Golf Rules Golf Rule 14 Striking The Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Rules Golf Rule 14 Striking The Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles

So rule 14 covers striking the ball. Now you think striking the ball is a pretty simple rule. You know we just hit the thing. But actually when we look at the rule book and again, I've got my app out, I've got 14.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 different points about striking the golf ball fairly. My knowledge of the rules is good, but it's not this good. So 14.1, fairly struck, a ball must be fairly struck. We're not allowed to push it, scrape it or scoop it. It doesn't matter even if you're into a big bunker like, you know I’ll scrape or spoon the ball out. You've got to hit it out. That's 14.1 covered.

Now 14.2 talks about assistance. We're not allowed to have any assistance when we're playing the shot. So we have to stand to the ball squarely and fairly and play it. Now assistance might come in the form of a caddie. We sometimes see the top process, they've got their caddies running around for them all the time. The caddie got the umbrella. He is holding it over the player's head. He's holding it over the player’s head right up until the player lines up to the shot, and then just before the player takes the shot, the caddie has to move away. The caddie can't hold the umbrella as he's playing. The caddie will move away with the umbrella, then leaving the player to hit the shot or to hit the putt into the hole. So we can’t accept assistance from an outside agency or a caddie. Now 14.3 is artificial devices, unusual equipment, unusual use of the equipment. That means things like, you're not allowed to hit it with that end of the golf club for example and use it like a snooker cue. You are not allowed to use the club with a head cover on. But you believe me, there's three pages of that stuff as well, so plenty of rules around unusual equipment. Stick to the fundamentals when using your golf clubs like you know how to, and you won't come unstuck by that rule. And 14.4 is an interesting one; striking the ball more than once. Very occasionally if you've got a bit of a yippy chipping or a bunker action, you might feel like you hit the ball, and then you actually hit the ball again in the follow through. If you hit the ball twice it effectively counts as two goes. One for hitting it, one for hitting a moving ball. It’s actually cast as a penalty shot. So if you hit it twice it counts for two. That's 14.4. 14.5, playing a moving golf ball. You think why would I ever play a moving golf ball. It’s hard enough to hitting a still one, never mind the moving one. But very occasionally if you had a putt and the putt just slipped out and gone past the hole. You get a bit frustrated by that, you turn around and you try and tap that on back into the hole. And you think hang on a minute, was that ball actually moving. Other times, you might be the ball falls off the tee, and you have a swing at it as it's moving as well. So if we are doing that, matchplay loss of hole, stroke play two shot penalty. So that little reach past and tap the ball back into the hole, that's a two shot penalty added on to your score for hitting a moving golf ball. And similar in match play, we lose the hole. That's often the case, match play is lost a hole, stroke play it’s a two shot penalty. And then a ball moving in water, when a ball is moving in water or a water hazard, the player may without penalty make a stroke. It could look without by the way, know that ball is flowing down the street and we're going to have a dig at it. But he must not delay in making the stroke in order to allow the wind or the current to improve the position of the ball. This is technical stuff this. We're waiting for this ball to flow down this stream to get nearer to the hole. This is very technical. A ball moving in water -- in a water hazard maybe lifted if the player elects to invoke rule 26. We’ll have to find what rule 26 is in a minute. So if the ball is moving in the water, you can hit it. Good luck or you can drop it. But what you're not allowed to do is wait for it to flow downstream nearer to the hole to then hit it out. Can you imagine the rules that have to happen or the situations that have to happen for these sorts of rules to be made up. But that is rule 14.4, sorry rule 14.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and that's striking the ball fairly. 2015-07-22

So rule 14 covers striking the ball. Now you think striking the ball is a pretty simple rule. You know we just hit the thing. But actually when we look at the rule book and again, I've got my app out, I've got 14.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 different points about striking the golf ball fairly. My knowledge of the rules is good, but it's not this good. So 14.1, fairly struck, a ball must be fairly struck. We're not allowed to push it, scrape it or scoop it. It doesn't matter even if you're into a big bunker like, you know I’ll scrape or spoon the ball out. You've got to hit it out. That's 14.1 covered.

Now 14.2 talks about assistance. We're not allowed to have any assistance when we're playing the shot. So we have to stand to the ball squarely and fairly and play it. Now assistance might come in the form of a caddie. We sometimes see the top process, they've got their caddies running around for them all the time. The caddie got the umbrella. He is holding it over the player's head. He's holding it over the player’s head right up until the player lines up to the shot, and then just before the player takes the shot, the caddie has to move away. The caddie can't hold the umbrella as he's playing.

The caddie will move away with the umbrella, then leaving the player to hit the shot or to hit the putt into the hole. So we can’t accept assistance from an outside agency or a caddie. Now 14.3 is artificial devices, unusual equipment, unusual use of the equipment. That means things like, you're not allowed to hit it with that end of the golf club for example and use it like a snooker cue. You are not allowed to use the club with a head cover on. But you believe me, there's three pages of that stuff as well, so plenty of rules around unusual equipment.

Stick to the fundamentals when using your golf clubs like you know how to, and you won't come unstuck by that rule. And 14.4 is an interesting one; striking the ball more than once. Very occasionally if you've got a bit of a yippy chipping or a bunker action, you might feel like you hit the ball, and then you actually hit the ball again in the follow through. If you hit the ball twice it effectively counts as two goes. One for hitting it, one for hitting a moving ball. It’s actually cast as a penalty shot. So if you hit it twice it counts for two. That's 14.4.

14.5, playing a moving golf ball. You think why would I ever play a moving golf ball. It’s hard enough to hitting a still one, never mind the moving one. But very occasionally if you had a putt and the putt just slipped out and gone past the hole. You get a bit frustrated by that, you turn around and you try and tap that on back into the hole. And you think hang on a minute, was that ball actually moving. Other times, you might be the ball falls off the tee, and you have a swing at it as it's moving as well. So if we are doing that, matchplay loss of hole, stroke play two shot penalty.

So that little reach past and tap the ball back into the hole, that's a two shot penalty added on to your score for hitting a moving golf ball. And similar in match play, we lose the hole. That's often the case, match play is lost a hole, stroke play it’s a two shot penalty. And then a ball moving in water, when a ball is moving in water or a water hazard, the player may without penalty make a stroke. It could look without by the way, know that ball is flowing down the street and we're going to have a dig at it. But he must not delay in making the stroke in order to allow the wind or the current to improve the position of the ball.

This is technical stuff this. We're waiting for this ball to flow down this stream to get nearer to the hole. This is very technical. A ball moving in water — in a water hazard maybe lifted if the player elects to invoke rule 26. We’ll have to find what rule 26 is in a minute. So if the ball is moving in the water, you can hit it. Good luck or you can drop it. But what you're not allowed to do is wait for it to flow downstream nearer to the hole to then hit it out. Can you imagine the rules that have to happen or the situations that have to happen for these sorts of rules to be made up. But that is rule 14.4, sorry rule 14.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and that's striking the ball fairly.