Rules Quiz No 1:
A ball at rest on the green simply rolls in to the hole when no one is near it. What is the ruling ?
Answer:
If after playing a stroke the ball stops overhanging the hole, the player has “reasonable time” to reach the ball and a further 10 seconds to see if the ball will fall into the hole.
If it doesn’t fall in that time the ball is deemed to be at rest. If the ball falls into the hole after it has been determined to be at rest, the player is deemed to have holed out on their previous stroke BUT they are penalised one stroke. (Rule 16-2)
Obviously, where the player has played an 9-iron approach shot next to the hole, the time taken to “reasonably” get to the hole will be longer than if the player had played a one metre putt and, as neither wind nor water are outside agencies, if the wind blew the ball into the hole within the “reasonable time” period, then the player would be deemed to have holed out with the previous stroke without penalty.
This is the first of a new regular Golf Rules Quiz series to keep us all up on this important aspect of the game.
This quiz item was supplied by Cliff Nunn. Cliff is a Victorian Golf Association (VGA) State Accredited Rules Official.
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