Article also mentions his playing partner had already mentioned it to him before reporting it.
I'm generally confused by what happened here...
Paging Duffy Waldorf!
PIGDivot swinnea Article also mentions his playing partner had already mentioned it to him before reporting it.
Language barrier? Misinterpretation of an already confusing rule?
Seems to be attending a pretty fancy prep school and golf academy, but I can't say how well he speaks English.
I also think from the initial description he repaired a pitch mark between the ball and the hole. He landed behind the green.
From what I read, he was repairing pitch marks behind his ball which would improve the area of his intended swing.
8 days later
In case anyone cares I found another explanation:
After hitting his approach over the back of the par-4 11th green, Lee violated Rule 13-2, Improving Lie, Area of Intended Stance or Swing, or Line of Play.
Because Lee’s ball was off of the green, as was the pitch mark he patted down, playing partner Tim Wilkinson called a penalty on him. Were the pitch mark that Lee fixed on the green, there would be no penalty assessed.
Apparently he was seen doing this several times before he was called on it.
He broke the rule, as others above have pointed out. Nothing confusing about it .
Just another dumb golf rule....you can fix a pitch mark on the green but not off on say the fringe until your ball is on the putting green.
Same with it's ok to remove sand from the putting surface but you can't remove sand from the fringe if it's on your putting line.....a couple of lame/useless rules! IMO
3 months later
- Edited
PIGDivot
And I can only remove loose impediments around my ball, but not where I stand?
Are pine cones and pine straw loose impediments that can be removed, providing my ball doesn't move?
You can remove loose impediments from anywhere except from a bunker or water hazard. Pine cones and straw are loose impediments
Couple of Notes on and around the green.
One is not allowed to repair anything on one's line when off the green EXCEPT for ball marks and hole plugs that are on your green. A divot hole or unrepaired ball mark on the fringe or near the green should be left as is until you have completed the hole. Then go back and replace the divot or flatten the pitch mark.
An exception is made for repairs made which are very unlikely to affect play. For example, you are 100 yards away and waiting for the green to clear. I
" Nevertheless, you'll occasionally come across spike marks on the green and be tempted to press them down. DON'T: That act constitutes a two-stroke penalty."
You can remove loose impediments. Things such as sand, soil, stones, twigs, insects, and goose droppings. You can remove these things any way you want, provided you don't press anything down into the turf or test the surface.
You can repair those little craters created when a ball hits the green.
You can repair old hole plugs created when the superintendent's staff move the cup from location to another.
You can place your putter down in front of your ball when you address it (remember, don't press down).
You can touch the line in the process of measuring, lifting or replacing your ball or to remove a moveable
obstruction such as a coin left on the green by the group in front of you.
Once you putt out, provided you aren't aiding a fellow competitor with his or her putt, you can tap down spike marks, fix a damaged hole (sometimes a part of the circumference caves in) or push the hole liner back down (they sometimes get pulled up when the flagstick is removed.
Sometimes we look at rules based on how we perceive them. But the rules aren't established on perceptions of intent or incidentals. They are established to account for the occasional gray areas... those situations where perhaps tapping down a pitch mark from the fringe 20 feet away from your ball lying in the fringe could be legitimately confused with the perceived liberty for someone else to suddenly tap down all pitch marks in the fringe, including the one that might be two inches in front of their ball.
I hate playing from a divot in the fairway, but I understand why they're not considered ground-under-repair and must be played as it lies. The definition of what does or does not constitute a divot suddenly has to be factored in and explained, and there would undoubtedly be incidents of doubt whether a spot in the fairway was from an old divot that hasn't fully grown in or just a natural depression of the soil.
fnufan thank goodness....this is just an opn so take it fwiw, but I think the usga is going to be doing this for years upon years, that is revise rules that are too complicated and mandate penalties for infractions for things that were never the intent of the rule to penalize...vs. simply using common sense....for crissakes, the usga referenced the Waldorf incident in their notes with a pic as an example of an infraction of the rule.
5 months later
jamez Apparently he was seen doing this several times before he was called on it.
Exactly.
Repair after the stroke is no problem.
He had flirted with rules several times prior in the same tournament. I'm surprised no one even talked to him about this from either his mentor or the rules officials.