There are many penalty areas in golf that may affect your play. Each comes with its own challenges including what type of relief we are allowed. Relief from a penalty area is one of the most misunderstood rule in golf. Many players do not know the difference between red and yellow stakes when it comes to relief. After playing many tournaments over the years, I watched many players make the wrong call with respect to relief because they did not know all the options available to them. Well, today lets clarify the different relief options in order to minimize the number of extra strokes we have to add to our final score.
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Stop Breaking These Simple Rules
As an avid golfer, I think I know the rules of golf pretty well. I have read them several times through the years and have passed the level 1 rules test. I would not consider myself an expert, yet many will default to my decisions when playing. Having said this, there are seven simple rules that most of my playing partners ignore because it will make their game easier and they will incur less penalty strokes. During a friendly, I could not care less. However, during a tournament I care a great deal!
There are seven simple rules outlined by Hanna Holden that many amateurs either do not know or ignore when playing golfer. There are two specifically that I will talk about after the video because one I did not know and the other is the most common. Take a look:
The rule I did not know was repairing the line in front of your ball before the shot. Walking through the sand trap was an extreme example, however I did not know you cannot rake the sand before playing your shot. I have actually walked through a sand trap in the past, but cannot remember if I raked before or after my shot. It makes sense after I thought about it because if I missed my shot and landed in the sand trap my lie would likely be improved. So, after contemplation, I think this is a good rule.
The second rule is picking the nicest point of relief not the nearest. This happens all the time because many of my playing partners think that nicest is actually the nearest. I agree with Hanna that sometimes relief does not actually offer an opportunity to hit the ball. I have had this discussion with many players over the years while playing in a tournament. They were not happy with my interpretation, but when they asked the rules official after the tournament they found out I was correct. It did not make them any happier, but at least the stopped giving me the stink eye.
Understand the rules of golf is important. As I have stated in many other articles, knowledge of the rules will save you strokes! The will not help you create a better swing, but they will save you from compounding your mistake. Which of the seven rules above do you see broken more often than not?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
Properly Dropping A Golf Ball
As you probably know, the rules of golf changed in 2019. One of the major changes has to do with how to properly drop a golf ball to take relief. The logic of the governing bodies is to help ensure our ball stays in the drop area if dropped from a lower level. I understand the logic, but have to say I do not really agree with their conclusion.
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The Grateful Golfer 