woody69
Journeyman Pro
In stroke play, if a competitor is doubtful of his rights or the correct procedure during the play of a hole, he may, without penalty, complete the hole with two balls. In these circumstances, before taking any further action, the correct procedure for the competitor is to:
a) Announce to his marker, or fellow-competitor, that he intends to play two balls
b) Declare which ball he wishes to count if the Rules permit.
c) Play out the hole with both balls recording the separate scores
You then go to the committee before returning the scorecard to report the facts and a decision is taken as to which score counts.
The question I have is why does the ball you wish to count if the rules permit have to be declared?
If I think I don't have to take a penalty drop but someone else does and there is a doubt I would announce my intention I will play 2 balls, declare the ball without the penalty drop counts and play it. I'd then drop the penalty ball, play that. At the end mark down both scores.
If I then go in, report the facts and discover it is in fact a penalty drop so the penalty ball counts, what was the point of declaring the ball I wanted to score?
I can kind of get it if both outcomes had the same penalty as you might score significantly better with one ball over the other, but surely the different starting point of that ball determines which ball you take rather than simply saying I choose ball A to count
a) Announce to his marker, or fellow-competitor, that he intends to play two balls
b) Declare which ball he wishes to count if the Rules permit.
c) Play out the hole with both balls recording the separate scores
You then go to the committee before returning the scorecard to report the facts and a decision is taken as to which score counts.
The question I have is why does the ball you wish to count if the rules permit have to be declared?
If I think I don't have to take a penalty drop but someone else does and there is a doubt I would announce my intention I will play 2 balls, declare the ball without the penalty drop counts and play it. I'd then drop the penalty ball, play that. At the end mark down both scores.
If I then go in, report the facts and discover it is in fact a penalty drop so the penalty ball counts, what was the point of declaring the ball I wanted to score?
I can kind of get it if both outcomes had the same penalty as you might score significantly better with one ball over the other, but surely the different starting point of that ball determines which ball you take rather than simply saying I choose ball A to count
