Can We Get a Rules Official Over Here?

Playing the ninth hole of our second round of the day (413 yard par four, slight dogleg left, needing to carry a large pond off of the tee box towards a two tiered green) with brother John and friends Joe and Dave, I confidently approached my tee ball as I was playing far better than expected, four over par through eight with a double bogey on the sixth hole.  Unfortunately, I pushed my drive to the right side, into a small grove of trees, some 210 yards from the pin, with no realistic shot to the green.

Attempting to secure a solid front nine, I decided to make the conservative play, punching a five iron anywhere between 75-125 yards, through two or three nicely spaced pine trunks with individual diameters of no more than a foot and a half.  My window was 4-5’ feet between trees, left and right of the pine directly in my line, 15’ ahead.  My playing partner (Joe) was providing morale support, while our golf cart was positioned safely behind and to the left of my stance.

I addressed the ball, made the strike and before I knew it, the ball was coming back at my body at the same speed it left my club face, having hit the tiny tree trunk dead ahead, dead square. Instinctively, with reflexes as quick as a cat, I caught the ricocheted rocket with my left hand, averting a 911 call.  Instantaneously, I released the ball into my divot, without moving my feet.

I was immediately prepared to reload however, my playing partner and the two other knuckleheads in the middle of the fairway, were crippled with laughter, causing a momentary loss of focus as I quickly joined the fray.  Once the tears of laughter subsided, I reclaimed my Zen-like state, hoping to savage my bogey.  I made my third strike which inexplicably struck the same tree, slightly left of dead square, ricocheting past my left side, striking our golf cart!

I calmly made a smooth triple bogey and strutted off to the tenth tee box!

Hold on a minute, don’t post that score, there may have been a few infractions:

Infraction One/Catching the Ball: If I did not catch the ball and allowed it to hit my noggin, I would not have been assessed a penalty stroke due to new Rule 11.1a; “if a player’s ball in motion accidentally hits the player or an outside influence, there is no penalty to the player.”  I assume catching the ball falls a bit outside the new ruling!

Infraction Two/Releasing the Ball:  After catching my #3 Titleist Pro-V1x, with an orange line under the number, I released the ball from shoulder height, rather than knee height, a clear violation of new Rule 14.3.

Infraction Three/Golf Ball Striking Equipment:  New Rule 11.1a (as referenced above) actually saved a penalty stroke in this situation.  If this round was being played last year, my stroke counter would have made an additional click!

My score on the ninth hole as mentioned above was a natural seven, however with a penalty stroke for catching the ball and a subsequent penalty stroke for an illegal drop, the new digit was a nine!

Regardless of the score, I provided my golfing buddies with a priceless golfing story for the ages.

Update:  Recently my brother made a remarkable discovery.  While playing the 14^th hole of Sarasota’s Founders Club, he temporarily misplaced his #2 Taylor Made TpX5 in the kaka (running the left side of the fairway) some 50-60 yards out.  While in the midst of the search and rescue mission into the chest high waste area, he discovered a #3 Titleist with the name “Snake” imprinted on the ball.  The same ball that was lost two months ago after a double hit and a trampolining bounce off of the cart path, as documented in our January 2019 post, “Friend’s Friend”.  My six iron head is still on the loose.

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The back nine can only get better!