RULES NEWSLETTER
PART 6
Dear Member,
Dear Member, this is the 6th and Final Part of our series of Rules Newsletters, in which we reach the thrilling dénouement of our heroes´ epic struggle.
Part 1 (for those who missed it) can be found here Part 2 here Part 3 here Part 4 here and Part 5 here
The shadows were starting to lengthen outside the clubhouse.
By now, said the Oldest Member, Bob had dropped a few shots behind the other two and, as they made their way to the 15th tee, it was beginning to look like a two-horse race, with John but a single shot ahead of Chris.
But then, as they teed off on number 15, trying to hit it hard into the wind that was blowing against them, John pulled his tee shot wildly to the left, with Chris and Bob safely down the fairway.
John played yet another Provisional Ball off the tee and they all dutifully trooped over to the left edge of the fairway.
They looked all the way up and down the desert area and over towards the 6th tee, but without success.
Eventually, Bob said, “sorry, John, that´s been 3 minutes since you started looking, I´m afraid that´s a Lost Ball”.
“Yes, I agree, good job I played a Provisional Ball”, he said to the others, “I wouldn´t have wanted to have to go all the way back to the tee and take the Stroke and Distance penalty. So, I´m lying 3 with my Provisional Ball and that´s now the ball in play.”
The others nodded and played up to the green without further incident. As they walked off the green, John mused again on how his wild tee shot had effectively cost him a further 3 shots when, flustered, he´d missed the green with his approach, made an ugly crooked number, and was now 2 behind Chris, who´d made another conventional, boring par.
They finished 16 with no further drama and played their tee shots on the short par 4 17th.
Chris was first to play, Bob having hit a beauty down the fairway past the other two, and he played to the heart of the green. John played his approach and played a cracker to within a few feet of the hole.
Bob approached his ball and, with an easy flick of his arms and wrists, struck it sweetly.
Rather too sweetly, it turned out, as it was still rising when it went straight over the flag, cleared the green, the penalty area behind the green and flew straight onto the roof of the house behind the green.
There was a stunned silence from all three, broken by Bob exclaiming “oh, ´eck, I told you I didn´t have me proper glasses, I´ve hit a 6 iron, not a 9 iron!”
The other two looked at each other, composed themselves and commiserated with Bob. “That´s a shame”, said Chris, “but that´s clearly Out of Bounds, so, you´ll have to play another ball under penalty of Stroke and Distance under Rule 18, so, as that was your second shot, with the stroke penalty, you´ll be playing your 4th shot now from the same place.
Bob carefully swapped his 9 iron for the 6 in his hands and played up to the green, holing out for an unfortunate 6. Chris made yet another par, but John holed his birdie putt, and with one hole to go, was just one shot behind Chris.
Now, it turned out, said the Oldest Member, that Bob´s ball had actually broken a solar panel on the house roof by the green, and that is a whole other story.
“Perhaps another day…?” whimpered young George, from the depths of his armchair.
“Hmmm, yes, I suppose so” grunted the Oldest Member “now, where was I?”
“On 18” came a voice from the crowd.
“Ah, yes”.
Three fine tee shots were played on the 18th, all missing the palm trees that guarded the corner from the tee, and the pressure was mounting.
John played a fine approach to the heart of the green and Chris stood over his ball knowing that tying John on this hole would win him the Club Championship yet again.
His shot, however, was struck just a hair on the chunky side and he shouted “Go, you ********” at it as it flew towards the front edge.
The ball landed on the bank in front of the green, not far from the front pin, but a few yards short of the front edge.
“That´ll do, as we say in Yorkshire!” thought Chris to himself. “I can putt from there”.
Bob played his approach to the green just short of the pin and roughly in line between Chris´ ball and the hole.
“I´ll need that marked” said Chris, as they walked up to the green.
When they got there, Chris noticed that a pair of sprinkler heads, just off the green, were in his way.
“Now, look” he exclaimed, “I hit a great shot like that, and there´s a stupid sprinkler head in me way”.
“If it weren´t for the fact that I get relief from them, as Immoveable Obstructions, it would just prove that I really am t´unluckiest golfer in t´entire world”.
“Are you sure you get relief” asked John, “I mean, your ball isn´t on the green and it´s not interfering with your stance or swing, like the seat was for me on 13”?
“Well, I´m sure I do” said Chris, “let´s just check”.
They checked the rules guide on the app on their mobile phones, but Rule 16 was clear that no relief under the Rules was allowed, as the obstruction wasn’t interfering with Chris´ stance or swing, just his line of play.
“Hang on” said Bob, “I think there´s a Local Rule for that when the sprinkler is close to the green”.
Sure enough, there was a Local Rule that was currently in effect that allowed line of play relief if the sprinkler head was within 2 club lengths of the green, and the ball was within 2 club lengths of the sprinkler head.
“That´s a Relief” said Chris, entirely unaware of the very bad joke he´d just made, but, when they measured, his ball turned out to be more than 2 club lengths from the sprinkler head, so no relief was available to him.
“Can´t believe I´m always so unlucky!” he blurted out. “Now, I´m going to have to chip it”.
Checking he was away, he took out a chipping club and lofted his shot onto the edge of the green, whereupon it bounced hard left, rolled back to the right, deflected left again off Bob´s marker, rattled against the pin and went down the hole for a birdie 3, disappearing like a rat up a drainpipe…
There was a moment´s stunned silence around the green, and then a smattering of applause from the group gathered around the green to watch the players finish up.
John was the first to congratulate Chris, as his chip had sealed the prize.
“Thanks, lad” said Chris, “but, if I weren´t so unlucky, I could have putted that, you know”
Young George jumped up out of his chair.
“Fascinating, Oldest Member, must be going. Bye!”.
The Oldest Member eyed up the fast disappearing back of young George.
“That´ll teach him to complain about his bad luck” he said, to the crowd gathered round the dying fire.
