What 'rules' have you seen broken in comps?

[patricks148]

Both at another club in comps.

8th hole water hazard on the left, guys pull it straight into the near corner of the water. Takes hi drop in the middle of the fairway saying he’s keeping the flag in line with his drop!!!!
Pulled him up saying he had to either take two club lengths or back as far as he liked keeping where the ball entered and the flag in line, which would have seen him in deep rough blocked out by trees on the edge of the pond and no shot. He would not have it and played from the middle of the fairway. Then complained to the starter he didn’t want to be drawn with me again, told the handicap sec but he didn’t do anything as the guy shot in the 90’s anyway and was off 10.

Same club different guy. one of the holes had a ditch running across one of the fairways which are marked with yellow stakes as a water hazard. This chap walks in takes 5 or six practice swings all the time improving his lie by hitting the long grass over and behind the ball. Then grounds the club right behind the ball, plays his shot. I told him he should be taking a penalty as he grounded his club in a water hazard. He turns around and really aggressively say‘s “you don’t know what the Uck your talking about there’s no water in it”

 

[BoadieBroadus]

opponent of mine in my last match tapped down the green on his line as he faced a 5 footer for par and to halve the match on the 18th. pretty sure it wasn't a pitchmark. if it was a pitchmark and it was me putting, i would have made very it evident that's what i was doing and maybe called my opponent over to check.

i let it go, he missed, i made mine and won the match, but there are plenty less charitable souls who would just have claimed the match there and then.

 

[DCB]

I've seen putting with the flag in and no-one tending it, not holing out the 6" tap in "cause it's only a tap in " moving the tee block because it gets in the way of the persons stance, and taking a drop at the point where the ball went OB rather than back to the tee. I've also seen the morning dew scooped off the line of putt with the back of a putter and casual water, on a green, being mopped up or pushed to the side with a bag towel.

I'm not even going to mention the threshing machine tactics in the long rough....

 

[CMAC]

Wrong!

It's a breach of the Rule. But here is no Penallty - with 1 exception.

http://www.randa.org/en/Rules-and-Amateur-Status/Rules-of-Golf.aspx#/rules/?ruleNum=10&subRuleNum=2

By not knowing this, do you consider yourself a cheat? Apparently, some in this thread (not me btw) would!

Why is it wrong? the rule says there's no penalty and play as it lies again I'll state it's not going to happen but theres no rule to stop it happening

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Matchplay - opponents ball under a large Leylandii after drve on 17th - I was 1 up. Ball easily spotted as it was sitting on pretty bare leaf covered ground under the tree. Lowest branch of tree was maybe 18" off the ground. But it looked like the ball was in something that my oppo claimed was a rabbit scrape - so he took a drop from that point clear of the tree that enabled him to play a normal stroke at the ball. He most certainly couldn't play a stroke at the ball where it lay - so should't have got relief from the scrape (or so I have been told). He won the hole and the last to win 1 up. Unhappy bunny.

 

[Foxholer]

Why is it wrong? the rule says there's no penalty and play as it lies again I'll state it's not going to happen but theres no rule to stop it happening

Just because there is no penalty does not mean there has not been a breach of the Rules! And in this case, there certainly has been one. The Rule specifies how you must play. If you do otherwise, you have broken the Rule - End of!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Trying to take relief from animal scrapings when a tree trunk made the shot impossible anyway is one I have prevented on a number of occasions.

Just spotted this - same scenario as my Leylandii.

See also 'ball in rabbit scrape in the point of the V between exposed roots of a tree'

 

[Jumboross]

I'm confused, are you saying you insisted he took a 2 shot penalty?

At the end of the hole I asked him his score (as you do when marking someone's card) . He replied five. I said I think it was a six as the chip was a double hit. He says "well it was only one stroke". I said it counts as two as you hit the ball twice. So I marked it down as a six. He wasn't happy, but what can you do?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Just spotted this - same scenario as my Leylandii.

See also 'ball in rabbit scrape in the point of the V between exposed roots of a tree'

And there is the perennial favourite. Ball in plantation of young trees to the side of green with greenside bunker to play over. Players declares with delight...

'isn't it lucky my nearest point of relief is to the side and so I don't have to play over the plantation and bunker I would have had to play over if my nearest p.o.r was away from the green'

When you knew damn fine that backwards was the nearest point of relief - but you now can't prove it as he has lifted his ball and not marked it's original position. He was Captain at the time. I lost the hole - and the match.

 

[CMAC]

Just because there is no penalty does not mean there has not been a breach of the Rules! And in this case, there certainly has been one. The Rule specifies how you must play. If you do otherwise, you have broken the Rule - End of!

oh dear!

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Guy won a club championship once by changing his start time to not go out in the last group and then lied about "having permission" to do it. He then won it another year changing the lie angle and settings on his driver half a dozen times during the second round.

This is also the same twice-captain who duffed his ball into a bunker on a pitch shot, quickly threw another ball down, hit it on to the green and tried to claim a par 4 on the hole ignoring the one in the bunker assuming the other players hadn't seen it.

Actually this is nothing to do with just breaking the rules, it's called cheating.

 

[Paul_Stewart]

On the original question, lots of dubious drops out of water hazards, usually to the side of where they were last looking rather than point of entry.

And the classic one I put on the Rules forum the other week about the guy who was wrong on another player's drop, then tried to get away with the same thing himself, played an incorrect provisional and then the wrong ball all on the same hole and thought he had done nothing wrong.

 

[pokerjoke]

I was playing in a 4bbb last year.
On the second hole one of the guys just picked up his ball and said "I get a drop here" without
even asking.
Then on hole 5 his son walked all over my line so sarcastically I said, "are we playing the walking
on each others line rule".
We didn't speak for a few holes after.

 

[pbrown7582]

Most common one Ive seen recently was free drop outside of bunker from casual water.
Some glaring mistakes been made here from here from people who should know better!

 

[painterboy]

Trying to take relief from animal scrapings when a tree trunk made the shot impossible anyway is one I have prevented on a number of occasions.

If your in a rabbit scrape ( abnormal ground conditions) and a tree interferes with your shot to the green then as you say you must take a penalty shot to get relief.
However if you make your intentions clear that you are going to chip the ball sideways and the tree does not impede your swing you can claim a free drop, and if the free drop gives you a shot to the green you can go ahead and avoid a penalty.

Some might think this is tantamount to cheating but it is quite within the rules golf.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

At the end of the hole I asked him his score (as you do when marking someone's card) . He replied five. I said I think it was a six as the chip was a double hit. He says "well it was only one stroke". I said it counts as two as you hit the ball twice. So I marked it down as a six. He wasn't happy, but what can you do?

It doesn't count as 2 because he hit it twice. It is 1 for the stroke and a penalty shot for hitting the ball multiple times with one stroke. The number of times he hits it doesn't matter. It's still 1 for the stroke and 1 penalty. Just to be clear

 

[rosecott]

One of the more outrageous ones by one of our seniors - a fairly experienced one.

A fairly large area of GUR left side of fairway some 40 yards short of green (heather was being grown in it and play prohibited from within), with a Drop Zone which was behind the GUR. The guy, having played into GUR, dropped it correctly in the DZ then proceeded to put it back in 3 more times. When he finally cleared the GUR he claimed that the 3 subsequent times he entered the GUR didn't count as strokes - only the one which cleared the GUR.

 

[backwoodsman]

The most common one I see is lifting or moving a ball to identify it - without announcing it to the oppo/fc/marker and giving them opportunity to observe.

Followed by rotating (ie moving) a ball to identify it without first marking it.

In winter - as someone else has mentioned - implementing the preferred lies rule by just nudging the ball to its new position with the club.

 

[cookelad]

Most common I've seen is not realising that point of entry means the point where it crossed the hazard line, not the point where it broke the surface/the point where it was found in the hazard. Often the difference is minimal and could be explained away as looking from distance or whatever, but in places could be the difference between reaching a green with the next shot and not!

 

[rosecott]

Had another classic yesterday from one of our seniors:

A left-hander, he's right of the fairway under the branches of a bush which is very close to the Out of Bounds fence.

Question 1 - Can I go back as far as I like for a penalty?
Answer 1 - That is one of your options but the line from flag to ball and beyond takes you Out of Bounds.

Question 2 - Can I take 2 clublengths for a penalty?
Answer 2 - Yes, that is one of your options.

Question 3 - Does the 2 clublengths have to be from the ball or 2 clublengths from where I'm clear of the bush?
Answer 3 - 2 clublengths from where the ball lies.

Player measures 2 clublengths from where the ball lies and marks with a tee peg.

Question 4 - Now can I go back as far as I like?
Answer 4 - lost for words.

He's only been a member for 10 years playing in qualifiers twice a week.