Sampath Chari on playing in the rain

Dated: Sun 2nd November 2008 Posted by: Shyam Sunder 2

Rain seems to be following us everywhere that we go to for a Tournament by Sampath Chari

Rain seems to be following us everywhere that we go to for a tournament. I am of-course referring to the professional golf tour of India, and of late we have been playing in monsoon conditions in most places. We have had five weeks in a row, starting from Coimbatore in the South, moving on to Chennai at Guindy ,
where we played in the middle of a race course, and then on to Pune for the Western leg of the PGTI event, before moving up North to play two events, at the Golden greens golf and country Club and the other at the DLF Golf and Country club. While the rains were welcome in guindy, as it turned the dry fairways into more pleasing greens, it was not the same in other places, as apart from the weather, there is a considerable amount of delay in getting the game started because of course preparations. Bunkers get flooded, greens at times accumulate water and the fairways for most of the time are soggy. But these are conditions under which the game is played, and but for Pune, we were able to complete stipulated rounds of 18 holes on all the venues. Rounds kept spilling over to the next day and at times some golfers ended up playing 27 holes in a day. That is the luck of the draw and the weather.
We all know, that rain by itself is no reason to stop play and the only time that the player can stop play is if there is lightning .As this is a dangerous situation nobody can force a player to continue play. In most countries, a weather specialist accompanies the management and helps the tournament director, in the weather forecast and often evacuation teams are kept ready to move players into shelters and safety.
We did have constant weather updates and though we did play in heavy rains, we never thankfully came across lightning predictions, to suspend play.
What seems like perfect weather in the morning could turn out to be a bad day later on and a tournament director should be in a position to evaluate these conditions and plan to complete a tournament successfully in the best course conditions under the circumstances and of utmost importance is to do so in a fair manner. In Most of these venues the monsoon rules were used to a large extent and this had special reference to preferred lies and plugged balls. These two issues and casual water are the main concerns in such weather and since the PGTI tour has local rules consistent at each venue and keeping in mind the other major tours, relief for embedded balls is provided through the green and not just a closely mown area. It is only in a very rare case that we treat bunkers that are water logged, as through the green and describe them as Ground under repair. In most cases the green staff is instructed to give us as dry a spot as possible in the bunker or some spots in the bunker, to enable a player to get the nearest point of maximum available relief. All these rules were used in abundance during the events in the north, to get relief from water in the bunkers.
At the golden greens, due to heavy monsoons, the greens took a beating and some of the areas on the greens were so bad that they had to be marked as ground under repair. And what was the relief procedure if a player had intervention relief from such areas? As the ball lay on the putting green and the abnormal ground condition intervenes on his line of putt, the player is entitled to free relief. He must lift the ball and place it without penalty at the nearest point of relief, that is not in a hazard and if complete relief is not possible, then at the nearest position to where it lay that affords maximum available relief from the condition, but not nearer the hole and not in a hazard. The nearest point of maximum available relief may be off the putting green.
At times due to rains, water could accumulate on the greens in the form of droplets and a player must be extremely cautious while dealing with such situations. Feroz Ali and Gurki Shergill may never forget this rule as both the players were in breach of this rule at the DLF.Golf and Country Club. It was raining very lightly when play commenced on the third day, and there was water visible on the line of putt. Both the players not aware of the rule, brushed the water aside from the line of putt, and this is not allowed as they were in breach of rule 16-1a1 (touching the line of putt). The penalty was two strokes.
Preferred lies were used for most of the events at most venues. While the preferred lie rule is welcome by players, it could also result in players getting penalized if they do not follow the recommended procedures. As per the rules a ball is in play the moment it is dropped or placed (rule 20-4). Therefore the player must mark the position of his ball before he lifts it and then place it within a score card length (the distance that was permitted for a lie,) not nearer the hole and not in a hazard or on the putting green. The player may place his ball once only and it is in play, the moment it is placed. After the placing if the ball moves on its own then it is to be played as it lies, and if the player has caused it to move then the ball must be replaced with a one stroke penalty.
If the player fails to mark the position of his ball before lifting it or moves the ball in any other manner such as rolling it with a club, he incurs a penalty of one stroke. So, players must be aware that a ball placed once cannot be touched again, even if the marker has not been lifted. A casual act of replacing the ball again would result in a penalty.

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Sampath Chari on playing in the rain

Rain seems to be following us everywhere that we go to for a Tournament by Sampath Chari

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