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Golf Rules Quiz: Hazard or OB?

By Adam Gracik


Following each NCCGA regional tournament weekend I will be sharing the most unique rule situations that came up with the NCCGA community to further educate golfers on the rules in case any of these situations present themselves in your group.

In my first tournament weekend as NCCGA Director of Tournament Operations there were only four tournaments that took place resulting in a lack of “unique rules” situations. There was, however, one unique ruling this weekend and also a NCCGA tiebreaking procedure that came into play.

What would you have done if this scenario had happened to you or someone in your group?  The result and corresponding ruling are listed below to see if you chose the correct result.


Over the weekend, a player hit a ball down the left side of the hole where out of bounds and a hazard were both present. Since the player was not virtually certain from the tee whether his ball was in the hazard, he proceeded to hit a provisional ball.  Upon arriving to the location of the initial ball the player indeed found his ball, but was unsure based on the way the course was marked whether his ball rested in the hazard or out of bounds.Can You Pass a Golf Rules Quiz?


Since the player was unsure whether his ball was in the hazard or out of bounds, he decided to proceed under Rule 3-3: Doubt as To Procedure and play a second ball, indicating that he would like his ball in the hazard to be the primary. The player was able to use Rule 3-3 Decision #1, which allowed the players provisional ball to become his 2nd ball.

The player completed the hole with both balls and presented his findings to the committee after the round.  The course pro rendered that part of the course as hazard and the player saved one shot and properly utilized the rules to his advantage.

NCCGA Tiebreaking Procedures

For the 2nd tournament in a row, Arizona State and Grand Canyon needed a tiebreaker to decide the final result. In the fall, each team was tied in the regional point standings and had an equal amount of strokes through all 4 tournament rounds.  This tiebreaker resulted in 6th person scores being accumulated over the 4 rounds, with ASU prevailing.

After shooting an equivalent score of 746 (+36) for the weekend. ASU & GCU went to 6th man scores from both days combined to decide the tournament champion. ASU’s 6th person scores were 80-77=157 compared to GCU’s 84-78-162 giving ASU the tournament victory.


If you have any questions on a ruling or procedure feel free to reach out to NCCGA Commissioner, Matt Weinberger (matt@nccga.org) or NCCGA Director of Tournament Operations, Adam Gracik (adamgracik@comcast.net).

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Topics: golf rules