Club Broken During Play

[mikejohnchapman]

During a recent county match one of our team broke the shaft on his 4 iron whilst playing a shot. Our non-playing captain offered to get his own club to be used as a substitute and disappeared in his buggy to get it. Play continied and when the club arrived the opponent objected. A referee was called and he confirmed it could not be substituted. After a somewhat heated discussion play continued but it caused some bad feeling which was a pity.

I believe the referee was wrong and the club could have been substituted. He would still have had 14 clubs and there was no undue delay in making the switch.

I queried this with the referee afterwards and asked him to tell me the basis of his decision. I got a condesending reply and when I pushed it a very aggressive reaction.

As it turned out we won the overall competition but can you demand a second opinion (a la Kucher) or do you just have to grin and bear it as the referee's decision is final?

 

[Maninblack4612]

Rule 4.1(b) applies. The club may be replaced, provided it was not broken deliberately by the player. Pity you or the player didn't have the free R & A rules book in the bag. Mine goes everywhere with me in my bag.

I find it really strange that, in a County match, nobody involved had a rule book with them or had the gumption to ask the referee to show them the rule he was applying. Shocking!

 

[Colin L]

Wait a moment. While it's obviously regrettable if the referee was less than courteous about it, he could easily have shown the player Rule 4.1a(2) which reads in part:

Use or Repair of Club Damaged During Round.
If a conforming club is damaged during a round or while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a, the player normally must not replace it with another club. (For a limited exception when the player did not cause the damage, see Rule 4.1b(3)).

It is now possible to adopt a Local Rule which effectively reverses that by allowing replacement of a damaged club but if it wasn't adopted for this tournament, the referee was correct.

The only way in which 4.1b applies is where it says in 4.1b(3) that if you started with 14 clubs you cannot replace a damaged one.

 

[RulesGuy]

I think they did have a rule book hence the ruling. The club may NOT be replaced in this scenario unless a local rule allows it.

 

[RulesGuy]

Beat me to it Colin

 

[Maninblack4612]

Rule 4.1(b) applies. The club may be replaced, provided it was not broken deliberately by the player. Pity you or the player didn't have the free R & A rules book in the bag. Mine goes everywhere with me in my bag.

I find it really strange that, in a County match, nobody involved had a rule book with them or had the gumption to ask the referee to show them the rule he was applying. Shocking!

Oh dear - got it wrong again! Took "natural forces" to mean not broken deliberately. The rule seems a bit harsh to me.

 

[rulie]

During a recent county match one of our team broke the shaft on his 4 iron whilst playing a shot. Our non-playing captain offered to get his own club to be used as a substitute and disappeared in his buggy to get it. Play continied and when the club arrived the opponent objected. A referee was called and he confirmed it could not be substituted. After a somewhat heated discussion play continued but it caused some bad feeling which was a pity.

I believe the referee was wrong and the club could have been substituted. He would still have had 14 clubs and there was no undue delay in making the switch.

I queried this with the referee afterwards and asked him to tell me the basis of his decision. I got a condesending reply and when I pushed it a very aggressive reaction.

As it turned out we won the overall competition but can you demand a second opinion (a la Kucher) or do you just have to grin and bear it as the referee's decision is final?

Why did you believe that the referee was wrong and question him? The Rule is clear.

 

[rulefan]

can you demand a second opinion (a la Kucher) or do you just have to grin and bear it as the referee's decision is final?

You can ask but the referee may refuse a second opinion. The player may ultimately appeal to the Committee who can overturn a ruling if it was wrong.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Why did you believe that the referee was wrong and question him? The Rule is clear.

I genuinely thought it was possible to replace a club damaged during a round providing it did not cause undue delay - I ws obviously wrong!

 

[SammmeBee]

I genuinely thought it was possible to replace a club damaged during a round providing it did not cause undue delay - I ws obviously wrong!

Is that a defo?

 

[backwoodsman]

Is that a defo?

Yes. (Hence that's why Colin said so and quoted the rule ) . There is a limited exception but that only applies if you didn't already have 14 clubs in your bag - so it's rather more a thing of "adding a club" rather than "replacing" one.

Comment to MIB: the "natural forces" bit you were looking at does more or less mean what you thought it did - but it's only pertinent in relation to repairing a club - not replacing one.