texas scamble ?

[williamalex1]

ruling please .during tx/sr. the team captain nominates the ball nearest green but it's in first cut 2in deep,the first player chips on but misses the green, next 3 players chip the nearest to 1ft. The first player who has been marking the balls and tending the flag, gives the 3 players back their balls.NO ONE HAD HOLED OUT. he then discovers he has played the wrong ball. his correct ball is found 6ft away from where he found the wrong ball in the same first 2in cut.we all replayed from where the correct ball was found, and one guy chipped in for a birdie. sadly we were miles out of the compt. anyway , but whats your thoughts

 

[pbrown7582]

imo you should of applied a penalty for playing incorrect ball.

 

[Colin L]

You proceeded correctly in my view - the ball chosen to play turns out to be a wrong ball and you corrected that in good time as Rule 15-3b requires by finding and playing the right ball. The bit you seem to have missed out is the 2 stroke penalty that turned your birdie into a bogey

 

[williamalex1]

You proceeded correctly in my view - the ball chosen to play turns out to be a wrong ball and you corrected that in good time as Rule 15-3b requires by finding and playing the right ball. The bit you seem to have missed out is the 2 stroke penalty that turned your birdie into a bogey

yes i agree.2 stroke penalty but as only player 1 played the wrong ball, and he didn,t get the birdie. the 3 other players only played from the wrong position. do they get penalty shots also

 

[pbrown7582]

No it will be a team penalty applicable to the first attempt with the original ball.

 

[duncan mackie]

a few points -

1. there are no rules for TX scramble, so we can only interpolate.
2. as such everybody who plays from the position of the wrong ball has 'played a wrong ball'. Therefore the team score would have a 2 shot penalty applied as pbrown points out. As a wrong ball it's all back to the 'correct ball'

The real reason for posting is that this is where problems can happen with TX Scramble and the rules, especially when for example, the basis permits people to mark the ball to be played's position before all players (in the order they choose) drop a ball and play it. Were this procedure to have been followed everyone is now playing from the wrong place rather than playing a wrong ball, with the player whose ball was at that point (he thought) now playing a wrongly substituted ball from a wrong place...as the correct place was 6' away, a similar lie and distance from the green, there was no advantage gained and therefore play should continue ie you would not go back and play again from the correct place this time!

there is even an argument that the first player played a wrong ball, but that all the others played from a wrong place (because they were required to play from the position of the player's ball - which this wasn't! - but I don't think it's a strong argument

this format, like many similar, should only ever be played for fun!

 

[Colin L]

I must say I do find it a fun format but the format doesn't, as you point out, necessarily lead to tidy rules decisions.

It's just academic, but I didn't go any distance with the thought of a wrong place, assuming they were playing it as we do, with the chosen ball being played as it lies. The moment the first player played the wrong ball the team incurred the penalty and it didn't matter what the others did. The analogy would be that if a single player plays a wrong ball nothing that happens after that prior to his rectifying the error counts.

It would indeed be interestingly different if the chosen ball was also to be lifted and dropped/replaced. By the way, why incorrect substitution? I've just decided the rule was that each player drops or places a ball Make it up as I go along, why not? Expensively, williamalex1, if you were playing that way and did what you did, you are looking at 4 penalty strokes

 

[duncan mackie]

I've just decided the rule was that each player drops or places a ball Make it up as I go along, why not?

In my experience of scrambles people generally do make up anything not documented by the organiser as they go along, and as it suits!

It then becomes 'how it's always played' when the person whose first scrable this was then goes and play's another! Truly an evolving rule book based on huge precedent

 

[Colin L]

Back to fun though. We had a lovely evening at my club - ostensibly a Jubilee celebration - with a mixed Texas scramble (seniors, men. women and juniors) followed by a buffet. The golf was good fun, highly sociable and not a rules issue in sight. Best moment was at the 150 yard 17th where I put my tee shot pin high and holed the putt for a 2 - no-one else needed. Not that I am boasting, mind.