Challenges of the ‘dance floor’

Aerial view of Muthaiga Golf Club. PHOTO | COURTESY |

The greens at most Kenyan golf courses have gone through some very tremendous changes in the last few years. With better knowledge of how to create and maintain putting surfaces that are smooth and more appealing to putt on, many golf courses can now boast of having greens that are just great to putt on.

I always feel a sense of satisfaction when I arrive at this hallowed part of the course.

It is even more gratifying whenever I play a blind shot from the roughs and I hear someone say, “it is on the dance floor!”

There have been a few bad moves on the dance floors of various clubs lately. I have received phone calls seeking clarification on the rules over some missteps on the dance floors.

During a match play competition two Sundays ago, a golfer conceded his opponent’s next shot.

After a good putt from close to 20 feet from the hole, the opponent had left the ball two inches from the hole.

The player who was going to putt from the same direction, conceded the next shot and knocked the ball back to his opponent. His opponent was very quick to claim the hole citing the rule that prohibits players from testing the surface of any putting green during a stipulated round.

By knocking the ball with his putter, the opponent claimed that the player had not only tested the green, but he had also used the stroke to know how his ball was going to break. The opponent thought that he had won the hole as a result of the breach.

On the same day, there was different breach involving a different group on a different golf course but involving the same Rule.

In this case, the player’s ball was also on the green.

The player marked his ball, picked it up and tossed it to his caddie. The ball fell a few feet from the caddie and rolled on the green for a few inches before it came to rest off the putting surface. “You have tested the green”, claimed the opponent. “I win the hole.”

In these situations, the players did not break any rule.

The intention of the player in the first scenario was to pass the ball back to the opponent.

When he knocked his opponent’s ball, his intention was to return the ball. This is not considered a breach of the rules.

The same applies to the player in the second scenario whose intent was to toss his ball to his caddie.

Both players did not break the rule.

I’m not advocating for this method of knocking the ball back to its owner.

It would cause less friction though if the player picked the ball and handed it back to his opponent. It would have raised no issues with the opponents.

Incidentally, the two players lost the holes to their opponents. When they were told of the “breach”, they accepted and moved on to the next hole.

The moment that they conceded, they lost the hole.

The correct way of going about such an incident, especially when there is doubt, is to make a claim and then refer to the competition committee after the round.

The players in the two scenarios should have holed out on the holes and then made claims after the round.