Ball s t r i k i n g
hona Mcrae, R&A assistant director – Rules, looks back on two double-hit scenarios late last year, just before that particular Rule changed on January 1, 2019.
Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya was leading the South African Open in December last year by two shots until he came to the par-3 5th hole at the Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg. Muthiya was then penalised for a double-hit when he used a fairway wood to play a chip shot onto the green.
After missing the green, his delicately played shot sprung off the clubface but, on the followthrough, Muthiya clearly connected again with the ball, hitting it twice with the one stroke. He knew immediately what had happened and the double-hit resulted in one penalty stroke.
Of course, this was in 2018, when a double-hit resulted in a penalty. Now, under the new Rules of Golf, there is no penalty for an accidental double-hit. Rule 10.1a states that in making a stroke, if the player’s club accidentally hits the ball more than once, there has only been one stroke and there is no penalty. Muthiya was just a few weeks short of benefiting from this Rule change so had to take the penalty, but three consecutive birdies on the back nine saw him finish well.
Tiger Woods faced a similar ruling with a different outcome at the end of 2018 when he hit his tee shot into the native area on the final hole at the Hero World Challenge. Rather than take an unplayable ball penalty, to play his next shot, Woods dropped to his knees to get at the ball in the undergrowth and attempted to stab it out towards the fairway. Close-up TV footage later revealed that the ball had unwittingly been hit twice.
Woods was not penalised as he was completely unaware of the double-hit. It only became evident from watching TV slow-motion replays. As the double-hit was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time, his determination that he had only hit the ball once is considered conclusive under the Rules, even if later this determination is shown to be incorrect using slow-motion replays.
The good news is that from 2019, both situations will now result in no penalty under Rule 10.1a.