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A friendly four-ball match. We get to a par-3, and my friend tries to pull his 6 iron only to realize he left it on a hole first. Another player bid his 6 and sure enough my friend got his first ace. We counted him…but I think he would normally incur a penalty, even though he only had 13 clubs in his bag at the time. For what it’s worth, he later returned the missing club. – John Jay, Conneaut Lake, PA
An interesting question, worthy of the original John Jay, who, as you no doubt know, was a Founding Father, the first Chief Justice of the United States, and the second governor of New York. But we digress.
When your friend left his club he was not allowed to replace it – and even if it was a situation where he was allowed to add a club (like when you started with less than 14 or are allowed to replace a broken club), he can not do to take a club from someone else who plays on the course, in your group or not. When you do so, it is like having too many clubs, which in match play is an adjustment to the state of the match (see Rule 4.1b for details).
In four balls, that penalty applies to the entire side and not just the offending player, according to Rule 23.9. But here’s the twist: In match play, opponents have the right to overlook a violation, so while it’s unclear who was partnering with whom, kudos to your friend’s opponents for overlooking his violation and letting him have that first ace—and the accompanying bar tab!
For more guidance from our guru on potholes, read on…
A member of ours The club made an ace, then called a penalty on himself, claiming that he threw the ball in front of the scorer. All this to avoid paying for drinks after the round, when the tabs have reached $2,000. Was this legal? – John Karam, St. Petersburg, Fla.
The thrill of victory and the agony of… the bar tab.
Let’s say this happened in the match play. Under Rule 6.1b, which covers play from inside the teeing area, the opponent must choose whether to call Mr. Cheap Ace, because if that opponent prefers a free drink and loses the hole, so be it – don’t cancel the shot and the hole in one stands.
In stroke play, once the player has called the penalty on himself, he receives two penalty strokes – but remember, the stroke in the hole now does not count and the player must correct the error played from the teeing area (as opposed to “This is a 1 with a 2-stroke penalty for a 3”).
If he does not correct the mistake, he is disqualified. Some might argue that a player calling a penalty to gain an advantage is antithetical to the spirit of golf, and the Committee could go the DQ route for serious misconduct under Rule 1.2a.
But the game of golf assumes honorable golfers and takes them at their word unless there is hard evidence to the contrary. The suspicions are not made, and the “advantage” here is purely financial, not competitive – on the contrary, since it cost the shots. Maybe it seems a little naive, but Rules Guy, for one, prefers it that way, even if it means paying for his own single-malt scotch at 19.
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