Editors Note: Each week, we receive hundreds of questions for our PGA Experts. Though we can't answer every one of them, we will take some of the most illuminating and beneficial questions and have one of the top authorities from the PGA of America to answer them for you. We are in the process of finding ways for more experts to answer more of your questions! Thank you for your support and keep the questions coming!
Instruction: Bill Forrest, 2006 PGA Teacher of the Year
(Lefthander)I understand that I should be getting my right shoulder under my chin on the takeaway. I always feel that I am taking it down to much below my chin. Is there any drill to help you feel you are making the right amount of shoulder turn at the right angle.
John Kulick
John: Understand that when setting your posture at address one needs to create some space between chin and chest to allow the shoulders enough room to rotate. Place a club, broom handle, or other pole behind the neck on the shoulders with one hand on each end. Assume your golfing posture, rotate your right shoulder back while remaining bent, then rotate your left shoulder under to replace your right hand with your left hand. As your left shoulder rotates forward allow your body to come with it and your left foot to release to finish with most of your weight on your right foot. In the finishing position the shaft should have the same angle as it did when you were bent forward. Look to see an angle in the shaft that would point about two feet in front of or on the far side of the target line.
One should see about a 45 degree shoulder turn for a short iron, a 70 degree turn for a medium iron and a 90 degree turn back for a long club. Check the amount of turn and the angle by doing this drill. Hope it helps.
hello,i currently golf 2 to 4 days a week,and take the game as serious as u can!! but the thing is i golf cross handed,i've tried the correct method but i just feel RIGHT!! with how i golf,i play pretty good with an 11 handicap,nobody plays cross handed but me,is there any reason why? or is it just people follow others,i like what i do,how it feels,and i win a lot in matches in leagues,have you ever met or teach anyone that golfs cross handed?
josh
Josh: Try researching Butch Wheeler (1940's), Charlie Owens (1960's) and Josh Broadaway (present), all of whom played the PGA Tour cross handed. Personally, I have not come across a cross handed pupil in thirty years. They had success with it.....no reason why you cannot. Best of luck.
Rules: John Crumbley - Certified PGA Professional, Rules Expert
If a ball comes to rest equally on the green and on the fringe is it considered on or off the green?
Doug Ruebusch
Doug,
A ball is on the green when any part of it touches the green even if it is touching the fringe as well. See the USGA Rules of Golf definition for Putting Green below.
Putting Green
The "putting green'' is all ground of the hole being played that is specially prepared for putting or otherwise defined as such by the Committee. A ball is on the putting green when any part of it touches the putting green.
What are the clear criteria of what and how a player can remove loose impediments on the line of his putt. I have Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2000 - 2001. 16-1a says "picking or brushing using a hand or a club", but decision #16-1a/9 says using the "palm of the hand" is not authorized? Can you help?
ron nielson
Ron,
See below from the 2006 - 2007 USGA Rules of Golf Rule 16-1a and decisions 16-1a/8 and 16-1a/9. These should help define what you can do.
16-1 General
a. Touching Line of Putt
The line of putt must not be touched except:
(i) the player may remove loose impediments, provided he does not press anything down;
16-1a/8 Loose Impediments Removed from Line of Putt with Cap or Towel
Q. A player touches his line of putt in brushing aside loose impediments with his cap or with a towel. Is this permissible?
A. Yes, provided he did not press anything down.
16-1a/9 Brushing Loose Impediments Off Line of Putt with Palm of Hand
Q. A player, with about one dozen strokes with the whole palm of his hand, attempted to remove small leaves, which are difficult to remove by any method, from his line of putt. Is this permissible under Rule 16-1a?
A. The action described exceeded that authorized by Rule 16-1a and was a breach of the Rule.
We were playing match play in a tournament. My partner pulled his layup shot left of a tree over a slight hill. When we get up to were the ball went we found that just left of the tree was the paved cart path and a 4 foot drop into the water. We look for the ball in the water and in the shrubs left of the line of flight. Our opponets said the ball went more left and called it a lost ball. I thought based on the ball flight that it had hit the cart path and continued on into the water. Who was right? And what do you do in match play if the different sides disagree on were the ball went.
Pete White
Pete,
Most of do not play with a rules official going along with our match so the USGA has taken care of this with Rule 2-5, read below.
2-5 Doubt as to Procedure; Disputes and Claims
In match play, if a doubt or dispute arises between the players, a player may make a claim. If no duly authorized representative of the Committee is available within a reasonable time, the players must continue the match without delay. The Committee may consider a claim only if the player making the claim notifies his opponent (i) that he is making a claim, (ii) of the facts of the situation and (iii) that he wants a ruling. The claim must be made before any player in the match plays from the next teeing ground or, in the case of the last hole of the match, before all players in the match leave the putting green.
A later claim may not be considered by the Committee unless it is based on facts previously unknown to the player making the claim and he had been given wrong information (Rules 6-2a and 9) by an opponent.
Once the result of the match has been officially announced, a later claim may not be considered by the Committee unless it is satisfied that the opponent knew he was giving wrong information.
As for the lost ball over the hill. In order to treat ball as lost in the water hazard there must a preponderance of evidence that the ball is lost in the hazard. With the hazard being over a hill where you can not see if the ball went in the hazard or not there must not be anywhere else the ball could be lost in order to treat it as lost in the hazard. See Rule 21-1 and decision 21-1/1 below.
26-1 Relief for Ball in Water Hazard
It is a question of fact whether a ball lost after having been struck toward a water hazard is lost inside or outside the hazard. In order to treat the ball as lost in the hazard, there must be reasonable evidence that the ball lodged in it. In the absence of such evidence, the ball must be treated as a lost ball and Rule 27 applies.
26-1/1 Meaning of "Reasonable Evidence" in Rule 26-1
The term "reasonable evidence" in Rule 26-1 is purposely and necessarily broad so as to permit sensible judgments to be reached on the basis of all the relevant circumstances of particular cases. As applied in this context, a player may not deem his ball lost in a water hazard simply because he thinks the ball may be in the hazard. The evidence must be preponderantly in favor of its being in the hazard. Otherwise, the ball must be considered lost outside the hazard and the player must proceed under Rule 27-1. Physical conditions in the area have a great deal to do with it. For example, if a water hazard is surrounded by a fairway on which a ball could hardly be lost, the existence of reasonable evidence that the ball is in the hazard would be more likely than if there was deep rough in the area. Observing a ball splash in a water hazard would not necessarily provide reasonable evidence as splashing balls sometimes skip out of hazards. It would depend on all the circumstances.
