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From lost balls in dense gorse to your ball moving in the wind on the green, links golf presents unique challenges. Learn how to navigate these tricky situations and avoid unnecessary penalty strokes.
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00:00It's without doubt the purest form of the game
00:02and arguably the most fun too,
00:03but Lynx Golf also throws up its own unique set
00:06of circumstances and it's important you know
00:08how the rules of golf apply in those different situations.
00:12So in this video we've come to the beautiful Elsa course
00:15at Trump Turnberry and I'm joined by our resident rules expert
00:18Fergus Bissett, we're gonna run through
00:19the six Lynx Golf rules you need to know.
00:22If you play a lot of Lynx Golf,
00:23make sure you watch to the end
00:24and definitely watch number three
00:26because that catches a lot of golfers out.
00:30Well Fergus, on Lynx Golf courses,
00:31we often find these very heavily gorse bush areas
00:36and for my second shot,
00:38I definitely saw my ball go into this bush.
00:41Right.
00:42You saw it go in, but we've come up here
00:44and we just can't find it because it's incredibly dense,
00:48it's also very spiky, so I'm not able to get too close to it
00:50and get really sort of inside there to find my ball.
00:54What are my options here?
00:56Because I feel like we sort of,
00:57we all know it went in there,
00:58surely there's something I can do,
01:00sort of take an unplayable lie and I can be on my way.
01:03Well, you are a bit limited here.
01:05Because you can't find the ball,
01:07we don't know where it sits.
01:08We don't know the position of your original ball.
01:11Your only option in this circumstance
01:13is to go back and play another one under penalty of stroke
01:16and relief, one shot penalty.
01:18In order to make use of rule 19.2, to take an unplayable lie,
01:23to use the back on the line relief or the two club length lateral relief.
01:27You have to know this spot of the original ball.
01:30Right.
01:31Now, if you were to estimate and say,
01:32well, I think it's about here and take a two club length lateral drop
01:36and then play from that spot, you would be breaching rule 14.7,
01:40you'd be playing from the wrong place.
01:42If you finish the hole, I would say you'd been gaining a significant advantage there as well,
01:46because you should be playing from quite a long way back.
01:49If you did that, finish the hole, teed off on the next hole, you'd be DQ'd.
01:53So you're probably better off in that situation.
01:55If you see your ball going into a thick gorse but like this,
01:57play a provisional from where you last played your ball.
01:59Yeah, that's a good idea.
02:00I mean, you can do that if you think your ball's lost anywhere on the course,
02:03you can play a provisional ball and that might be the best approach.
02:06So there you have it.
02:07The rules have not come to my aid here.
02:09I've hit my ball in the gorse bush and unfortunately, I can't find it.
02:12Got to take stroke and distance for a one shot penalty.
02:16Right, so Fergus, I'm not sure if I'm lucky or unlucky here,
02:19because I've hit my ball to the right into this gorse bush and luckily I've found it,
02:23but unluckily, as you can see, it's suspended in the air on this gorse bush.
02:29Right.
02:29It's a predicament that not many golfers find themselves in,
02:32but in this particular situation, what are my options in terms of the rules of golf?
02:36Okay, option one is you could play it.
02:39Okay.
02:40I don't know if you remember Ernie Els doing that in the 2004 Open at Royal Troon.
02:44He famously played one out of a gorse bush.
02:47It's a tricky shot.
02:48If you didn't fancy that, you can certainly identify your ball.
02:52We know it's definitely yours, which means you can take an unplayable.
02:56You've got the standard three options for an unplayable ball under Rule 19.
03:01You can go back and play another from where you played the original shot that ended in the bush.
03:05You could take back-on-the-line relief, keeping the original ball in the hole, and go back as far
03:12as you want.
03:12But I think you're in the gorse bushes there.
03:14That goes, exactly.
03:15Yeah, so that's not good.
03:16Or you would be able to take the two-club-length lateral drop, no closer to the hole.
03:21Now, you don't measure from the ball, you measure from a reference point on the ground, directly beneath where the
03:27ball is sitting.
03:28Two-club-lengths with a driver from there, drop within that area, and that's a one-shot penalty, of course.
03:34But those would be your options under Rule 19.2.
03:37That's interesting.
03:38Yeah, I think that's an appealing option, but given that, you know, we're doing a video and it's a lot
03:42of fun, why don't we have a go?
03:43I think I quite fancy this one.
03:44Yeah, let's have a go.
03:45Okay, well, let me get a swipe at it.
03:46Yeah.
03:54Right, Fergus, for this one, we need to use our imaginations a little bit, but typically, on a Lynx golf
03:59course in the summer, very tightly mown, dry fairways, and obviously, you often get a lot of wind in these
04:05particular type of courses.
04:06So, in this situation, I'm about to sort of take my shot, and I take the club away, and the
04:12ball moves because of the wind, the wind blows the ball.
04:15Okay.
04:17What are my options here in terms of my swing and relief from, obviously, probably going to be a misstruck
04:23shot in this scenario.
04:24What happens?
04:25Well, first thing to say is that Rule 10.1D says that you must not make a strike or a
04:30stroke at a moving ball, but Rule 9.1 will come to your aid in this case, because once you've
04:37started your stroke, there are a couple of things that might happen.
04:41One is that you're as good as Tiger Woods, and you're able to stop mid-swing, or you may purposefully
04:48miss, even if you continue to swing, but purposefully sort of pull out of it in order to say, I'm
04:52not making an attempt to hit the ball.
04:54Okay. So you sort of see it moving, and then you sort of step away.
04:57If you do that, then Rule 9.3 will kick in, the ball has been moved by natural forces, and
05:03you will simply play the ball from where it now lies.
05:06Okay.
05:07However, if you continue to make the stroke and attempt to hit the ball as it's moving, then whatever happens
05:16after that stroke, you will be playing another stroke, where even if you miss the ball, that stroke counts, and
05:21you're now playing your next stroke at the ball from where it now lies.
05:25Okay, so no penalty shots technically.
05:27No penalty shots, but whatever happens, if you made an attempt to hit the ball, you'll be playing your next
05:32stroke from where the ball lies.
05:34Yeah, I think that's relatively common if the ball moves just as you're literally about to hit it, which is
05:39incredibly unlucky, but you don't get to replace the ball.
05:42I think your instinct, quite often your instinct is to try and hit it, and once you've tried to hit
05:46it, that stroke will count.
05:48Yeah. So if your ball is on a tight line in the fairway on a links course, and it's pretty
05:52windy, you need to be careful of the rules here, because if the ball moves, and you attempt to play
05:56the shot, you've got to play it from where it is, and it could be in an unfavorable position.
06:02Right, Fergus, we're on the ninth green here on the Ailsa course at Trump Turnberry, possibly the best backdrop in
06:07all of golf, frankly.
06:09And I've hit my tee shot onto this green, my ball has come to rest up on the top of
06:13the slope there, but then since it came to rest, it's rolled down this hill because of the wind.
06:19The wind has caused it to move down this hill closer to the hole, which I'm absolutely delighted about.
06:24But do the rules of golf permit me to play my next shot from here, or do I have to
06:29go back to where it originally came to rest?
06:32Well, okay, this is an interesting one. This is rule 13.1D part two.
06:37And it very much depends on whether you marked the ball and replaced it or not.
06:42Now, if you had got up to the ball where it was originally, and you'd marked it and replaced it,
06:49and the wind had then caused it to blow down,
06:52you would be required to take the ball back and replace it as near, well, on the spot that it
06:58was on, or an estimated spot if your marker was no longer there.
07:02If, however, you hadn't marked it, and the wind had caused it to blow down the hill before you'd got
07:08a chance to mark it,
07:09then you would, in fact, now play it from this spot, and you would be incorrect to replace it.
07:14If you hadn't marked it and then you replaced it, you would be playing the ball from the wrong place,
07:19and that would be a tee shot general penalty.
07:20Right.
07:21And if you had marked it, and then the wind had blown it, and then you played it from here,
07:26it would be a tee shot general penalty.
07:28But I also think that you would be getting a serious advantage from that.
07:32Right.
07:33And playing from the wrong place, and if you didn't correct that mistake before you went and played a shot
07:38at the next hole,
07:39I think you would probably be disqualified in this instance.
07:41Okay, so potentially quite a penal outcome there, but if your ball does move before you mark it,
07:47you can get an advantage of that ball, as long as it moves close to the hole.
07:50Well, yeah, but I mean, you might be unfortunate, and it would blow it away, but you would have a
07:53disadvantage.
07:54But in this case, you would have had an advantage.
07:55There you go.
07:56So a lot of things to think about there.
07:57If you're playing on a very windy day on Link's course with quite fast, slopey greens, it could well happen.
08:02Your ball could move because of the wind, and you need to know those rules.
08:13Fergus.
08:15I feel like I might be in trouble here.
08:17Obviously, we saw the ball hit the bank, come down, hit me in the foot.
08:21Right.
08:22I know it used to be a two-shot penalty.
08:24Can the rules come to my rescue here?
08:27Well, I mean, they sort of have done.
08:28You're right.
08:29In the old days, that would have been a two-shot penalty.
08:31Ball striking you or your equipment would have been a two-shot penalty.
08:34But since the rules changed in 2019, rule 11.1a says, if the ball does strike you in this instance,
08:41coming off the face of a bunker, there's no penalty and you must play the ball as it now lies.
08:45Now, it's not lying very well.
08:48No, it's not.
08:48That's it.
08:49That's where you're going to have to now play it from.
08:51Here's a question for you, Fergus.
08:53Right.
08:53What if I was to hit the bunker shot?
08:55It hits the lip, pops up.
08:57Yeah.
08:57I can see it's kind of come back in the bunker.
08:59Yeah.
08:59And I decide, do you know what?
09:01I don't fancy playing again from here.
09:02I'll just give it a little kick out with my foot or maybe try and double hit it out with
09:06my club.
09:06Okay.
09:07And the ball goes out and I'm like, get in.
09:09I've got out of the bunker.
09:10Yeah.
09:10Am I going to incur any penalty shots like that?
09:12You are going to definitely incur a penalty for that.
09:14That ball deflected in motion, that's a general two-shot penalty for doing that, yes.
09:20Two-shot penalty for that.
09:21Yeah.
09:21Probably not worth the risk on that.
09:22So, I'm back in this position.
09:24I'm sat down in some sort of hole here, which is not ideal.
09:28Let's see if I can make a better fist of it this time.
09:34We have, actually.
09:35Pretty happy with that one.
09:36Yeah.
09:38Right, Fergus.
09:39My ball has finished precariously on this sort of quite tight lie here, just off the side of the green.
09:46Obviously not a windy day here today, but if it was quite a windy day, there would be a chance
09:51of this ball rolling off into this bunker.
09:54It could roll off into a penalty area.
09:56What are my next steps that I have to take if that happens to me in this particular situation?
10:02Well, 9.3 ball moved by natural forces on the general area of the course.
10:08If the wind did gust and blew that ball into the bunker there, you would now be in the bunker
10:13and you would play the ball as it lies in the bunker.
10:16If you were unfortunate enough that this line was a penalty area, your ball would now be in a penalty
10:21area.
10:21The only exception would be if you had either dropped, placed or replaced the ball there.
10:29Say you were taking relief away from a sprinkler head that was just there, perhaps.
10:33Right.
10:33And then it blew into another area of the course, so a bunker or a penalty area.
10:38In that instance, you would replace the ball.
10:41But in all other circumstances, you would play it as it lies.
10:45And if you did replace it, you would be playing a ball from the wrong place in Rule 14.7,
10:51general penalty.
10:52In this circumstance, you would definitely be gaining a serious advantage.
10:56So if you didn't correct that mistake and then play again from the correct place, you would be disqualified if
11:02you played a stroke at the next hole.
11:04And what if the ball moves, if you're taking relief from a sprinkler, say, and the wind blows the ball,
11:09but not into a different area of the course, do I still have to put it back to where it
11:14was?
11:14You don't replace it in that instance.
11:14You only replace it if it blows into a different part of the course.
11:17Okay.
11:18All right.
11:18Well, in this particular situation, luckily, your ball has not moved by the wind.
11:21It's a lovely day and the ball hasn't moved.
11:23I can have a little chip at this, can't I?
11:25Lovely, tight lies here at Trump Turnberry.
11:30Ooh, a little bit spicy.
11:33So there you have it.
11:34If you are playing on a particularly windy day on a Lynx course and the ball does blow into a
11:38bunker or a penalty area, unfortunately, you don't get free relief.
11:41You've got to play it as it lies.
11:43So there you have it.
11:44That concludes our look at the six Lynx golf rules everyone needs to know.
11:48If you play a lot of Lynx golf, hopefully you found this useful and might just save you a shot
11:52or two here or there, depending on some of the situations you get into.
11:55But that's all from me here at the amazing Trump Turnberry Elsa course.
11:59I'll see you next time.
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