Plugged ball GUI rule?

mikepajero182

G.U.I. Plugged ball rule
Ok so looking to clear this up. Been hearing of and seeing some members in my local club taking a drop from a plugged ball in the rough.
And quoting that it is a GUI rule that a ball plugged through the green is entitled to a free drop.
I have always been of the understanding that a plugged ball is only entitled to be dropped in grass at fairway height or lower. The rules seem pretty clear on this.
There is no local rule on the scorecard regarding plugged balls either.
I cannot find anything anywhere about this GUI rule. Im guessing its a wifes tale?
Anyone else heard of this?

Benicetomonty

mikepajero182 wrote: »

G.U.I. Plugged ball rule
Ok so looking to clear this up. Been hearing of and seeing some members in my local club taking a drop from a plugged ball in the rough.
And quoting that it is a GUI rule that a ball plugged through the green is entitled to a free drop.
I have always been of the understanding that a plugged ball is only entitled to be dropped in grass at fairway height or lower. The rules seem pretty clear on this.
There is no local rule on the scorecard regarding plugged balls either.
I cannot find anything anywhere about this GUI rule. Im guessing its a wifes tale?
Anyone else heard of this?

Pros get a drop, on the PGA Tour at least, but have never heard of a GUI rule that entitles amateurs to a drop. Unplayable or play as it lies!

backspin.

I seen a ball plugged over an inch into the ground on Saturday. We get a free drop at our club for a plugged ball. I don't think it is fair to ask someone to take a penalty drop (in our wet climate) or try and hack it out and possibly injure their wrist.

clog

It is usually brought in as a local rule. See note 3 here. Will not necessarily need to be on scorecard.
http://www.randa.org/Rules-of-Golf/MainRules/25-Abnormal-Ground-Conditions-Embedded-Ball-and-Wrong-Putting-Green/SubRules/2-Embedded-Ball

mikepajero182

backspin. wrote: »

I seen a ball plugged over an inch into the ground on Saturday. We get a free drop at our club for a plugged ball. I don't think it is fair to ask someone to take a penalty drop (in our wet climate) or try and hack it out and possibly injure their wrist.

I agree, it should be a local rule in our club too however it isn't listed. But people are still taking drops under this 'GUI rule' when told it is not a local rule. Pretty awkward for me as I am only playing a few years and pointing this out to people playing their whole lives. I just want to be absolutely sure there is no such rule before I point it out again.

mikepajero182

clog wrote: »

It is usually brought in as a local rule. See note 3 here. Will not necessarily need to be on scorecard.
http://www.randa.org/Rules-of-Golf/MainRules/25-Abnormal-Ground-Conditions-Embedded-Ball-and-Wrong-Putting-Green/SubRules/2-Embedded-Ball

Our local rules are listed on scorecard. Surely it would be included there if it was one?

clog

The club can bring the plugged ball rule in, in fact it is recommended both for safety reasons and in care for the course. Local rules do not have to be specified on the scorecard. But they will need to be adopted by the committee for use in certain conditions and published somewhere in the club, for example we have adopted this rule for the last week and it is up on the days competition noticeboard.

mikepajero182

clog wrote: »

The club can bring the plugged ball rule in, in fact it is recommended both for safety reasons and in care for the course. Local rules do not have to be specified on the scorecard. But they will need to be adopted by the committee for use in certain conditions and published somewhere in the club, for example we have adopted this rule for the last week and it is up on the days competition noticeboard.

I understand. The only notice change in our rules this week and last week is 'placing on fairways only' and that is on both noticeboards in clubhouse.

martinkop

It's a local rule in our place all year round. Not on score card but is up on notice board under local rules. I'd double check notice board or ask a committee member before going pulling people up on it.

Ronney

The confusion might be it was a local rule in a GUI comp similar to local rules for PGA tour.

Common sense and course preservation suggests it should be brought in. A call/chat with your comp sec might be able to clarify/change things

Golfgraffix

For the rough it would normally come under a temporary local rule for abnormal conditions. In this case it can only be introduced during times of abnormal conditions and should not really be in place all year round

http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/videos/rules/rules-of-golf-plugged-lie

spacecoyote

Surely best bet is to just ask the pro in the clubhouse next time youre there. That should be pretty black & white

HighLine

Thankfully the proposed new rules changes in 2019 will allow for relief through the green ("general area" under new rules).

Find it baffling that in our climate we have to play (or take an unplayable) a plugged ball in semi/rough and professionals get relief via their tour card rules.

mikepajero182

Played with a committee member today, brought this up and he told me it is a local rule. When I mentioned it isn't listed with the rest of local rules on scorecard or on noticeboard I was told ' it was put up on the noticeboard years ago'
Am I being a pain in the arse looking into this?

Rikand

mikepajero182 wrote: »

Played with a committee member today, brought this up and he told me it is a local rule. When I mentioned it isn't listed with the rest of local rules on scorecard or on noticeboard I was told ' it was put up on the noticeboard years ago'
Am I being a pain in the arse looking into this?

If its not on the noticeboard now, then you're not. It should be on the noticeboard for all eternity

Golfgraffix

mikepajero182 wrote: »

Played with a committee member today, brought this up and he told me it is a local rule. When I mentioned it isn't listed with the rest of local rules on scorecard or on noticeboard I was told ' it was put up on the noticeboard years ago'
Am I being a pain in the arse looking into this?

I am pretty sure your committee have misunderstood the premise behind this local rule. I am 99% sure that permitting a free drop from a plugged lie in the rough can only be done by a local rule for abnormal conditions. This means that the rule can't stand in perpetuity. The committee would have designate that there is abnormal conditions and that the local rule is being enacted. It should not be in place throughout the year.

Of course I could be wrong but I think it's the case as above.

J

mikepajero182

It seems to be that a blind eye is being turned to this rule in my club in general.

eoghan104

mikepajero182 wrote: »

It seems to be that a blind eye is being turned to this rule in my club in general.

Fair play for questioning it.

It is a stupid rule in my opinion and relief should always be given in all scenarios when a ball is plugged. In saying that, we can't start to just pick which rules are stupid and be casual about it. A club needs to be clear on the local rules and they should be in the clubhouse and clear for all to see.

The attitude of "Ah we always had that rule here it's grand" is not good enough.

Russman

Golfgraffix wrote: »

I am pretty sure your committee have misunderstood the premise behind this local rule. I am 99% sure that permitting a free drop from a plugged lie in the rough can only be done by a local rule for abnormal conditions. This means that the rule can't stand in perpetuity. The committee would have designate that there is abnormal conditions and that the local rule is being enacted. It should not be in place throughout the year.

Of course I could be wrong but I think it's the case as above.

J

Not necessarily doubting this, but you could easily have situations where the abnormal conditions themselves exist in perpetuity or at least almost perpetuity. I can't seem to find anywhere that says the introduction of a local rule such as here
http://www.randa.org/Rules-of-Golf/Appendices/Appendix-IPartA-Local-Rules/3-Course-Conditions , is temporary only ?

Golfgraffix

Russman wrote: »

Not necessarily doubting this, but you could easily have situations where the abnormal conditions themselves exist in perpetuity or at least almost perpetuity. I can't seem to find anywhere that says the introduction of a local rule such as here
http://www.randa.org/Rules-of-Golf/Appendices/Appendix-IPartA-Local-Rules/3-Course-Conditions , is temporary only ?

Would they not become the normal conditions then ?

Golfgraffix

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Would they not become the normal conditions then ?

Either way it's a silly rule

Russman

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Would they not become the normal conditions then ?

Probably, but I think the key would be that wording about the proper playing of the game, so even though they might become "normal", they would still justify or warrant relief maybe ? No idea to be honest, I'm just wondering how clubs can have, for example, a local rule on the scorecard giving relief from a plugged ball, if its not strictly allowed to have it permanently.

mikepajero182

eoghan104 wrote: »

Fair play for questioning it.

It is a stupid rule in my opinion and relief should always be given in all scenarios when a ball is plugged. In saying that, we can't start to just pick which rules are stupid and be casual about it. A club needs to be clear on the local rules and they should be in the clubhouse and clear for all to see.

The attitude of "Ah we always had that rule here it's grand" is not good enough.

I agree it is a stupid rule and we should be given relief, its just frustrating to think I have been playing the same competitions and other people have been using this non existent 'local rule'. Terrible form.
Chatted to the club pro today who also thought it was a free drop, he phoned the pga for an amateur ruling and they confirmed it was closley mown areas only.
Blown away by how many people do not know this.

Russman

mikepajero182 wrote: »

I agree it is a stupid rule and we should be given relief, its just frustrating to think I have been playing the same competitions and other people have been using this non existent 'local rule'. Terrible form.
Chatted to the club pro today who also thought it was a free drop, he phoned the pga for an amateur ruling and they confirmed it was closley mown areas only.
Blown away by how many people do not know this.

I think lots of (if not most ?) people know its closely mown areas only, unless a local rule is in place, certainly anyone I play with knows, as its come up a number of times given the very wet autumns we've had in recent years ! Like lots of things, there's an element of "it was always this way" about it. There's probably a fair chance that a notice was in fact put up on the noticeboard once upon a time and somewhere along the line, it came down for whatever reason - cleaning lady, wear and tear, moving it to make space for another notice, juniors messing etc. I'd say the most likely scenario is that 99.9% of members don't check the notice board for local rules each time they play and nobody actually noticed that the sign was gone and they continued to play as if it was there.
That's not to say they are/were correct of course !

Seve OB

mikepajero182 wrote: »

Chatted to the club pro today who also thought it was a free drop.

no way!
thats pretty disgraceful for such a simple rule