Tag: Golf rules

Golf instruction: New rules to know in 2024

Golfweek’s Averee Dovsek explains three new rules that have been changed by the USGA in 2024.

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Staying up to date on golf rules is essential to avoiding stroke penalties.

This week, Golfweek’s fitness guru and long driver Averee Dovsek explains three new rules that have been changed by the USGA in 2024. These three rules apply to beginners to professionals.

Not everyone has time to read through the latest official rule book, but all these and more can be found online. It is crucial to know basic rules of golf, but these ones may come in handy at anytime.

Check these three rules out to stay on top of your game.

If you’re interested in any of Averee’s fitness content, click here.

If you’re looking for more instruction, click here.

PGA Tour amending rule on incorrect scorecards (aka the Jordan Spieth rule), effective immediately

Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard.

The PGA Tour is amending its rule on when a scorecard is returned. Call it the Jordan Spieth rule.

As you may recall, Spieth was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after the second round in February for signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth, a three-time major winner and member of the Tour’s policy board, signed for a par on the par-3 4th hole at Riviera Country Club, but he made a bogey after missing a 5-foot putt.

As he later admitted, he had to go to the bathroom and so hastily signed his card for one less than the 2-over 73 he actually shot. In the future, he will have 15 minutes to return to the scoring area after he leaves to make a correction.

Across all our tours and other major golf organizations, a player’s scorecard is considered ‘returned’ to the Committee once the player has left the defined scoring area. In an e-mail to players and also available on the player internal web site, the Tour explained to its members that it had been working with the USGA, R&A and DP World Tour to amend this definition, with a goal of minimizing penalties or disqualifications related to scorecard errors.

The Tour announced a 15-minute window “to correct an error on his scorecard, even if he has left the scoring area.”

  • If a scorecard is validated in the scoring system and the player has left the scoring area, he may return to correct an error within 15 minutes of validation.
  • If a player has left the scoring area and an error is identified before the scorecard is validated in the scoring system, he may return to correct the error within 15 minutes of the error being identified by the scoring official.
  • If a player is in the scoring area when the 15 minutes expires, his scorecard is returned when he leaves the scoring area.

“In general, all players will have the ability to correct an error within this 15-minute period which may have previously resulted in disqualification. However, exceptions may apply when constraints within the competition limit a player’s correction time to less than 15 minutes, such as releasing tee times following the cut, starting a playoff, or the close of competition.”

The rule change is going into effect immediately on all PGA Tour sanctioned circuits as well as on the DP World Tour. Count Tour pro Michael Kim as a fan of the change: “I think it is way better this way,” he wrote on the social-media platform X. “Hopefully no more scorecard DQ’s in the future.”

It’s an antiquated rule that was overdue to be revised, but did it go far enough? Tour pro Andrew Putnam would say no.

“Such a dumb rule,” he wrote on X. “In what other sport do players keep their scores? We all have walking scorers with every group and every shot is calculated to the yard. Cmonnn [sic] people.”

The most famous penalty for a scorecard error belongs to Roberto De Vicenzo, who missed out on a playoff with Bob Goalby to settle the 1968 Masters. The likelihood of another “What a stupid I am!” moment has been diminished greatly thanks to this rule amendment.

Carl Yuan loses ball near hospitality tent, gets questionable free drop after PGA Tour official’s ruling

Yuan’s lost a ball after a wayward shot on the 18th hole which led to a controversial ruling on Sunday.

Carl Yuan was bailed out with a wild ruling on Sunday in the final round of the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.

On the 18th hole, a 550-yard par 5, Yuan was in a five-way tie for the lead at 16 under and found a fairway bunker off the tee. His second shot was wayward to the right and was bound for a hospitality tent down the right side of the fairway. Yuan’s ball wasn’t found, but a PGA Tour rules official granted the 26-year-old a free drop in the short grass two club lengths from the hospitality stand, which was ruled as a Temporary Immovable Obstruction (TIO). Yuan was unable to take advantage of the break and made par to take the clubhouse lead at 16 under.

Shortly after the incident, Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis reported on the broadcast that a rules official said there was “virtual certainty” from video evidence and fans in the stand that the ball was lost in the tent.

According to the USGA and R&A, if a player’s ball is not found but is known or virtually certain to have come to rest in a TIO, “the player may take relief by using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the TIO on the course as the spot of the ball for purposes of finding the nearest point of complete relief.”

The video shows a white ball flying near the white tent before it disappears. The question is, if the ball wasn’t found, how could the rules officials or fans know with any certainty it was lost in the tent? Hospitality tents aren’t exactly quiet, so if fans heard the ball hit the tent, how do they know it didn’t ricochet out of play since it was never found?

The ruling was an odd one, and while it didn’t wind up impacting the winner of the tournament, the Tour may have some explaining to do.

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Two-shot penalty costs this Korn Ferry Tour golfer a PGA Tour card for 2024

Tuten will get a chance to try to make up for the gaffe, but he’ll have to wait two months.

The season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship determines which 30 golfers will gain promotion to the PGA Tour for 2024. With 16 of those spots already locked up, that left everyone battling for the other 14.

Shad Tuten was in a good position to grab one of those spots, as he was sitting 29th on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List heading into the 72-hole, no-cut finale. He then posted scores of 69-73-69 over the first three days to sit just outside the top 10.

But on Sunday, Tuten signed for a 76, which included a two-shot penalty at the soggy Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Indiana.

According to the Korn Ferry Tour: “Shad Tuten was assessed a two-stroke penalty on hole No. 15 under preferred lies local rule E-3, turning a 2-over 74 into a 4-over 76. Tuten also fell from projected No. 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List to No. 32.”

Chief referee Jim Duncan provided context on the ruling.

When it was all said and done, Tuten slid back from the No. 29 to No. 32 on the outside looking in at the 2024 PGA Tour season.

Tuten will get a chance to try to make up for the gaffe, but he’ll have to wait two months. Players who finished Nos. 31-60 on the KFT points list have earned exemptions to the Final Stage of PGA Tour Q-School, where the top five finishers and ties will earn their 2024 PGA Tour cards. The final stage is Dec. 14-17 at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course as well as Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

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Did you know the USGA has a rules hotline? The stories are comical

Rulings can get interesting on the golf course. Just ask the USGA.

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(Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a three-part series on the Rules of Golf. The first part was a look at the five most-searched rules in 2023.)

Golf is complicated. The rules are complicated. So much so that PGA Tour players still ask to speak with an official during the simplest of rulings to ensure they don’t mistakenly receive a penalty.

And if Tour players can ask for help, so can you.

The United States Golf Association offers a helpline that amateurs around the country can call to ask about the rules of the game.

According to the USGA’s Todd Stice, the organization receives 15,000 rules inquiries — calls, emails, texts — per year and already eclipsed the 10,000 mark for 2023 on July 1.

“Shows you how much the game of golf is booming. Everyone is playing and loving it and wanting to be a part of it,” Stice told Golfweek.

If you ever encounter a situation on the course that entices you to call the hotline, Stice says there’s one thing that will help you and the USGA official et to the solution more efficiently.

“The biggest thing is getting the facts clear to us. The rules are actually very black and white, it’s those facts that are fuzzy. Making sure we know exactly what happened. A person can call me up and just start talking me through a situation and I got to be like, ‘Okay, was this match play or stroke play?’ The rules really fork quite a bit when you’re talking about the differences there.

“That’s the biggest thing. Just making sure that we’re aware of exactly what happened.”

As you’d expect, there have been memorable situations the USGA has had to handle.

“I got a call from a woman who was driving in her car and she had a situation where a ball was in the middle of the fairway and the player put their club down and started waggling it and it moved the ball. And she’s like, ‘So I think that’s a stroke and I just, you know, play it as it lies.’ And I said, ‘Well, the ruling is going to be a little different.’

“Then immediately her husband is in the car, comes on and says, ‘Okay, that was me. What’s the ruling?’ And they start going back and forth at each other and the wife thought it was one thing, she goes, ‘No, it’s a stroke, you play it as it lies,’ and the husband says, ‘There’s no penalty, you put it back,’ and I’m sitting there and they’re both going at each other and I’m like, ‘You guys are you both wrong, I’m sorry.’

“And when I explained it to them, I’m like ‘Alright, there’s a one-stroke penalty and you have to replace it, but it’s not a stroke.’ And they both got quiet for 20 seconds and I’m just kind of sitting there, twiddling my thumbs going, ‘Did you hear me?’ It’s so much fun when you get situations like that where people are — they’re trying to be right. These two were playing against each other and they just went back and forth and they were at each other’s throats until I cleared it up, and they both hung up. You could tell both of them were a little grumpy at the end. But that’s what this game does to us. This game is so fun and passionate.”

While Stice’s first tale was about a married couple, his second was about a dog.

“This one I got about 10 days ago. The guy calls me up on the phone and he’s already laughing. He says, ‘I hit this tee shot on this par 3 that was going to the right of the green and we saw a dog that was just kind of running around over there and didn’t think anything of it, just a dog loose on the golf course. The ball one-hopped, the dog jumps up into the air and catches it in his mouth and runs off into his yard, out of bounds.’ And he’s just laughing as he’s telling this story.

“I started laughing with him, too, and he’s like, ‘We didn’t know what to do, we have no clue what happens here.’

Stice eventually gave the group his ruling, saying the ball is dropped within a club length of where they thought the dog caught it and there’s no stroke penalty involved.

If you’re interested in contacting the USGA, or want to save the information for future rounds, here’s how to get in touch.

Phone: 908-326-1850
Email: rules@usga.org

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These are the top five most-searched Rules of Golf on Google in 2023

It never hurts to make sure you know the most common Rules of Golf.

The Rules of Golf can trip up players at every level due to their complexity and the potential for misinterpretation.

Even the pros can make errors when it comes to applying the rules correctly. Under pressure or in high-stakes situations, a player may misunderstand or forget a specific procedure, leading to a costly mistake.

There are 25 rules in the U.S. Golf Association’s official Rules of Golf. Within each of the rules, there are further explanations for specific situations. There are also 70 defined terms, such as “abnormal course condition” or “teeing area.”

Golfers tend to know some rules in general but likely not all of them.

USGA: Get your copy of the Rules of Golf

As part of a series of stories on the USGA and the rules, this list has been compiled to highlight the most-searched rules in 2023. As a disclaimer, when Golfweek did this search of “golf rules,” a few of the top ones had to do with the proposals on the golf ball or the 90-degree rule, which is really just course etiquette.

Ron Gaines, Golfweek’s Director of Rules & Competition, contributed to this article.

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USGA admits incorrect ruling given to Rory McIlroy at 2023 U.S. Open

An executive with the USGA defended McIlroy, as well as the veteran official who gave the ruling.

It’s been just more than a week since Rory McIlroy lost the 2023 U.S. Open to Wyndham Clark by one shot after he made a crucial bogey on the par 5 14th hole, his lone blemish of the final round.

And if you can think back to Sunday at Los Angeles Country Club, you’ll remember McIlroy got a favorable ruling from an embedded lie that allowed him to drop in the bunker to only make bogey to remain in contention.

On Monday, an executive with the United States Golf Association told Sports Illustrated that McIlroy took an incorrect drop after consulting with a veteran rules official.

“The nearest point of relief was mis-identified; it should have been directly behind the ball,” said the USGA’s chief governance officer, Thomas Pagel. “If there’s no area immediately behind the ball, you go to nearest point in the general area. But if you look at where the ball was embedded, there was a grassy area below and that should have been the starting point.”

2023 U.S. Open
Rory McIlroy gets relief from an embedded ball on the 14th green during the final round of the 123rd U.S. Open Championship at The Los Angeles Country Club on June 18, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

McIlroy’s third shot to the 14th green got caught in thick grass surrounding a greenside bunker, and after a short search his playing partner, Scottie Scheffler, found the ball. Rules official Courtney Myrhum, who has officiated more than 60 USGA championships, confirmed the ball was embedded and allowed McIlroy to take a free drop.

“His ball was 100 percent embedded,” Pagel said in agreement with the official. “And an embedded ball not in sand is entitled to relief. Now Rory did everything at the discretion of the referee. In her discretion, her judgment was that the reference point for relief was to the side of the ball. And from a ruling standpoint, that’s the end of the story.”

Pagel continued to defend Myrhum, noting how “she’s an extremely well-qualified referee and she did everything in her judgment where to operate the drop. However, after further review, it was determined that there was a spot in the general area immediately behind the ball that was the reference point for relief.”

Because there was space between the ball and the bunker, McIlroy was entitled to a one-club length drop, no closer to the hole, from the “the general area” of the embedded spot, meaning a drop from the bunker was incorrect.

“If you look at where the ball embedded, just below should have been the starting point (for taking one club length relief),” Pagel said. “But even if his club length had been measured from behind the ball, he still would have been dropping on the shelf from where he played from. As it was, he measured the club length from the top of the wall to the right. As he dropped the ball out of that area, he had to drop a second time.”

“When you start dealing with vertical faces, that’s where the question is,” Pagel added. “In this case, there was a lot going on. But there was a place behind the ball where he could have started to measure.”

“From where he started measuring from, he didn’t get a break. And he did all of this at the discretion of the referee. He wasn’t doing anything to gain an advantage and as he was told how to apply the rule on where to drop.”

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Golf instruction: Dealing with loose impediments and movable obstructions

Golfweek‘s Averee Dovsek demonstrates how to deal with loose impediments and movable obstructions.

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Every golfer has dealt with leaves being around their ball in the fairway or a rake being in the way near the green. Lucky for you, you can move those objects without getting a penalty for it, if you do it the correct way.

This week, Golfweek‘s fitness guru and long driver Averee Dovsek demonstrates how to deal with loose impediments and movable obstructions including the aforementioned leaves and rakes.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you have to deal with one of these objects.

If you’re interested in any of Averee’s fitness content, click here.

If you’re looking for more instruction, click here.

Golf instruction: How to properly move your ball mark

Golfweek‘s Averee Dovsek demonstrates how to properly mark and move your ball out of your playing partners line.

Golf rules can be confusing and some golfers have been making simple ruling mistakes without even knowing it. It’s easy to get in the habit of incorrect rulings when there is no rules official playing with your Sunday group.

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This week, Golfweek‘s fitness guru and long driver Averee Dovsek is demonstrating how to properly mark and move your ball out of your playing partners line.

When done incorrectly, this can cost you penalty strokes and upset your playing partners. Send this to a golfer who needs a ruling refresh or is brand new to the game.

If you’re interested in any of Averee’s fitness content, click here.

If you’re looking for more instruction, click here.

Dusek: My takeaways from the USGA and R&A’s golf ball rollback press conference

Equipment writer David Dusek takes a look at the pros and cons of ball changes announced by the USGA and R&A.

For months, people in the golf equipment world have speculated about what changes the USGA and R&A would make to rein in distance. On Monday afternoon, I finally found out in a chat with USGA’s chief governance officer, Thomas Pagel.

He described the proposed Model Local Rule (MLR) that, if adopted, would allow tournaments and high-level tours to mandate the use of reduced-distance golf balls. He hammered home the USGA and the R&A’s talking points and fielded my questions. Many of those questions were asked again Tuesday morning in a press conference that included USGA CEO Mike Whan and R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers.

They talked about several things, and here are my takeaways and thoughts.