Almost anywhere you tee it up there is out of bounds located somewhere on the golf course. This can be defined by white stakes, white lines, boundary fences, and even curbing for roads. Your ball is deemed to be out of bounds when the entire ball is lying out of bounds, and you must the proceed under Rule 27 which states, “If a ball is lost or out of bounds, the player must play a ball, under penalty of one stroke, as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played.” This is commonly referred to as the stroke and distance penalty.
At Collindale Golf Course, host site of last week’s 5A Boys’ State High School Championship, the driving range to the left of the 9th hole is marked as out of bounds and is defined by white stakes. A player’s second shot in the first round came to rest near the driving range tee that is located out of bounds. The player, believing that his ball was in bounds, played his next stroke from this location onto the green. A rules official noticed from a distance that the player played the ball from this questionable location and went over to inquire about the situation. After lining up the white stakes it was determined that the player’s ball was definitely out of bounds. Now a new rules situation had occurred since he played the ball that was deemed to be out of bounds. The player had now played a wrong ball and needed to correct his mistake by going back and dropping a ball where he played his last stroke. He has incurred the penalty of one stroke for the ball that was struck out of bounds (stroke and distance), and a two stroke penalty for playing a wrong ball totaling three penalty strokes.
Another common situation that happens during normal day-to-day play occurs on the new courses that are being built in housing developments. There are many residents’ back yards that are located very close to the boundaries of the course. Most of these home owners do not appreciate divots in their back yard or reenactments of “Caddyshack” scene in their petunia gardens. While some houses may not even have a fence allowing players to walk onto the property, many homeowners have “no trespassing” signs, electric fences, guard dogs and anything they can think of to keep you off of their property. Regardless, if you play a ball from a backyard you are committing the same aforementioned violation that occurred at the 5A championship last week.
Another problem arises when some players realize that their ball is in a home owner’s backyard (out of bounds) and they decide just to drop a ball near the boundary just to keep play moving. According to the Rules, they should have dropped a ball from the spot where the last stroke was played under a penalty of one stroke. By just dropping a ball near the boundary, they have most likely committed a serious breach for playing from a wrong place which carries a disqualification penalty during tournament play. When this serious breach occurs during non-tournament play there obviously is nothing to be disqualified from, but the score can NOT be posted for handicap purposes. The best way to avoid the scenario of dropping another ball in a wrong place would be to play a provisional ball after the initial shot that was headed close to the houses. Not only will you avoid a penalty, but you will help speed up play.
So when it comes to out of bounds, keep it in play and don’t get electrocuted, shot at or chased by dogs.
