Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 11

RULES PRIMER
Avoiding Advice
Some friendly advice on the golf course
can become a troublesome Rules violation.
A
t the 2023 Master Tournament, the
broadcast cameras caught Brooks
Koepka's caddie (allegedly) mouthing
the word " five " (the number of the iron
Koepka hit into the 15th
green) to the caddie
of his competitor, Gary Woodland.
Although the action was deemed not to
be a Rules violation, Rule 10 (Preparing
for and Making a Stroke; Advice and
Help; Caddies) says it potentially could
have been.
While the " Advice and Help " portion
of Rule 10 is, perhaps, often broken in
casual rounds (e.g., " Hey Jim, what did
you hit to carry that pond in this wind? " ),
it is a violation. And for tournament players
and golfers who want to follow the
Rules, it's a Rule they need to know.
First, we must define " Advice. "
According to the Rules, advice is defined
as " any verbal comment or action (such
as showing what club was just used to
make a stroke) that is intended to influence
a player in choosing a club, making
a stroke, or deciding how to play during a
hole or round. "
But advice does not include public
information, such as the location of a
hole, putting green, the fairway, penalty
areas, bunkers, another player's ball, the
distance from one point to another, wind
direction or the Rules.
As we have mentioned here in the past,
knowing the " definitions " is essential
to understanding the Rules. Please note
that the definition of advice includes
" intended to influence " and therefore is
an " intent-based " Rule.
Rule 10.2a Advice states: " During a
round, a player must not give advice to
anyone playing in the competition who
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is playing on the course, or ask anyone
for advice, other than the player's caddie
(or partner or partner's caddie in
Four-Ball or Foursome), touch another
player's equipment to learn information
that would be advice if given by or asked
of the other player (such as touching the
other player's clubs or bag to see what
club is being used). "
You can look in another player's bag,
but you cannot touch anything.
Furthermore, this Rule does not apply
to discourse before a round, while play
is stopped under Rule 5.7a or between
rounds in a competition. So, 19th-hole
club discussions are fair game.
Still, it's worth considering how many
times we've asked another player in
our group " What club are you hitting? "
or " What club did you just hit? " with
the intention of influencing our own
club choice. The penalty for a breach of
this Rule (whether asking for or giving
advice) is loss of hole in Match Play and
two strokes in Stroke Play.
For example, the following scenarios
are considered advice and are not
allowed: (1) A player's ball is lying in a difficult
situation, and the player is deliberating
what action to take. Another player
says, " You have no shot. You should take
an unplayable ball penalty. " (2) A player
tells another player, " This shot is downwind,
and the greens are very firm; make
sure you land the ball short of the hole. "
And these two examples are not advice
under the Rules and are allowable: (1)
" The penalty area is five yards short of
the green. " (2) During play of the 8th
hole, a player asks another what club they
hit on the 2nd hole that is a par 3 of similar
length.
The distinction may not be huge, but
it's important. If any readers are tournament
players who may ignore this Rule
in casual rounds, be very careful not to
inadvertently ask someone for advice
during a tournament. My " advice " to
you would be to play by the Rules all of
the time.
Summer 2023 MINNESOTAGOLFER
11
PHOTO: W.P. RYAN
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023

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