Calling a breach of rules during a matchplay comp

You are in an important,promotion clinching team match, 4bbb, on the 14th green one of your opponants has a putt for the hole to go all square. You think you notice that he has touched the line of his putt, not move loose inpedaments or to repair pitch marks.but tapping the uneven ground down. As you are uncertain that he has you dont call the breach of rule. He makes the putt. You mention to your team mate that if you see it again and are certain then you will call it. 17th green you are 1 down, opponants are 1 OB and 1 in god shape to win hole and match. You see him, this time without doubt, touch his line by prodding down uneven ground.

What would you do?

As far as I am concerned a breach of the rules is a breach. You call it. I would of called the first one. If you haven't heard before then I played with my brother in the N v S a few years ago and he broke a rule regarding loose impedements in a bunker. Our opponents called it on the green and we lost the hole. I had no problem with it as I would of done the same thing.

One cannot agree to waive a rule of golf, letting minor infringements go does no one any good at all.

if it's a breach you tell them straight away, it may be unpleasant but that's how it has to be

a rule is a rule, if they are any sort of player they would know what they were doing was not sportsman like and against rules, sorry i'd have to call it mate or no mate

A breach is a breach. You call it when you see it. It may be innocent and he might not realise, but he might by trying his luck to see how well you know the rules. If something like that happens after 14 holes with the match finely balanced it's less likely to be innocent in my experience

Our opponent in the 4BBB match we played the other week said on the first tee "Oh, I've got 15 clubs in my bag. As I'm carrying can I put it in your bag?" and went to put it in my (naive) partner's bag. I told him we'd wait 2 mins while he went back to the car and he said he didn't want to hold us up. I told him to put it in his partner's bag instead "so he didn't forget it". He couldn't argue with the logic and did, at which point his partner immediately declared it out of play

I figured out he was trying to play silly games immediately and warned my partner as we walked down to our tee shots what he was up to. We watched them like hawks all the way round and made sure that every shot and search was done within view of us. They tried a couple of other things too, but we still beat them 3 & 1. My partner said he "didn't see the point of these stupid games, mind games and 'using' the rules". I told him he wouldn't last long in matchplay comps if he didn't wise up to them

Totally agree - a breach is a breach. Happened to me early this year. In a ditch (lateral hazard), played my shot without grounding club but left it in the ditch. Put my clubhead down in frustration and got called for grounding my club. Frustrating yes, but those are the rules. Won't do it again!!

You did the right thing, he didn't. If he spouts off to other golfers in the bar, providing he tells the truth, he's only making himself look a bigger fool than he already is.

Unfortunately, the rules of golf give pedants an opportunity to flourish and they take great pride in calling people on rules that actually have given you no advantage whatsoever but they will say 'rules are rules'. In this instance, you should've called him on 14 and not waited until a crucial point because it looks like you are doing it in order to win the match when you wouldnt have done so otherwise. His playing partners attitude is unforgiveable because you were well within your rights to call it. Personally, unless something is blatant and they have gained an unfair advantage and are basically cheating, I dont call it as I want my golf to win the match. That said, I have no issue people calling me and if i feel they are using matchplay tactics, it makes me even more determined to beat them.

Couldn't agree more with your comments Rob. It is one of the reasons I gave up playing in club matches and settled for good natured rounds with chums. We still observe the rules of golf (as John pointed out players cannot agree to waive the rules) as we have a pretty good knowledge of them. In a recent match, after putting my ball 15 ft from the flag from 150yds in the rough, our opponent put a short wedge shot to the green into a bunker just in front of him. The wedge followed the ball into the bunker, accompanied by some abusive language. We went on to win the match, but I felt that my leisure time could be better spent with chums enjoying my golf.

It is a dilemma when you are playing other players at your club, especially ones who are your friends. I think I would have pointed out the potential issue after leaving the 14th green - something along the lines of - I'm not completely sure but I dont think you can prod your line on the green as it is improving your lie. That way they have been told without pulling a rule and if he didn't do it no worries - but he definitely won't do it again. I have let people off where I feel they have gained no advantage and it wasn't deliberate but I have always pointed it out afterwards so they know the rules in future. It is tough though - when to mention it? did they really do it? did they mean to do it? - it is a minefield and sometimes it is easier to just call it as you see it and then everyone knows where they stand with you!

Rob

I would say that Dan is definitely no rules pedant - he was not quite sure on the first occasion but his suspicions were confirmed a few holes later. Are you suggesting that tapping things down on the line of putt is a minor infringement and is not taking a significant advantage?

James, no I wasn't talking about Dan as I don't know him. I was talking about the many people I have come across in this game who will use the rules to hide behind when they can't win a match fairly. If I was Dan's opponent, I would've taken it on the chin and won the last hole ;-)

Well after everything I said above "rules are rules" etc etc, this came up in a public competition with me last week. My oppo was in a latteral hazard and ground his club when trying to climb up the bank to check his intended path of shot. He gained absolutely no advantage from this so I didn't call him up on it and let him take shot which he did without grounding his club. I did warning him his shot to be careful about grounding his club in the hazard but didn't call the penalty.

He won the hole... and later the match.

Morally right but competitively wrong?

I don't think that using the club to climb in and out of the hazard is actually a penalty, i think i recall seeing a ruling on this specific point at some stage.

Interesting Ian. I thought I would have a quick check on the rules search on the R&A site (which if anyone has not seen it is a fantastic way of checking up on rules, decisions etc). There is a list exception in 13.4 as follows:

"Provided nothing is done that constitutes testing the condition of the hazard or improves the lie of the ball, there is no penalty if the player (a) touches the ground or loose impediments in any hazard or water in a water hazard as a result of or to prevent falling, in removing an obstruction, in measuring or in marking the position of, retrieving, lifting, placing or replacing a ball under any Rule or (b) places his clubs in a hazard. "

Of course, you can take this to the extreme. Did he "need" to lean on his club to get out of the ditch? Was he "falling" or preventing himself from falling?

In the end, I am happy that I gave him the benefit of the doubt. If he was desparate enough to "test the conditions" by pretending to use his club in this way then good luck to a desparate man. I don't believe this was the case though.

First of all, I would spend less time on the golf course and more with an open dictionary.