Players ask me all kinds of things on the course. If there is even the hint of free relief in a competition, I’ll get the call and they cross their fingers I can rule in their favour.
When you play a game essentially in a big field – so big it can be way more than 100 acres – and then you pop a load of obstacles in the way to try and make it difficult, almost anything can happen.
It’s one of the reasons the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf spans more than 500 pages. Even so, there are some scenarios so downright strange, so odd, you’ve probably never witnessed any of them.
But you could. And so the rules provide. Just in case. I’ve pulled out some strange golf rules you might face on the golf course and, over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to reveal them and show you want to do if they ever happen to you.
Here’s the first three…
Strange golf rules
Your ball is lodged in a banana peel – but can you take relief?
Not just banana peels. Oranges. Apples. Even coconuts. We’re talking here about anything your ball can come to rest in. Maybe once you’ve read this you’ll be a bit more careful about where you chuck your rubbish following that mid-round snack.
The remnants of fruit are classed as loose impediments. So you can move them, but if you shift your ball in the process a penalty awaits.
So if you’re ball is lodged right in the middle of one, that’s clearly going to cause a bit of a problem.
Does that seem fair? If the ball was stuck in an artificial object – let’s say the remains of a bottle – you’d be able to take relief as it is a movable obstruction.
And if it was resting next to the ball and it moved while you were shifting the glass, no problem. Just replace it and carry on. If the ball is in the bottle itself, as once happened to Harry Bradshaw in The Open at Royal St Georges in 1949, you’d also be able to claim relief.
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You could even use another ball if you couldn’t extricate it from the glass. But if it’s a natural object you’ve found, you’re going to have to play it as it lies or take unplayable ball relief.
Strange golf rules: You won’t believe what the rules make of saliva!
Some players can’t help but gob off. I’m looking at you, Dustin Johnson.
But what if you’ve ended up in a puddle of someone’s excess mucus? Yuck. Well, you might not believe this but the rules give you two options to deal with it.
In a clarification to the definition of loose impediment, saliva is both a loose impediment and temporary water at the choice of the player.
So in the first instance, you can remove it and do so by any way you see fit. But if you move the ball while doing so, it’s going to cost you a one-shot penalty. And don’t forget to put it back, or you’ll tack on another shot for having played from the wrong place.
If it’s temporary water, you can simply pick the ball up and drop it within a one club relief area at the nearest point of complete relief.
But I’m struggling to see a situation where there might be enough saliva on the course that you could class it as temporary water. The definition says an “accumulation of water must remain present either before or after the stance is taken”.
I know a lot of footballers like to propel their half-swilled sports drink onto the pitch but even that’s not going to be enough to make this part of the rule apply, is it?
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Ball moving? You can still give it a slap in this strange scenario!
Rule 10.1d says you MUST not make a stroke at a moving ball. But there are a couple of exceptions to that – if a ball is falling off the tee or if it starts to shift after you’ve begun your backswing.
And then there is what happens when the ball is in water. That’s right, if your ball is still on the go in a penalty area or temporary water, you can have a go at hitting it.
But you’re not allowed to unreasonably delay play. You can’t stand around hoping it might shift up the stream to a place where it might be easier to strike. If you opt to make a stroke while it is on the run, so to speak, you’ve got to get on with it.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of these strange golf rules? We’ve got plenty more to come, but let us know some of the oddest decisions you have had to make on the golf course. Drop us a line on X.
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