Remove penalties for grounding club in a hazard

[Rogaman]

(09-07-2013 10:46 AM)DavidHayes Wrote:  

(09-06-2013 10:11 PM)ocepek Wrote:  

(08-13-2013 10:09 PM)DavidHayes Wrote:  Simonko, it was the "greens would become very sandy" aspect that lead to us retaining this prohibition.

It would be simple to prohibit practice strokes that touch the sand when the ball is in a bunker and just let the player lightly rest the club on the sand similar to playing a ball that lies through the green. A player is prohibited from pushing down hard on a club to get under a ball in the fairway so the same rule would apply in a bunker.

Yes, it was simple to do that (in both Codes).

David

This is to advise and acknowledge that I have adopted your principles relating to grounding the club in a hazard and the ‘opposite margin’ provision for relief from a lateral water hazard.

I think your approach to each is eminently sensible; and have modified my code accordingly.

In regard to the latter, I have been a member of my current club, which has 14 lateral water hazards in play, for over 30 years and do not recall ever having seen a player take 26-1.c.(ii) relief.

When planning my re-write of the rules I had identified so many opportunities for significant simplification, improvement and correction of the current code that I did not consider these two prospects.

Could I suggest that you have a look at the relationship between ‘searching’ for the ball and ‘playing the ball as it lies’, in both of your codes, particularly in relation to ‘probing’. It seems to me that there may be a need for more clarity. For instance, where would a player stand under each code if s/he wished to search, by probing the surface, for a ball possibly embedded in the (non-sand) surface of a water hazard?

Should you be interested in an analysis of the current rules in this regard, it can be found at Rog’s Blog: Rule 12-1, parts 1-4 (which can be located through a Google search). For what it is worth, I hope to have overcome potential for conflict between these rules by beginning Rule 13-4 with: ‘Unless otherwise provided in the rules,…’.