Improving area of swing

[CMAC]

I was seeing it that you were able to take your stance fairly and then the bramble branch impeded your backswing. If that's not the way it was and I have misread the scene, that just shows how wise rulefan was to avoid committing himself!

You can touch, bend and even break things in "fairly taking your stance". You may not bend and break things to make room for your backswing or stroke. If you read through Decision 13-2/1 from which rulefan quotes you will see this distinction illustrated.

In the end if the bramble or gorse or whatever sharp and prickly growth is threatening you is that bad, you may have to deem your ball unplayable. As long as you can identify the ball in the jungle, you can leave it and substitute another one.

no wonder the rules and their interpretation can be so confusing

 

[rulefan]

it was stance not swing path, same rule I assume?

Yes. Rule 13-2. Improving Lie, Area Of Intended Stance Or Swing, Or Line Of Play

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I popped up to the club this afternoon and saw a great example of this.

When I got to the 10th there were a couple of guys in the waste high clag looking for a ball. It was obvious they had found it as one of them went to the buggy to get his mate his club so he didn't risk losing he ball again. Once he had club in hand I watched him tread down the grass all around his ball, it must have been about 2yds either side thus improving both his lie and swing path.

Had it been a comp I would have said something, since it wasn't, I just thought of this thread and laughed

 

[drdel]

Today while player a member of the opposing 'Team' drove into the rough. He found his ball and promptly dances around it. He plays his ball which again finds more rough and again, after find his ball he does another dance. His shot (now his 3rd) finds the green and his put finds the cup. With the resit of us sitting on 5s he then claims the hole. When I mentioned that on two occasions he'd improved his 'lie' he admitted stamping down the long grass but denied he'd broken the rules i.e. rule 12.2.

He countered claimed my fellow player had broken the rules because he'd picked up his ball in the rough and replaced it - I argued that under Rule 13.2 it is permitted to identify the ball in play as long as its replaced in the original position.

What would your views be?

 

[duncan mackie]

Today while player a member of the opposing 'Team' drove into the rough. He found his ball and promptly dances around it. He plays his ball which again finds more rough and again, after find his ball he does another dance. His shot (now his 3rd) finds the green and his put finds the cup. With the resit of us sitting on 5s he then claims the hole. When I mentioned that on two occasions he'd improved his 'lie' he admitted stamping down the long grass but denied he'd broken the rules i.e. rule 12.2.

He countered claimed my fellow player had broken the rules because he'd picked up his ball in the rough and replaced it - I argued that under Rule 13.2 it is permitted to identify the ball in play as long as its replaced in the original position.

What would your views be?

1. probably better to post such questions as new ones rather than add to existing threads
2. much better to pick someone up on dancing around their ball in the rough the first time it's done
3. you seem to have 12-2 and 13-2 the wrong way round in your post
4. it's a matter of fact as to whether he's breached 13-2
5. counter claims aren't the way golf is played - although the implication of making a counter claim is the admittance of breaching 13-2
6. 12-2 carries procedural requirements - as long as they are met the question of whether 12-2 is breached are fully covered by them.

 

[Wheyayeman]

Played an open day at the weekend and the guy I was playing with told a story of a few years ago he was playing a a pairs match and his opponents hit the ball into a bush surrounded by deep rough, he said as he went to hit his ball on the other side of the fairway when he noticed his opponents searching for the ball close together in the deep rough instead of the bush, he called over and said it definitely went into the bush but they continued looking in the deep rough, when he walked over to help them after a few minutes he found it straight away in the bush which was obviously unplayable so they took a penalty drop of 2 club lengths into the now nicely flattened search area.

It amazes me the lengths some players will go to try and win a game of golf