Colin L
Tour Winner
I doubt that the R&A & USGA devise any rule on the basis that they don't expect the average club golfer to abide by it. Equally I don't doubt that the authorities have no interest at all in what consenting adults do in their social golf.
You may never have knowingly been timed by another player nor ever seen a player timing another one. Why should you have? What should be happening is other players timing themselves whether visibly or not and you timing yourself. There seems to be a misplaced concentration in this and another recent thread on a perceived inappropriateness or even absurdity of timing other players. It is no player's responsibility to apply the Rules to anyone else but himself or herself. It is for the player and the player alone to know when the search for his own ball is timed out, to know when he finds his ball whether it is his ball in play (found in time) or not in play (not found in time). It is thus the player's responsibility to ensure that he has some reliable method of measuring time passing, no-one else's. Another player can only report to the committee or ask for a ruling in match play if he thinks another player has played his ball found after three minutes, but unless he can confirm that he timed the search with a watch or other timing device, he might as well not bother.
There's no good reason for thinking that the Rules should dictate how timing must be done any more than you should think that a recipe should tell you how to measure 40 minutes cooking time.
Since it is the player's responsibility to time himself, there is no difficulty in his knowing when his search started and that's finally what matters. Knowing when someone else's search begins is usually a matter for a referee, but if you think another player or your opponent is at and searching for too long, my advice is to watch what happens. You'll generally see the player walking along towards an area and although he may well obviously be looking ahead to spot his ball, that is not part of his search. When you see him slow down, stop perhaps to drop off his trolley or bag, begin to cast around a limited area with his head down while perhaps poking around in the grass with a club, he has started his search. It isn't precise and can never be precise. When refereeing, I am careful to start my watch only when I have no doubt that the search has started. That gives the player a some leeway, but allows me to stop the search bang on three minutes after that. I need to be confident that there is no question but that the ball is lost.
You may never have knowingly been timed by another player nor ever seen a player timing another one. Why should you have? What should be happening is other players timing themselves whether visibly or not and you timing yourself. There seems to be a misplaced concentration in this and another recent thread on a perceived inappropriateness or even absurdity of timing other players. It is no player's responsibility to apply the Rules to anyone else but himself or herself. It is for the player and the player alone to know when the search for his own ball is timed out, to know when he finds his ball whether it is his ball in play (found in time) or not in play (not found in time). It is thus the player's responsibility to ensure that he has some reliable method of measuring time passing, no-one else's. Another player can only report to the committee or ask for a ruling in match play if he thinks another player has played his ball found after three minutes, but unless he can confirm that he timed the search with a watch or other timing device, he might as well not bother.
There's no good reason for thinking that the Rules should dictate how timing must be done any more than you should think that a recipe should tell you how to measure 40 minutes cooking time.
Since it is the player's responsibility to time himself, there is no difficulty in his knowing when his search started and that's finally what matters. Knowing when someone else's search begins is usually a matter for a referee, but if you think another player or your opponent is at and searching for too long, my advice is to watch what happens. You'll generally see the player walking along towards an area and although he may well obviously be looking ahead to spot his ball, that is not part of his search. When you see him slow down, stop perhaps to drop off his trolley or bag, begin to cast around a limited area with his head down while perhaps poking around in the grass with a club, he has started his search. It isn't precise and can never be precise. When refereeing, I am careful to start my watch only when I have no doubt that the search has started. That gives the player a some leeway, but allows me to stop the search bang on three minutes after that. I need to be confident that there is no question but that the ball is lost.
