Ball at Rest Moved by Outside Agency

The above rule stipulates that in order to apply this rule, it must be known or virtually certain that that an outside agency has moved the ball. In my home club, BGC, crows picking up the ball and flying away is a common occurrence. In KGA, eagles and kites used to flirt with the ball and move it a few paces. Of late, it is reported that the eagles/kites have also progressed to the habit of picking up the ball with their claws and carrying it away. At present, the southern regional IGU event for juniors is underway. On the par 5, 14th hole, the second stroke of a player was seen by all the players to be heading towards the centre of the fairway. When the player reached the area, he could not find the ball. He called for a ruling. After reaching the spot and ascertaining the facts, I enquired if any of the players in the group saw the ball at rest. The answer was in the negative as the distance was about 250 yards and there was a small gradient in the landing area. I further checked if they saw any eagles/kite in the area and the answer was again in the negative. The player claimed there was a dog nearby which was not corroborated by other players in the group. We checked with the group in front, who were probably on the green when the ball landed. We did not get any confirmation from the earlier group about seeing the ball at rest or the presence of any birds or dog. Under these circumstances, we concluded that the test of virtual certainty was not passed. It was ruled the player has to proceed under the ball lost rule 27-1. Evaluating if the situation meets the test of virtual certainty is subjective and a difficult exercise for referees. R&A’s curt phrase “It is a question of fact” is the core of a referee’s job. Most of the application of rules revolves around this principle. Till sometime back, in a situation like a crow picking up the ball, unless supported by an eyewitness, I used to reject such claims. But, R&A clarified that in situation where even if nobody has seen the outside agency move/lift the ball but if somebody has seen the ball at rest, and later could not be found, it could be concluded as virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball.

Ground under Repair

The Indian Golf union recently conducted one of their categorized junior tournaments in Clover Greens. Clover Greens has the ideal topography for a golf course. It is technically situated in Tamil Nadu, but we held our Karnataka Juniors there! Competition was limited and there were only about 45 players. Amalraj won his first title. The tournament did not have many rules incidents, except for a tricky ruling to be given on the final day. On the short par 4, 17th hole most of the players were cutting the dog leg to the right to go for the green. But, the green was protected by well placed bunkers. One of the boys from last 4 batches, landed his ball in the bunker. His ball was in a difficult lie created by the negligence of the green staff. They have trimmed the grass on the wall of the bunker and left a channel of sand in the bottom corner of the bunker. They have neglected to level the channel with sand. The player asked for a free relief. One of the few discretion a referee has is to declare a badly and unusual damaged area(even if not marked) as GUR ( decreed by Decision 33-2a/2.) I studied the situation and concluded that the damage was not excessive or extensive to declare the area as GUR, especially in a bunker. I denied relief to the player and he played a decent shot from the difficult lie. While this matter was settled, I was concerned about the following groups who may land in the same situation. I consulted the Tournament Director if we could tidy up the bunker. The tournament director told me to make my call. I noticed that the adjacent bunker was also in the same condition. I had no information how many other bunkers were in the same condition. I decided not to repair the bunker as will not be a level playing field for the majority of the players who have already concluded the hole. As it happened, another player in one of the leading groups landed almost in the same area in the bunker. I have to be consistent with my ruling and denied the requested relief. Regarding referee’s discretion to declare GUR, the normal protocol followed is to ensure that not many players in the earlier groups have landed in the same area. Also, we cross check with other officials if any player has been denied/given relief. If the area warrants to be declared as GUR and relief is given to one player, the rules official will ensure that it is immediately marked as GUR.