Your queries resolved
QCould you tell me what penalty is applicable in a match play competition if it comes to light on the 14th hole that one player has been using a DMD with the slope functionality enabled for the entire round so far? I know that this is against the Rules, but I don’t know what the penalty would be for such a breach. hombre_paulo,
GM website forum
Rule 4.3a allows a player to use a device that is capable of operating a prohibited function as long as those specific functions are not accessed by the player during the round. ‘Access’ means that the player has viewed or otherwise used the information generated by a prohibited function or a device where such info is displayed. If information is being displayed that, if accessed, would result in a breach of the Rules, the player is considered to have used the information even if the player has not actually viewed it. The first breach of this Rule means the player gets a loss-of-hole penalty in match play. A second breach during the same round would lead to a penalty of disqualification. Chris Wallace,
R&A Rules manager
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QIn a recent game, I took my swing but a gust of wind blew my ball off the tee seconds before I made contact, so I ended up just hitting my tee. Did this count as a stroke or not, and, if so, was I required to play from where the wind had blown it? It was a friendly, so I simply started again, but what is the correct procedure here? Jakki Moxon, via email
Under Rule 6.2b(5), if a teed ball falls off or is knocked off the tee by the player before he or she has made a stroke at it, it may be re-teed anywhere in the teeing area without penalty. But if the player makes a stroke at that ball while it is falling or after it has fallen off, there is no penalty, but the stroke counts and the ball is in play. If the ball had remained in the teeing area as defined by the Rules after falling, you would have been entitled to re-tee it without penalty before playing again.
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