaker 3: golfer that was hitting asked if he could take a
Speaker 3: practice wing, and the golfer said sure, right, took several
Speaker 3: practice wings.
Speaker 1: And he took several practice wings and and he's like,
Speaker 1: you know, he's making sure. Then there's sparks flying from
Speaker 1: the club and you know it's just he's just destroying
Speaker 1: the golf club. I loved this story. And finally he
Speaker 1: takes the shot and sticks it, puts it right next
Speaker 1: to the pin and his playing partner said, wow, that
Speaker 1: was a great shot. Which club did you use? And
Speaker 1: he said your six iron? I thought that was funny,
Speaker 1: now it was it was, But now wait a minute,
Speaker 1: using your partner's six iron is illegal? Correct?
Speaker 3: Okay? You can share clubs as long as the total
Speaker 3: number of clubs don't exceed fourteen.
Speaker 1: Whoa total number of clubs that you use and around
Speaker 1: or because you may be carrying fourteen, but you're not
Speaker 1: going to hit your seven iron at all today, you can't.
Speaker 3: It's in your bag, You're going to use it. Okay,
Speaker 3: it's available to you.
Speaker 1: Right, So if you're only carrying.
Speaker 3: I never thought about that one. He probably he's got
Speaker 3: a penalty for having too many clubs, right.
Speaker 1: So that you can carry thirteen clubs and say to
Speaker 1: your buddy, I didn't bring my hybrid today. Can I
Speaker 1: borrow yours? And as long as you've got thirteen clubs
Speaker 1: in your bag, that's okay.
Speaker 3: Well, it's okay one way. I'm trying to think of
Speaker 3: the other golfer because now he's shared a club. I'm
Speaker 3: not sure how that falls. I think he might be Okay,
Speaker 3: it gets a little tricky there. Oh, sure, the penalty can.
Speaker 1: Go, where's the lawyers when we need them exactly?
Speaker 3: Another point about the rules that we're getting into is
Speaker 3: it's not always about penalizing yourself. It's about the opportunities
Speaker 3: that you missed, like dropping it off the cart path
Speaker 3: or taking it out of the embedded life so you
Speaker 3: don't take four strokes to move it a foot and
Speaker 3: a half. So the rules are there just to try
Speaker 3: to make the game more enjoyable, or at least even.
Speaker 1: That's making the game more enjoyable is being able to
Speaker 1: tee it up every time? What about cleaning the ball?
Speaker 1: You know sometimes you'll get when where there's win. There
Speaker 1: are when people say winter rules, Is that an official designation?
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 3: It is an official designation. It's called preferred lies in
Speaker 3: the book, and it's there for the care of the course. Okay,
Speaker 3: that hole or maybe the entire grasp because of the
Speaker 3: weather conditions. They don't want you taking big chunks of
Speaker 3: sod out so you can move the ball slightly so
Speaker 3: that you have a better lie, so that you don't
Speaker 3: do as much damage to the course.
Speaker 1: Sure, but what if you've got a big chunk of
Speaker 1: mud on your ball?
Speaker 3: There are times that you can clean the ball, but
Speaker 3: just I'm not sure how the preferred lies rolls in
Speaker 3: with cleaning your ball. I don't think that that's an
Speaker 3: option there. Wow, of course you can clean it on
Speaker 3: the putting green.
Speaker 1: On the putting green, yes, and.
Speaker 3: After your market, before you tee off, you can clean
Speaker 3: your ball slightly for identification purposes. You know, you might
Speaker 3: have a big clump of dirt, but that dirt might
Speaker 3: be right over your marking and you need to be
Speaker 3: able to identify. So there are opportunities where you can
Speaker 3: touch up the ball a little bit. Playing an unplayable
Speaker 3: live believe that's an option too, where you can clean
Speaker 3: your ball before you redrop. So, m okay, a lot
Speaker 3: of fun stuff.
Speaker 1: A lot of fun stuff. Let's see, I'm gonna throw
Speaker 1: one more at you. Let's see if you can come
Speaker 1: up with your ball. You've just hit your ball from
Speaker 1: the fairway. You're now on the green, and your playing
Speaker 1: partner hits up and comes up short of the green.
Speaker 1: He's just on the fringe. And then he goes to
Speaker 1: take his next shot from the fringe, and in the
Speaker 1: process of hitting it from the fringe, he hits your ball.
Speaker 1: Is that a penalty or is that okay, because you
Speaker 1: haven't gotten up to mark your ball yet. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously you're going to go mark your ball
Speaker 1: what you're allowed to do, right and pick it up. Okay,
Speaker 1: But if he hits it from off the green, no
Speaker 1: matter what club he's using. And this is one thing
Speaker 1: that cracks me up all the time. People say, oh,
Speaker 1: I had three putts there. It's like, no, you had
Speaker 1: three strokes with your putter, but you only had two
Speaker 1: official putts. Correct. Just because you're using your putter doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it counts as a putt because people putt from
Speaker 1: off the green all the time, right, okay, so excuse me.
Speaker 1: So then now, guys, he's using his putter, he's on
Speaker 1: the fringe and he hits it and it hits your ball.
Speaker 1: Is that a penalty? And if it is, well, whose
Speaker 1: ball gets moved? Or do they both? How does that work?
Speaker 3: All? Right? Hopefully I get this right. There is no penalty.
Speaker 3: The ball that was there first sitting will be replaced
Speaker 3: for no penalty. The player that was just hitting that
Speaker 3: knocked the ball. I believe that's a rub of the
Speaker 3: green and his ball stays where it bounced off.
Speaker 1: So one gets moved The ball that's originally there gets
Speaker 1: moved back to where it was, and the other one
Speaker 1: wherever it ricocheted onto that stays where it is, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: Now he hits that shot and it trickles from the fringe.
Speaker 1: He hits his approach shot, it trickles just over the
Speaker 1: fringe and makes it onto the first two inches of
Speaker 1: the green. Now he's actually putting on the green, and
Speaker 1: you still haven't moved your ball because you're on the
Speaker 1: opposite of the green, and for whatever reason, and he
Speaker 1: puts it and it hits you your ball. Is that
Speaker 1: a penalty?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: How much of a penalty?
Speaker 3: Two strokes? Most everything is two strokes for match or
Speaker 3: for stroke play. Match play is usually the loss of whole.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, So two strokes meaning I'm hitting my third shot.
Speaker 1: Let's see, I'm hitting you hit hitting my third shot.
Speaker 1: I hit his ball for my my third shot. Ye,
Speaker 1: and now I'm a two penalty strokes. So now my
Speaker 1: next stroke four or five, I'm now hitting six, right
Speaker 1: or I'm hitting five.
Speaker 3: You're hitting six because you hit three, you four and
Speaker 3: five is your penalty, and then your next shot will
Speaker 3: be stroke will be six.
Speaker 1: Okay, But on the on the out of bounds situations,
Speaker 1: you're you hit it in, you pull it out, that's penalty.
Speaker 1: You get one stroke penalty.
Speaker 3: Well you're hitting the first it counts and then your
Speaker 3: penalty stroke coming back.
Speaker 1: And so you when you're hitting a and you're hitting
Speaker 1: three not four, that's okay, right dude, I am. I
Speaker 1: know you got to be exhausted for me grinding you
Speaker 1: like this. I'm I'm I'm tapped out, but I really
Speaker 1: enjoy your time. And again, I can't thank you enough
Speaker 1: for your long term support of the podcast and your
Speaker 1: very kind words. And I'm still don't get why you
Speaker 1: would dedicate your book, but now that you've done it,
Speaker 1: you've got to dedicate all three of them to me,
Speaker 1: So screw you, buddy, And again, thanks so much. And
Speaker 1: I really want to advise anyone who's interested in getting
Speaker 1: more about learning the rules so you can repeat them
Speaker 1: to your friends. Forget the Rules of Golf written by
Speaker 1: the USGA is it's little, but it's little pages because
Speaker 1: they want you to put it in your back pocket,
Speaker 1: but it's over two hundred pages long. No the golf
Speaker 1: role stroke play. Learn the rules of golf by watching
Speaker 1: others break them, which actually is kind of fun because
Speaker 1: you get yourself into situations going I've been there, I
Speaker 1: know that, and you start getting to know the people
Speaker 1: that are in the book. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: Pick that up.
Speaker 1: It's in the Golfer's mart The Golf Rules by Richard Todd. Richard,
Speaker 1: thanks again, man, thank you, I appreciate it.