Winter golf rules: What Sacramento’s weekend warriors need to know about wet conditions
Daylight savings time being gone means fewer hours of sunshine on the golf course. It also means cooler temperatures and perhaps more inclement weather for Sacramento’s weekend warriors.
Wetter conditions can change the way the game is played, particularly those playing staunchly by the rules in tournaments or friendly cash games, which makes early November the perfect time for a refresher on the rules for the late autumn and winter months.
A quick disclaimer: These are not official tournament rules — rather loose guidelines for enjoying casual golf. Be sure to check in on your tournament’s official rules before participating. No one likes a cheater.
Preferred lies
Always check with your starter to see if winter rules apply before teeing off. If there had been any rain on your course in the days leading up to your round, there’s a good chance you’ll get to play with preferred lies.
That typically means balls hit on the shortly mowed areas (namely, fairways) can be lifted, cleaned and replaced to ensure you’re not hitting a muddy ball. A muddy ball, of course, often loses spin and is harder to control. Or its spin axis can be altered, meaning the shot won’t go where you’re intending no matter how well you hit it.
To lift, clean and replace according to the rules, you are allowed to move the ball within six inches or one club length of its resting place, depending on your course, without moving any closer to the hole.
However, most courses only suggest preferred lies in the fairway and not in the rough (surely your skins game with pals would be a little more forgiving). That makes accuracy off the tee paramount this time of year. Because not only would you be dealing with longer, wetter grass in the rough, but you wouldn’t have the luxury of cleaning your ball before hitting (unless, of course, your playing partners don’t mind).
Embedded balls
Say you hit a long, towering drive, but instead of your ball bounding down the dry fairway like it would in July, it hits the ground and stops, leaving you to wonder if your ball buried itself upon impact.
Sure enough, you walk up to your ball to find it mostly submerged in the mud, making it impossible to hit without using your 8 iron like an excavator. Thankfully, there are rules for embedded balls. Like lift, cleaning and replacing, you generally get to place your ball in a safe area within one club length of its landing position.
This rule is often applied to the “general area” which includes fairways and roughs. But it does not include bunkers or penalty areas. Additionally, the rule does not apply to putting greens, where you lift your embedded ball and fix its divot, but must putt from it’s landing point.
If you’re embedded in a bunker, best of luck to you! How you hit it out depends on the sand conditions. If the sand is packed and hard, keep your club face square and try chopping into the sand the best you can. If the sand is light and fluffy (not often the case in the winter, unless you play at a top-shelf course), open the club face to expose the bounce to glide your club underneath the ball. Easier said than done, of course.
Loose impediments
November and December is prime time for leaves deciding to leave their homes in trees and hang out on the ground. Unfortunately, they don’t care if they’re getting in the way of your approach shots or chips around the green.
Luckily there are rules for loose impediments that allow you to move all leaves, pine cones, sticks, or any other of nature’s tentacles — so long as your ball doesn’t move, which could incur a penalty stroke.
But there are situations where you can get free relief. Say your course’s maintenance team is piling leaves and other debris and your ball just happens to find it. That would lead you to get free relief. Otherwise, non-man-made impediments force you to play the ball as it lies (again, depending on how friendly your playing partners are).
Standing water
The important term here is “abnormal course condition.” Whereas water is often on courses as a hazard, standing water can accumulate through rain on certain areas of golf courses, including putting greens and bunkers, which can make for tricky rules situations.
Should your ball land on a green and your ball is either sitting in standing water or must go through standing water to reach the hole, you’re generally allowed free relief at the spot of nearest relief not nearer to the hole.
Sometimes that can mean moving your ball off the green (which should cause some spirited debate among your playing partners, which is why heading to the clubhouse for a beverage might be more enjoyable than playing in such conditions). But it’s important to distinguish the “abnormal course condition” which would lead to the discussion.
Standing water elsewhere on the course, like the fairway or bunker, is a far more simple solution. Move your ball out of the water to the point of nearest relief and drop your ball within a club length, no closer to the hole. And hope there’s no more standing water on the green for you and your friends to argue about after your shot.
