Sep 18, 2020

Members – This email will cover some recent matters that affect not only the Men’s Club but also everyone who plays Admiral Baker Golf Courses, Men’s Club member or not.  Due to popular request, I will first list the information in a “Bulletized Format” for those of you who just want the “Executive Summary” and then follow that with a detailed explanation for each issue for those who want to know the specifics of the reasoning behind each change of policy or procedure.

1. The hill to the right of #18 north green covered with ice plant will henceforth be a Red Penalty Area.
2. The “3 minute Search” for a potentially LOST BALL only begins when the PLAYER reaches the search area.  His fellow competitors, including his Blitz Teammates might get there before the player does, but the “3 Minute Clock” does NOT start until the player who hit the shot starts searching for it himself.
3. Blitz Prize Money will no longer be mailed to the winners, but rather will be kept by the Blitz Director until such time as they can be distributed in person, in the standard Prize envelopes.
4. Membership applications and Renewals will ONLY be done online at the SCGA website.  Paper applications will no longer be used.
5. The Hole handicaps on the Men’s Club (ABMC) scorecards will not match the Admiral Baker Golf Course hole handicaps for a while, however, the Men’s Club will ONLY use the ABMC scorecards for all Men’s Club events, and not the Golf Course’s scorecards.

 Now for the details:

1. A Player who hits into that ice plant covered hill on #18 north has some specific but limited options under the Rules of Golf:
2.   Upon seeing or suspecting that his ball went into the ice plant he can immediately drop another ball.  As soon as that ball hits the ground it becomes the “Ball in Play” and the player proceeds under Rule 18 incurring a Stroke and Distance Penalty.  Even if the player subsequently finds his original ball, it must be picked up because it no longer is the “Ball in Play and must not be played.” (Rule 18.1)
3.   After he hits his ball that might be in the ice plant, he can declare a Provisional Ball and drop it and hit it.  If he later finds his first ball then the Provisional MUST be ignored and the original ball MUST be played, even if the original ball is in the Penalty Area or is Unplayable. The only exception to this is if he hits the Provisional from a spot CLOSER to the Flagstick than his original ball, at which time the Provisional became the Ball in Play and the player proceeds under a Stroke and Distance Penalty.  In other words, he cannot decide to hit his original ball after he hits the Provisional from a spot closer to the Flagstick then the original ball.
4. Whether he hits a Provisional or not, he can go to the area where he thinks the original ball went it (making sure he did not hit the Provisional from a spot closer to the Flagstick from that area) BUT, now the “Real problem begins.”  
5.   IF he finds his original ball and realizes it is “Unplayable” from the iceplant  (which occurs 99.9% of the time) , he MUST abandon his Provisional ball and proceed under Rule 19. 
6.   Rule 19 gives him FOUR options:  1. Hit it from where it lies in the iceplant (highly unlikely),  2. Drop another ball two club lengths no nearer the hole from the original ball under a ONE stroke penalty (also highly unwise as two club lengths will probably not get him OUT of the iceplant) 3.  Keeping the spot of the original ball and the Flagstick in line go BACK as far as needed and drop another ball under penalty of one stroke.  Unfortunately, that line would be up on #1 Teeing Area.  The ONLY area available would be the actual Tee Box or the small grass area off the #1 Tee box. You are not allowed to drop on the Practice Putting green because the Practice Green is not part of the “General Area” ”  (Rule 16, and Definitions)  4.  His ONLY option therefore is to go BACK on #18 to the spot from where he originally played the ball and hit another one under penalty of Stroke and Distance.
7. Let’s say upon arrival at the search area he CANNOT find his ball in under three minutes, that ball is necessarily ‘Lost” and he MUST go back to the spot on #18 and drop another ball, under penalty of Stroke and Distance.” unless he has hit a Provisional ball from where he hit his original shot.  In either case, he incurs a Stroke and Distance Penalty under Rule 18.
8. All of the above obviously would take a lot of time and undoubtedly back up players on #18, adversely affecting Pace of Play.

3. HOWEVER – IF the Ice plant is marked as a RED Penalty Area ALL of the above GOES AWAY and Pace of Play is NOT adversely affected NOR does he have to incur a Stroke and Distance Penalty, and he does NOT have to go back on #18 to where he hit his original shot !!!  He does NOT have to drop a Provisional Ball after thinking his ball is in the ice plant because a Provisional Ball is NOT ALLOWED if you suspect your ball may be lost or unplayable IN A PENALTY AREA.  (Rule 18.3a)  

4. So, he gets to the ice plant, searches for 3 minutes. Because he is in a Red Penalty Area,  if he finds it, he avoids any Unplayable Lie Penalty but rather proceeds under Rule 17 which allows him to either play it as it lies (unlikely), go up to #1 Teeing Area (unlikely as it would be a much longer shot with the same one stroke penalty.) The “Good News” is that   Rule 17 allows him to tale “Red Penalty Relief” of ONE stroke by dropping a ball within 2 club lengths from the estimated point the ball CROSSED the Red Penalty line.  The More Good News is that the area bordering the ice plant is cut to “Standard Rough Height” and is NOT punitive and not any more difficult to hit from than the rough. (Thanks to Mike Magnani, Course Superintendent)

5. Therefore – marking the ice plant area as a Red Penalty Area makes sense from a ‘Pace of play” aspect and is less Penalizing to the player.  Plus, since a ball that is found in ice plant (if it is NOT a Red Penalty Area)  leaves the player ONLY one option out of the FOUR that Rule 19 gives him…and therefore it is not “In the Spirit of the Rules or the Game of Golf” to automatically reduce his options by 75%.

Next issue:  Provisional Ball.  This is far simpler than the above.  Under the Rules, the Three Minute Search time begins ONLY when the player, his caddie or the player’s “partner or the partner’s caddie begins to search for it.” (Definitions)   In our events we rarely, if ever, have caddies.  Additionally, a “Partner” refers to a player’s partner in Match Play, which is NOT what we play in the Blitz or our events (Except the Military and County Senior Golf Leagues; but those are  special cases and we will address that with the Team members for both).  So – Your Blitz teammates are NOT your “Partners” under the Rules of Golf.  For example, Player A is a walker; he hits a ball that may be OOB or lost.  His Blitz teammates are in a cart and they drive to the area and start looking for his ball.  Are they officially “Searching?”  NO.  The three minute clock does not start till the player who hit the ball arrives on the scene.  There are a few more “nuances” about Provisional balls but I won’t go in to them here.  They will be discussed in another email in the near future.

Next Issue:  Blitz Prize Money.  The problem is that a surprising number of Blitz players have not notified the Blitz Director of their correct mailing address even after he asked them to.  That is their option, of course, but it really puts a burden on the Blitz Director.  Additionally, it appears that some players’ addresses in the SCGA records are NOT their correct address. Instead of tracking down each and every one, I have authorized the Blitz Director to hold all Blitz Prize Money until such time that we can resume the “normal” routine of checking in at the Blitz Table, paying the fees, and you then collecting your Prize Money from your Prize Envelope.  Right now that is not allowed under COVID-19 Rules for “Social Distancing.”

Next Issue:  Paper membership and renewals.  Moving in to the 21st Century (after 20 years have already passed) we are streamlining our membership process by requiring all new memberships and renewals to be done online at the SCGA website.  For the 13 members (out of 890) who do NOT have email access, we will make individual accommodations. 

Next Issue:  The Admiral Baker Golf Course had to replenish its scorecard supply.  The Men’s Club, after extensive research, updated the hole handicaps to correctly align them with the USGA Hole Handicapping  formula.  The Admiral Baker Golf Course Staff will conduct a similar analysis over the next 6 months and we will see what they come up with for hole handicaps.  In any case, however, the only “Official Hole handicaps” for all play at Admiral Baker Golf courses by Men’s Club members are what is on the Men’s Club scorecards. The scorecard will be posted soon on the Men’s Club Bulletin Board in the passageway outside the Pro Shop.

OK so there you have the “Rest of the Story.”   Hope this new way of explaining our policies and procedures is agreeable to you all.

See you on the course,

John Bepko
Rear Admiral, United States Navy, retired