GOLF RULES: Investec SA Womens’ Open RULINGS

Over the past 2 years we have looked at some of the more important Rules of Golf, relating to situations that often occur during play, and discussed their applications in a theoretical way.

In this article I want to get more practical and discuss some rulings that occurred at the recent Investec SA Womens’ Open that was played at Erinvale in Somerset West. This gives us an opportunity to see how the rules are applied and how players are guided by Rules Officials to proceed in a given situation.

I was one of the Rules Officials at the Open and it surely was a showcase for womens’ golf. Not only was the course in a perfect condition, but the host venue as well as the number of top European players that participated made it a special occasion. There are some difficulty in playing the course (especially in a storm wind as we experienced on Friday) and the Rules Officials sure had to help on many occassions.

The first one is an interesting scenario:

A Rules Official was called to the seventh hole by a player. On arriving, she was told the following facts. The player’s ball went towards the red penalty area on the right of the fairway, but it then disappeared.

On enquiring, a few spectators that were on the spot, told the player and Rules Official that they had seen the ball hit a rock inside the penalty area and then bounced out, across the nearby Out of Bounds line and into a bush which is out of bounds.
The ball can also not be found inside the bush.

The player claimed that she should proceed under the penalty area rule as her ball first clearly went into the penalty area.

How would you Have Ruled?

Verdict: No, when measuring your Relief Area for free relief, you must stay in the same area of the course your ball were in. As the ball was lying in the general area (fairway in this case), the relief area is limited to the general area (a green is a different area of the course).

This limitation of the Relief Area is applicable only to the Rules where you are taking free relief. When taking penalty relief (Penalty Area, Unplayable Ball, etc.) there is no such limitation, and your relief area can be across any area of the course.

This limitation of the Relief Area is applicable only to the Rules where you are taking free relief.

When taking penalty relief (Penalty Area, Unplayable Ball, etc) there is no such limitation and your relief area can be across any area of the course. It can thus be that your ball went into a penalty area next to a green and then your 2 club-length lateral relief area may take you onto the green and you are then permitted to drop there! There are many rules incidents we can discuss but I would want to invite readers to attend golf tournaments when it is near you.

Not only will you enjoy the amenities and venue, but you will also be able to follow the players, see great golf and maybe witness a Rules Official helping a player. You are welcome to write to the editor to send in questions if you need more info on the Rules or want to clear up something that may have happened during a round you played.