Neil Tapping talks about the 7 Rules Definitions
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00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappen here from Golf Monthly and welcome to Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club in this video looking at the seven rules
00:06definitions every golfer needs to know. You'll spot them in the rule book and there are 68 different definitions in total
00:13and they're all italicized. When you spot them
00:15there's also an index at the back to give you all the information you need to know.
00:18But in this video, we're going to take a look at what we think are the seven most
00:22important and if you can improve your knowledge of these definitions, no two ways about it,
00:27you'll have a better understanding for the rules of golf in general. Right, let's get started.
00:36Okay, so the first definition to look at is areas of the golf course and there are five different ones to look out for in
00:43the rule book and actually these are really important to know for anyone playing the game because the rules apply differently in those different areas,
00:50don't they, James? What do people need to know here?
00:52Well, you need to know there are five areas of the golf course. The general area, which is fairway, rough,
00:57woodland, the vast majority of the course, is now called the general area.
01:00Then you've got the teeing area of the hole you're playing, the putting green of the hole you're playing and then all bunkers and all
01:07penalty areas. Right, okay. So let me ask you a question then, James.
01:10Can you give us an example of where the rules apply differently if the same thing happened in different areas?
01:15Okay.
01:16So, I mean what you would first need to know is that some of these
01:19areas of the golf course have their own rules in the rule book. So you'll find a lot about exactly what varies there.
01:25But one specific example would be accidental movement of the ball. If you do that on the putting green,
01:31accidentally move your ball at rest,
01:32there is no penalty and you must replace the ball. If you accidentally move your ball in the general area,
01:38the ball at rest, then there is a penalty. You still must replace the ball, but there is a penalty there. So
01:43different areas of the course, you just have to be aware different scenarios result in different outcomes.
01:49Yes, and it might sound like the rules are making it more complicated for people,
01:52but those rules are there for a very good reason and that's why it's really important to know what the definitions are.
02:02Okay, so this definition is known or virtually certain. And Jez,
02:06we've come to the 18th hole here on the west course at Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club.
02:10Because this little stream that you can see in front of you runs all the way down the left-hand side of this hole.
02:14Yeah. And you and I have played this hole a few times when a ball has gone a little bit left off the tee,
02:19there's a few other things in the way. You can't be a hundred percent sure.
02:22So what does known or virtually certain mean and how can it help people with the rules?
02:27Well, known or virtually certain obviously means known. So you might come down here, see a ball down in the stream there,
02:34you can see your identification marks on it, or
02:37you've seen a splash or someone in the group ahead says your ball definitely went in the water.
02:41Yeah, so that's fine. That's known. It's the virtually certain bit where the rules, the definitions of the rules talk about
02:49all events suggesting it's at least 95% likely that the ball is in the penalty area.
02:54That's interesting because that then becomes a bit of a judgment call, doesn't it?
02:58Because in this scenario, if I've hit my tee shot, hopefully you can see the tee behind me,
03:02if I've hit my tee shot down the left-hand side here, it may well be in the water.
03:05But it might well also be in these ferns here, it might be in the thick rough over here.
03:10The rough here is thick enough for you to potentially not find a ball in, so it could be in there.
03:14Yeah. So in this scenario here,
03:18my personal opinion would be that you couldn't be 95% certain.
03:21No, I would say at best probably 60%.
03:25Something like that. So then in that circumstance, when you're talking about a penalty area here,
03:29the known or virtually certain also applies to things like whether or not your ball moved and what caused it to move.
03:35Right, okay.
03:37But here, I don't think you could be 95% certain your ball was in there unless you had specifically seen it go in.
03:44So in that circumstance, you would have to go back and play again from the tee rather than proceed under the penalty area rules.
03:50Yes, with a lost ball penalty added to your score.
03:52So there you have it, a known or virtually certain, a definition well worth knowing.
04:02Okay, so we've already covered known or virtually certain,
04:05which is handy because that brings us on to our next definition, which is club length.
04:09Now, in this scenario, Jez, we would be virtually certain that the ball had gone in the stream
04:14because there's only a few bushes here and even then you can have a little look into those bushes.
04:18If it's not in one of those, it's in the stream.
04:20So I think we'd be 95% certain that the ball was in there.
04:23I think in this area here, there's no real rough to speak of.
04:26If it was in this little tuft here, you'd see it.
04:29I think this would be a justifiable 95% certainty.
04:33Yes, at which point you'll need to take a drop
04:35and at which point you will also need to know what a club length refers to.
04:39Yes, so club length is a newly defined term under the rules
04:43and that is because you're no longer able to use your putter to measure out a relief area
04:49because they wanted to stop people with long putters gaining an advantage.
04:52Yes, gaining an advantage of maybe a few inches,
04:55which actually in a certain scenario could end up being crucial.
04:58Might just get you clear of what you're taking relief from.
05:01Exactly, so you are going to use the longest club in the bag, I would think.
05:05So for most people that would be driver.
05:07Yes, I mean that is more about unplayable lies to the putter,
05:10but it could be here where you're able to get a little bit further away
05:13and open up the angle to get to green.
05:16So club length is now defined as the longest club in your bag
05:20that you are carrying for that given round.
05:22So typically driver, but if you have chosen not to carry the driver for any reason,
05:26you are sacrificing a little bit of relief area as well whenever you have to measure.
05:29Yes, so I think balls crossed about here, we're going in that direction there,
05:34so this is no nearer the hole, is that fair?
05:36Yes, and with a penalty drop it's two club lengths.
05:40For free relief it's typically one club length.
05:43So you can now drop anywhere within that area.
05:48Nearer the hole.
05:49That has gone nearer the hole so you have to re-drop.
05:54There we go.
05:55And that is now within the two club length area, not nearer the hole,
05:58so that ball is in play.
06:00There you go.
06:06Right, so for this one you're going to need to use your imagination slightly.
06:09So we've come out on a beautiful day in June, there's no clouds in the sky,
06:12there's no rain, but if it was raining hard,
06:15then there are going to be certain areas on the golf course where the water gathers.
06:18And let's just imagine that around my ball is a giant puddle.
06:23What is the definition, the term within the rules that people need to look out for here?
06:27Well, the definition is now temporary water.
06:29It used to be called casual water,
06:31but that got renamed temporary water in the 2019 rules revision.
06:36It's basically any area where puddles gather or pools of water gather
06:40where there shouldn't be water on the golf course.
06:42So not in a penalty area, but if there's heavy rainfall
06:47and this has filled out this little hollow with a puddle of water
06:50or an irrigation system has chucked too much water out
06:53and caused a temporary accumulation, you would get relief from that.
06:56You are entitled to a free drop, but how do you identify it?
06:59So there are often scenarios on the golf course where the course is getting really quite wet,
07:03but it's kind of on the edge as to whether it's temporary water or not.
07:07What are you allowed to do, what are you not allowed to do?
07:09Well, what you're not allowed to do, which you see a lot of people doing,
07:11is coming in here and really pressing down firmly with one foot
07:14to try and get the water to come up.
07:16It's only considered temporary water if it's visible
07:19either before or after your stance is taken
07:21without pressing down unnecessarily to get the water to come up around your shoe.
07:25Right, got it.
07:26And then when you take the drop, you need to make sure that you're then
07:30completely free of the area that you're taking the drop from, right?
07:33Yeah, that's right.
07:34So you need to find the nearest point where temporary water does not interfere with the stance
07:37or where the ball is lying and take relief there.
07:40Nearest area, not nearer the hole.
07:41That becomes your nearest point of complete relief and then you can go from there.
07:45And you drop from there, yeah.
07:46So it's just important to know that temporary water is not something that comes up
07:50when you put all of your weight on one foot and press down as hard as humanly possible.
07:55Yeah, so it does happen, this one, on the golf course.
07:58If you play more and more golf, you'll encounter it.
08:00So it's well worth knowing exactly what temporary water is and what it isn't.
08:09This definition is stroke and distance.
08:11Now, Jez, why is it important for people to know what stroke and distance refers to?
08:15Well, it's a very common penalty and procedure referred to in the rule book
08:20for rules like rules 17, 18 and 19,
08:23which are the ones that cover unplayable balls and penalty areas and lost balls and out of bounds.
08:28Lost, but we all lose them from time to time.
08:30And when you do, you'll need to know what stroke and distance is.
08:33What is it?
08:34Well, it's effectively exactly what it says on the tin, really.
08:37You have a penalty stroke, but you also lose the distance that you gained with the original stroke.
08:41I think a lot of people think if you play again from here, having lost a ball,
08:46it's a two-shot penalty, but it's not a two-shot penalty.
08:48It's a one-shot penalty plus 200 yards of distance.
08:52Yes, it feels like a two-shot penalty.
08:53It feels like a two-shot penalty, and you do effectively add two to your score.
08:56Yes, so in this scenario, the general area of the golf course,
08:59if I've blazed one right, lost it, we've gone up and had a look at it,
09:01I've lost it, I'm coming back to the same spot,
09:04hitting effectively the same shot again, which would just be here.
09:08But again, it's important to know how the rules differ for different areas of the golf course, isn't it?
09:13Yes, it is because your reference point must be within the same area of the golf course.
09:18If you played the original shot from the general area, which is this fairway, a penalty area, or a bunker.
09:24So if your original shot was from a bunker, your reference point then is that bunker
09:28for playing the shot after you've taken stroke and distance.
09:32What about from the tee?
09:33From the tee, you have the advantage of being able to re-tee the ball any way you like in the teeing area.
09:38So if you clipped a tree you weren't expecting to clip and it's sent it into oblivion,
09:43you could then perhaps tee off a little bit further to the right or the left
09:46to potentially eliminate the risk of repeating the mistake.
09:49Yes, so possibly a small advantage to be gained by knowing exactly what stroke and distance refers to
09:55in different areas of the golf course.
09:57But from this scenario, I'm playing exactly the same shot again.
10:00Hopefully not exactly the same shot.
10:02Exactly. Try and keep it away from the right-hand side.
10:09That's going to catch the edge, I think, just above ground.
10:13Oh, it came back a long way. Decent.
10:20OK, so the next definition is hold.
10:23When the ball is, and when it is not, hold.
10:26Yes.
10:27What do people need to know here?
10:28Well, I think people need to know that things have changed on this front,
10:30although the definition in the rules in some ways hasn't changed.
10:34It still says at the start of the definition your ball is hold
10:37when all of it, the whole of the ball, rests below the surface of the putting green.
10:41Right, so not all of that is below the surface of the putting green.
10:43No.
10:44So is that hold or is that not hold?
10:45Well, it wouldn't have been, but it is now under the 2019 rules of provisions
10:49because there's now an exception called a special case,
10:51which probably isn't that special because it happens all the time.
10:54Yes, especially with the COVID things that you've got in the hole.
10:57But even without that, being allowed to putt with a flagstick in,
11:00there is now this, what it calls a special case of the ball resting against the flagstick.
11:04And when the ball is resting against the flagstick,
11:06it's considered hold when any part of the ball is below the surface of the green.
11:10Yes, which clearly, there is part of my ball here that is below the surface of the green,
11:14so this one is hold.
11:17OK, so the last one on our list is the point of maximum available relief.
11:21Jez, what do people need to know here?
11:23OK, well, I think people know that nearest point of complete relief is the normal term,
11:28and it is for taking relief from abnormal course conditions or dropping off a cart path.
11:33You have to have it such that that condition or obstruction no longer interferes with your stance
11:38or where the ball is lying.
11:40On the greens and in bunkers, there's a slight variation,
11:43where you are able to find the point of maximum available relief
11:46if there is no point of complete relief.
11:48Right, so imagine this green is completely saturated, covered in water,
11:52or you're in a bunker and that bunker is completely filled with water.
11:55You're going to need to find a spot to drop the ball on,
11:57no nearer the hole where that interference from the water is not quite so bad.
12:02Yes, so on a green, you'd be looking for the shallowest point between you
12:05and the flag that your ball would have to pass through,
12:07the point where it least interferes.
12:10So there you have it, the point of maximum available relief,
12:12a definition well worth knowing.
12:14So there you have it.
12:15That's our look at the seven rules definitions every golfer needs to know.
12:19If you do have any questions, please post them below.
12:21We'll get back to as many people as we possibly can.
12:24But that's it for now from Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club.
12:26It's goodbye.
12:39www.royalashownorest.co.uk