Thursday, September 22, 2016

Where to Drop

Several rules issues have arisen in the last few tournaments regarding where to drop a ball. I’m sure you will agree that a competition is not fair if everyone is not following the same rules. Therefore, I am taking out a few minutes to review the rules regarding dropping a ball, and I hope you will take out a few minutes to read what I have to say.

There is a big difference between free drops and penalty drops with regard to where you are entitled to drop.
The most important things to remember:
• Free relief is limited to the area within one club-length of the nearest point of relief, no closer to the hole.
• When you pay for relief with a penalty stroke, you have more options.
• You may never drop on the so-called “line of flight.” Under no circumstances is this ever a relief option.

Let’s start with free drops.

Players are entitled to a free drop when an immovable obstruction interferes with their lie, stance, or area of intended swing. For example, you get free relief if your ball lies on a cart path, or you have to stand on the cart path to hit your ball, or your swing at a ball that lies next to the path will contact the path. (Incidentally, “immovable obstructions” are man-made objects that cannot be moved, such as cart paths, water fountains, tee monuments, and maintenance sheds.)

For free relief from an immovable obstruction, you must find the point nearest to where you ball lies (known as the nearest point of relief, or NPR) that is not closer to the hole where you will get complete relief. In seeking this point, you should take your stance with the club that you would ordinarily use to hit the shot if the obstruction were not there. Once you find this point, you may use any club in your bag to measure the one-club-length area beyond the NPR in which you are permitted to drop the ball (most players pull out their drivers for this measurement).

As you can see, free drops will always end up very close to where the ball originally lay. Now let’s turn to penalty drops.

If you decide that your ball is unplayable, you will add one penalty stroke to your score and choose one of the following options:

1. Return to where you hit your previous shot, drop a ball (you may re-tee if you are returning to the teeing ground), and play. This is known as “stroke and distance.”

2. Drop anywhere on the flagline. (The flagline is the line-of-sight to the hole. IT IS NOT THE LINE OF FLIGHT!!! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS DROPPING ON THE LINE OF FLIGHT.) Imagine a line that begins at the hole, passes through where your ball lies, and continues straight back behind your ball. You may drop anywhere on this “flagline,” behind your ball.

3. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of where the unplayable ball lies, no closer to the hole. Note that if two club-lengths don’t give you the relief you want, each successive two-club-length drop will cost you an additional penalty stroke.

You have similar relief options for a ball in a water hazard, all of which include a one-stroke penalty:

1. Play another ball under stroke and distance (see #1 above).

2. Drop a ball on the flagline (see #2 above).

3. Additionally, if the ball lies in a lateral water hazard (marked with red stakes), you may drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where your ball last crossed the margin of the hazard (or on a spot on the opposite side of the hazard that is equidistant from the hole). Your relief is not measured from where your ball landed in the water; it is from where your ball passed the stake or crossed over the red line on its way into the lateral hazard.

Tournaments are only fair if everyone is observing the same rules. Please take some time to review your rulebook. For those of you who are unaware, I write a rules column online that answers questions about the Rules of Golf in plain English (not in Rules-speak). It is called “Ask Linda: Golf Rules You Can Understand.” This is a blog that you can subscribe to for free. Check it out: http://lindamillergolf.blogspot.com

Regards,
Linda 



Wednesday, September 21, 2016

RiverWinds Prize Winners and Photos



































Mitch Kato and Stephen Barry
First Place Gross - 73

Hal Wilson and Bill Casey
Second Place Gross - 74
won match of cards

Anthony Giordano and Dominick Lorusso
First Place Net - 61

Jack Ethridge and Mark Crivaro
Tied Second Place Net - 68

Chip Gerrity and Chalie Hassler
Tied Second Place Net - 68

Barb Petuskey and Kathy Callender
First Place Gross - 81

Teri Donaghy and Jan Waddell
First Place Net - 70

Carmella Mulvenna and Darlene Haines
Second Place Net - 73

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Linwood Champ/BB Application

Men’s Championship/Women’s Championship and Men’s Better Ball/Women’s BB
Linwood Country Club – Thursday, October 20

 (You may sign up without a partner, and I will keep you posted on my efforts to find one for you.

Player: __________________________        Partner: ___________________________
Home course: ____________________         Home course: ______________________
Current Handicap Index: ___ . __                   Current Handicap Index: ___ . _

10:30 shotgun.

Tees:
Men will play from the White tees: 67.5/129; 6019 yards
Women will play from the Green tees: 66.4/114; 4670 yards

Total cost: $69 per player. Please mail one check for $138, together with this application, payable to:

     Linda Miller
     48 Cherry Street
     Mount Holly, NJ 08060

Direct any questions to Linda:
     E-mail: LLMillerGolf@gmail.com
     Home phone: 609-267-8630
     Cell phone: 609-784-2550

Last date to mail application: October 6

Additional tournament information
Championship
• Gross tournament in flights.
• Trophy for overall gross champion
• Gross prizes in each flight
Better Ball
• Gross and Net prizes
• 90% of Course Handicap for men; 95% for women.
• Maximum number of strokes: 18 for men, 24 for women.


Saturday, September 17, 2016

Combination Tournament at Linwood Country Club on October 20

At the tournament at Linwood on Thursday, October 20, you will compete in two tournaments simultaneously – the individual JustGolf championship and a men’s or women’s better ball. You will sign up with a partner for the better ball, and your individual score will count towards the championship. Prize money will be awarded for both tournaments.

Both tournaments are stroke play, so the Rules of Golf have no objection to combining them. However, there are a few Rules wrinkles that we have to iron out:

• If you should decide to pick up on a hole, you will continue competing in the better ball tournament but you will be withdrawn from the individual championship.

• The Rules for the individual championship will take precedence. As such, you will be instructed to refrain from asking for or offering advice to your partner. Also, order of play must be strictly observed, most importantly for approach shots to the green and putting – the player furthest from the hole will always hit first.

I’m hoping this double format will double your fun, and that I will get to see all of you at Linwood. I will post the application tomorrow, and will have applications available at the registrar’s table at RiverWinds on Tuesday.

Regards,
Linda

Friday, September 16, 2016

RiverWinds Handicaps

Key to Calculation of RiverWinds Ryder Cup Handicaps (charts follow this key)

• Handicap Index: September 15 revision
• Course Handicap: Men’s slope-126; Men’s senior slope-120; Women’s slope-126. Additional 4 strokes deducted for men playing from the senior tees (70.9-67.4=3.5 rounded to 4). Maximum CH: Men-18; Women-24
• CH Adjustment: Reduction based on points accumulated in prior tournaments for first, second, and third place net finishes (see the Handicap Adjustment Chart on the JustGolf website: http://justgolftournaments.blogspot.com)
• Tournament CH: Course Handicap minus CH Adjustment
A Ryder Cup has three formats, each of which is handicapped differently. After the handicap is calculated for each format, it is divided by 3 (each 6-hole format represents one-third of the competition).
• Scramble: 40% of lower handicap plus 25% of higher handicap, divided by 3
• Selected drive/alternate shot: 60% of lower handicap plus 40% of higher handicap, divided by 3
• Better ball: 90% for men; 95% for women (dotted on cards)

Green fill indicates men playing from the senior tees.

RiverWinds Course and Slope Ratings:
Red (women): 71.2/126
Gold (senior): 67.4/120

White (men): 70.9/126





Wednesday, September 14, 2016

RiverWinds Ryder Cup Rules and Course Information

Please print a copy for reference at the tournament.

This is a team net and gross tournament. Men will play the standard White tees (70.9/126) or the forward Gold tees (67.4/120). Women will play the Red tees (71.2/126). 

Return scorecard with two signatures in person to the official scorer.

Start your trip to the first tee at least 15 minutes before your tee time, earlier if you want to use the putting green and chipping area near first tee.

Food: Roving cart with hot dogs, sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. Snack stand accessible from first and tenth tees.

Format
• Better ball, holes #1-6. Each competitor plays his own ball. Record both scores unless you pick up because you are out of a hole (strongly recommended). Play the ball down.

• Scramble, holes #7-12. Both players tee off. Select the shot you want to play, and both players hit from that spot. Continue in this manner until the ball is holed. Once the ball is holed your score is official, so be sure to mark your ball on the green if your partner has not yet putted.
After you decide which shot you will play, mark the spot with a tee or ball marker. Each player must place the ball within 12” of that tee no closer to the hole and play his next shot. YOU MAY NOT USE THE 12” TO IMPROVE YOUR CONDITION (stay in the rough, in a bunker, behind a tree, OB, on the apron of the green, etc.).

• Selected drive–alternate shot, holes #13-18. Both partners tee off. Select which drive you will play, and alternate hitting that ball to the hole. If you select A’s drive, then B will hit the next shot, A will hit the third shot, etc. Note: You MAY NOT switch balls to play your own preferred brand, including for putting. Play the ball down.

Disqualification: If you play the wrong format on any hole the team will be disqualified. The format for each six holes is noted on your scorecard. Signs on the seventh and thirteenth holes will remind you of the format.

Time of starting: If your partner is late, you must start without him at your assigned tee time. Your partner may join you as late as the start of Hole #13. If you have begun play of a hole, your partner will begin play at the start of the next hole.

Local Rules
• Replace large divots; use sand bottles for divot repair.
• If dry conditions, carts ride on fairways. Do not ride in rough or on mounds.
• Environmentally Sensitive areas restricted. Abandon ball; play as Water hazard.
• Hole location: Red/White, Black/White, and Blue/White flags on green.
• Distance markers: 100 on side (white stake with red top); 150 in middle of fairway (white with black top); 200 on side (white with blue top).

Specific hole information:
Bathrooms (portables): Near #1 and #10 tee; near #4 maintenance shed; right of  #6 White tee; right of #10 Red tee.
Water available at Holes #4, 8, 10, 14, 16.
#1: Drop area for tee shots that do not carry the hazard is located across the hazard on the right, near the cart path. The carry across the hazard is approximately 160 yards from the front of the teeing ground. Bunker guards right front of green.
#2: Hidden bunker in front of left half of green. Bunker guards right front of green.
#3: Note OB fence on right side.
#4: Dogleg right. Wooded area on right side is a lateral hazard.
#5: Keep tee shot short of the 150 marker.
No drop area. Tee shots from the White tees must be replayed (1 stroke penalty) if they do not carry the hazard. Lateral hazard on left 200 yards from White tee.
Optimum tee shot from Gold tees is 170 yards. There is a large bunker crossing the fairway at the 150-yard marker that you will want to avoid.
#6: Slight dogleg left.
#9: Gold/Red aim tee shot no further than 150 marker. White aim right of marker.
Environmental hazard begins 135 yards before the green. Entry is prohibited. Drop behind hazard and add one penalty stroke.
#10: Distance from the 100-yard marker to the end of the fairway, short of the burn, is 57 yards.
#11: There is a hazard that crosses the fairway 231 yards from the White tees, 193 yards from the Gold tees. Distance from 150 yard marker to end of fairway is 25 yards. The reeds along the left side are a lateral hazard. You may drop (one stroke penalty) on the right side of the cart path.
#14: Lateral hazard on right is the Delaware River. Two bunkers right of green, one behind the other.
#16: Hidden fairway bunker 255 yards from White tees, 180 yards from Gold tees.
#17: You may use the drop area left of the green or re-tee if your ball is in the hazard. One stroke penalty.
#18: OB on the right – note white stakes.