On the ninth hole of the third round, former Senior Open champion Brad Bryant hit a shot that ended up in a peculiar place. Bryant had his shot to the green end up wedged ‘behind the behind’ of a spectator sitting in a folding chair.

The spectator is considered an outside agency under the Rules and the chair is a movable obstruction.  Bryant followed the Obstruction Rule. He had both the spectator and the chair removed from that spot before he  dropped the ball over the spot where it had been wedged.

It’s good to note that when the ball is on a movable obstruction, the player is required to drop the ball over the spot where the ball lay on the obstruction after it has been removed. 

The USGA has an informative animated video on taking relief from movable obstructions that  I highly recommend viewing.  

During the third round, Scott Simpson and Jim Thorpe were paired together.   Fortunately for Simpson, he had a rules violation thwarted by their walking referee, Glen Nager, on the 15th tee.  Evidently, Simpson walked up to the area where the teeing ground was located and was getting prepared to hit.   He had teed the ball well in front of the markers.  Nager stopped Simpson from playing the ball and informed him that he was teed up in front of the marker.  Simpson stopped, took a glance then gave Nager a huge “Thank You Very Much!”

The Rules of Golf have a rule called “Playing from Outside Teeing Ground.” It informs that in stroke play if a stroke is played from outside the teeing ground, then a penalty of two strokes will be incurred.  No wonder Simpson, who shot a 68 and ended the day tied for sixth place, was so grateful to his referee.

Thorpe jokingly asked if Simpson could then tee it up well in back of him because “he’s been hitting it past me all day long!”  Thorpe was just having fun with the situation, but it’s good to note that the teeing ground itself is a specific area that is defined as the following:

Teeing Ground

The "teeing ground" is the starting place for the hole to be played. It is a rectangular area two club-lengths in depth, the front and the sides of which are defined by the outside limits of two tee-markers. A ball is outside the teeing ground when all of it lies outside the teeing ground.

I bet Simpson will be much more careful about where he tees up his ball the rest of the championship. 

Routines can be a good thing.  In fact, most of us have customs, such as our morning routines  that we follow to get us ready for our day.  Golf is no different.  Many players have a pre-shot routine. They  have a scoring-area habit, too. 

After working the past two days in the scoring area, I’ve noticed that many players have their own scoring-area routine.  Scoring is an important area and the requirements of scoring are covered with this rule, Scoring In Stroke Play.  

Essentially, in stroke play the players are responsible for the correct hole-by-hole scores and making sure they have their signature on the card as well as their marker’s.  The Committee in Charge of the competition is responsible for the addition.  So here are some things I’ve noticed the past couple of days:

• Most of the players have signed their name as the marker on the card of their fellow competitor’s scorecard at some point before they have entered the scoring area.  I believe they do that as soon as their fellow competitor’s card is handed to them on the first tee, which is OK to do. 
• Most players have their caddies review their scorecard with them.
• Many players will ask their walking scorer to read their scores to them.  It may also be of interest to know that they want the scores read in groups of three starting from the first hole. 

The players will then take a final look at their card and hand it over to the officials working in the scoring area to check that all the information is in the correct spot and that they agree with our addition.  Even though the card is handed over to an official, it’s not officially turned in to the scoring area until the player leaves the scoring area.  Once the player leaves the scoring area, he cannot go back and no changes can be made to the card.  That is why it’s important to make sure the player’s and marker’s signatures are on the card and that each hole has a score.

A couple players have intense routines in the scoring area.  Andy Bean is one example.  He goes over his card himself, has his caddie review the card, he reviews the card with the score that’s shown on the computer screen (we have an IBM terminal that shows the player’s score that the walking scorer has posted for them). As a final review, Bean hands the card over to a scoring official to look at and he will tell that official, by memory, what his score is for each hole.  Once that is done, he will wait for the scoring official to check the card again and add up the hole-by-hole score.  It’s quite an elaborate routine. 

Another player with a structured scoring area custom is John Harris.  He and his caddie will review every stroke on each hole to make sure that he didn’t mis-count any on his card.  Essentially, Harris talks through each stroke on each hole and his caddie will verify it.  The dialogue between them goes something like this:  ‘I hit my drive down the left side of the fairway, had 185 to the hole, hit 6-iron to the green and two putted,’ he’ll say. The caddie will then agree or maybe even make a remark about the kind of lie he had.  They manage to get through this quickly too! 

On Friday, Joey Sindelar spent some time reviewing his scorecard before asking  one of the scorers to read his hole-by-hole tallies from the computer.  Before we began reading the scores to him, he laughed and said, “Can you tell I had an incident in the scoring area when I was a kid?!  Lucky for me I wasn’t disqualified but I did have to take a higher score.” 

Sindelar was referring to the penalty for having a mistake on the hole-by-hole scores that states the following:

The competitor is responsible for the correctness of the score recorded for each hole on his scorecard. If he returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken, he is disqualified. If he returns a score for any hole higher than actually taken, the score as returned stands.

As a final note, I want to say that this is one area in the game where it’s OK to take as much time as you want.   So now that you know all about the scoring area, it’s probably a good idea to develop your scoring-area routine.

During his second round, Kemp Richardson managed to make a rather improbable par on the par-3 13th hole.  Richardson’s tee shot ended up in thick rough near the green.  He hit his chip onto the green, but in the process of the stroke, he hit the ball twice. 

The Rules of Golf have a rule called Striking the Ball More Than Once and it says the following:

14-4. Striking the Ball More Than Once

If a player's club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player must count the stroke and add a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all.

So after making his second stroke, Richardson's ball, wherever it landed, was laying three because he had to add a penalty stroke for striking the ball more than once in the course of his stroke.  The good news for Richardson is that after the ball landed it came to rest in the hole for a most unusual par.

Yesterday was a busy day for our walking referees.  The Water Hazard Rule was the most applied rule. It was used in 56 of the 114 rulings we had for the day.  For those of you familiar with the course,  you shouldn’t be surprised to see that the eighth, 16th and 18th holes had the majority of the rulings.

What was interesting to see were the variety of relief options that were used by the players.  There were a handful of competitors that utilized the “opposite side of the margin of the hazard equidistant from the hole” option. It  is an option that is not used all that often.  It’s good to know the players are considering all their options!  The USGA’s Web site has a very good rules animation on the relief options available for Lateral Water Hazards:  Lateral Water Hazard Rules Animation.

Today should be great!  We have absolutely perfect weather conditions for golf.  I hope you are watching it on ESPN, and if you happen to see a player hit it into a lateral water hazard, you will now know the options the player has to take relief.

While watching the ESPN coverage of the U.S. Senior Open, I was interested in Dan Forsman’s choice for his second shot on the eighth hole.   At least I was interested from a Rules of Golf perspective. 

What I saw on television was Forsman taking his stance for his shot. It looked to me that he was standing on a sprinkler head.  He did not take relief and played a nice shot to the green and made a par on the hole. 

I happen to be working as one of the officials in the scoring area.  After Forsman checked and signed his scorecard, and we double checked it in the scoring area as we always do, I had the opportunity to ask him about that particular shot.  I told him I was blogging about the Rules of Golf and that it was interesting to see that he chose to not take relief.

He told me that when he rehearsed his shot without a club that the sprinkler head wasn’t in his stance.  When he actually addressed his ball in the fairway, he ended up standing on the sprinkler head.   He said he had a nice lie and he was ready to play the shot, so he didn’t want to take the time to take relief.  Jokingly he added, “If I had hit a bad shot, I could blame the sprinkler head.”

The sprinkler head is an immovable obstruction under the Rules of Golf.  The Obstruction Rule says that you “may take relief” when you have interference from the obstruction.  Because the rules use the word “may,” it allows the player the option to play the ball as it lies or take relief.

Obviously, Forsman took the option of just playing the ball as it lies.  Seems he made a good choice.

The U.S. Senior Open’s first round is underway.  All of our work and organization over the last few days is now being put to the test.   So far things are going very well!

We have big crowds this year. A large gallery sometimes means interesting rules scenarios. For example, when a player hits a shot outside the ropes and into tall grass, you will see the marshals and members of the gallery begin looking for it.  The Definition of Lost Ball tells you that a ball is considered lost if you have not found it within five minutes of searching.  But when does the five minute search begin?  The answer is that the five-minute count begins when the player who hit the shot or his caddie begins searching for the ball.  This is an interesting point under the rules because the marshals and gallery members can be looking but the clock may not have been started yet.  It won’t start until the player or his caddie begins to search.  So you may not see the player and caddie running over to begin searching for their ball.  They are giving the gallery members and marshals more time to look! 

Another interesting aspect when you have big crowds happens when a member of the gallery or marshal (considered outside agencies under the Rules of Golf) accidentally steps on a player’s golf ball.

Decision 20-3b/5 covers this situation for us.  It’s says the following:

20-3b/5 Lie of Ball in Rough Altered by Outside Agency; Original Lie of Ball Not Known and Spot Where Ball Lay Not Determinable

Q. An outside agency accidentally steps on A's ball in tall grass through the green and presses the ball into the ground. The original lie of A's ball was not known and has been altered. It is impossible to determine the spot where A's ball originally lay. Should A proceed under Rule 20-3b or Rule 20-3c?

A. As A did not know the original lie of the ball, he cannot proceed under Rule 20-3b. Therefore, Rule 20-3c applies and the player must drop the ball as near as possible to where it lay but not in a hazard and not on a putting green. (Revised)

This decision was pointed out during our Rules Committee meeting Wednesday because more than likely we will have a situation like this pop up.  We shall see!

Definition of Lost Ball = http://www.usga.org/bookrule.aspx?id=14253#lostball

Outside Agency = http://www.usga.org/bookrule.aspx?id=14253#outsideagency

20-3b/5 = http://www.usga.org/bookdecision.aspx?id=14293#20-3b/5

USGA referees have many tools to assist them with their duties.  Most will bring carry a Rules of Golf book, a copy of the Notice To Players, and some other odds and ends such as dental floss. 

I know, dental floss sounds peculiar and it’s not a required tool in case of them has something stuck between their teeth. Dental floss is used to help the official determine if a ball is in or out of bounds. They will tie one end of the floss to a stake designating out of bounds and then it along to the next stake at ground level on the course side of the stake.  If any part of the ball is on the course side of the floss, then the ball is in bounds! Dental floss is popular to carry due to its small size, but really any sort of string can be used.   

“Hole-By-Hole Notes” are one of the most useful tools we provide for our walking referees. These are notes we create for each hole that describe all the items along a hole. It also clarifies the status under the Rules of Golf.  This helps our referees make rulings in an expedient manner.  Here is an example of what the “Hole-By-Hole Notes” have listed:

Hole 13, Par 3 (152/166 yds.)

• Out of Bounds stakes left of hole to green-mesh fence behind PG.
• Water Hazard front of and to right of green – 1 Drop Zone as additional option only for ball entering Water Hazard beyond blue stakes – Drop Zone is shared with Leaderboard/Thruboard right of Putting Green.
• Pilings – Immovable Obstruction (don’t measure through, under or over).
• Leaderboard/Thruboard right of Putting Green – Temporary Immovable Obstruction – 1 Drop Zone – Drop Zone is shared with Water Hazard.
• TV Tower behind Putting Green – Temporary Immovable Obstruction – 1 Drop Zone.

We have notes similar to this for each hole. It takes a long time to put this together, but it is a useful tool to have. Each walking referee will be carrying one as they follow along with their group.  

Later today we will have our Rules Committee meeting, with dinner, and tomorrow the championship will get underway.  You can certainly feel the excitement!

Practice rounds are just that - time for everyone to practice. I mean everyone. The players, the caddies, the volunteers, everyone is practicing so that when championship play begins we will have our routines down. But I guarantee that once Thursday comes around the Rules of Golf will be in use and applied throughout the rest of the championship.

Wednesday is the day the USGA hosts a Rules meeting for all our invited referees. Much of our time today is spent preparing for it. The meeting reviews the markings on the course and information on the status of items that is related to it.

This meeting is important for our invited referees who will be walking with each group. It’s so they will understand the status of many objects on the course. For example, TV microphones and cameras on tripods, and trash cans are examples of items we include as Movable Obstructions. It may sound like a lot of minutiae to make mention of the status of all these items. However, it’s important in running any event that items on the course and all parts of the golf course be clarified under the rules to ensure that every player in the field will be presented with the same challenges and opportunities.

For example, it would not be fair if one player was given a ruling that treated a trash can as an immovable obstruction and he had to drop his ball away from the trash can. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be fair if another player received a ruling that treated the trash can as a movable obstruction and left the ball in place while moving the trash can. As you can see, it’s important that we are careful.

Speaking of our referees, we have many who are invited from around the country. Most of them are on one of the many USGA Committees where they volunteer their time and expense for the game. They have attended a four-day Rules of Golf Workshop we operate jointly with the PGA of America. They are successful on the exam, as well as having good experience officiating at other events and USGA championships.

We will continue with our fine tuning as we get closer to the first round on Thursday.

An example = http://www.usga.org/rules/competition_guidelines/Notice-to-Players/
Movable Obstruction = http://www.usga.org/bookrule.aspx?id=14253#Obstructions
Rules of Golf Workshops = http://www.usga.org/RulesWorkshops/registrationinfo.asp

Preparation for the U.S. Senior Open has been going on since the site was selected a few years ago (recruiting 3,000 volunteers, organizing the committees, establishing room blocks at the local hotels, etc). At this point, the staff will come in and do the final setup items such as marking the water hazards on the golf course and defining the boundaries. We want all of that to be done and finalized before the first player hits his tee shot for his practice round on Monday. The goal is to have the course setup complete so the players will be playing the same course in their practice rounds as they will during the championship.

Practice-round days are good for everyone involved. The marshals can practice their duties, the grounds crew and morning setup routines can be tweaked as needed.

So while we seem to come in early, there’s a good reason. By Monday we are set up and ready to go. This should be a great week!