Tournament player tips

Taking advantage of The Rules of Golf
By Mike Sweeney
SCGA Director of Rules and Competitions
Let’s face it: Most golfers don’t know much about The Rules of Golf. Most of us know the
basics — play the ball as it lies, take a free drop from a cart path, and mark and clean your ball when on the putting green — that’s usually enough to get around the course and have a great time. While this limited understanding of the Rules is sufficient for the casual golfer, the tournament golfer should have a more comprehensive knowledge of the Rules. Let’s highlight several rules that most tournament players aren’t aware of, but could be advantageous to their scoring.
Rule 7-1 Practice prior to a round. Did you know that under Rule 7-1, practicing on the competition course before a match play round is permitted? That means you may play a few holes, roll a few balls on the greens and putt to today’s hole locations, all on the tournament-ready course prior to a match play round.
That’s match play only. Practicing on the competition course prior to a stroke play round is prohibited. Also, if two or more stroke play rounds are to be played over consecutive days, you may not practice between rounds on any competition course left to be played.
Rule 7-2 Practice during a round. There are three times a player may practice during a round. Between the play of two holes, a player may (1) practice putt or chip on or near the putting green of the hole last played, (2) putt on any practice putting green, or (3) practice on the teeing ground of the next hole to be played. This can be very advantageous when there’s a delay on the next teeing ground as you may work on your putting and chipping while you wait for the green or fairway to clear. If you’re the first group off in the morning, and you make the turn after nine holes only to find a wait on the 10th tee, you may utilize the practice putting green as well.
Rule 6-4 Caddie: Did you know that your caddie may practice on or test the putting green surface of the course before the competitor tees off? A competitor is only responsible for the actions of his caddie during the stipulated round.
Did you know a player may have more than one caddie during the round, provided he only has one at a time? Furthermore, two players playing in the same competition at different times on the same day may caddie for each other. That means if you play in the
morning and your buddy plays in the afternoon, you can caddie for him despite having knowledge of the course from playing already.
Rule 10 Order of Play — Playing out of turn in
match play: If your opponent plays out of turn, there is no penalty and you have the option to immediately require your opponent to cancel the stroke and re-play in the correct order. It’s only an option; you don’t have to recall the shot, as the
match will continue either way.
Playing out of turn in stroke play: There’s no penalty for playing out of turn in stroke play — I recommend playing ready golf even in tournaments.
If you’re at your ball and ready to play, a simple “Do you mind if I play first?” to your fellow-competitors works and helps out with the round’s pace of play.
Rule 12 Searching for your ball. Players should proceed cautiously when searching for a ball. If you or your caddie accidentally moves the ball while searching, you will be assessed a one stroke penalty (the exception being searching for a ball in a hazard covered with sand or loose impediments). Therefore, I like to tell players and their caddies that they should search cautiously; at the same time I’ll tell fellow-competitors, opponents, their caddies, spectators and officials that they should search vigorously. There is no penalty if a ball is moved during search by a fellow-competitor, opponent, their caddies, a spectator or an official.
Rule 14-3 Artificial Devices. If electronic
measuring devices are permitted by local rule, players are permitted to share and ask for
yardages, or share devices with their fellow-competitors or opponents.
Rule 28 Ball Unplayable. This rule can be your friend. You have three options with this rule and a lot of times one of the options under penalty of one stroke will be better than trying to hack out from underneath a bush three or four times!
As you can see, having a stronger knowledge of the Rules, and all the options under the Rules that are available to a player, can help save you strokes.