How tournament committees resolve rules issues
As players, we have all been on course in a rules situation where we didn’t know the correct way to proceed and nor did anyone else in the group.
Professional tournaments are staffed with varying numbers of officials to make rulings for players – to allow them to proceed correctly and without penalty. The stakes are high, so the penalty for a simple procedural error can be severe and can cost the player a significant amount of money. Ask Lydia Ko about her total of seven penalty strokes in the stretch of a few holes last July.
If a player is unhappy with a ruling from a referee, the player has no right to request a second opinion from another referee (unless the committee has adopted a specific policy allowing it).
Throughout 2023, we saw our fair share of contentious rules situations from tours all around the world.
Most recently, we saw a rules situation at the Hong Kong Open on the 16th hole of the final round, which has been widely covered. In this situation, despite the Asian Tour confirming the rules breach afterwards, the player didn’t receive any penalty strokes added to his hole score. This is due to the fact that if a referee authorises a player to breach a rule in error, the player will not be penalised.
This may explain why players call for referee assistance as often as they do – it provides them immunity from penalty.
Another rules issue in 2023 involved Rory McIlroy – under the direction of a referee – taking an incorrect drop, after his ball was embedded in the grass above a greenside bunker at the US Open. Again, this wrong ruling stood.
If a ruling by a referee or the committee is later found to be wrong, the ruling will be corrected, if possible, under the rules. However, generally, once the player makes their stroke after a wrong ruling, it counts, with no penalty to the player. Only under exceptional circumstances will the player be directed to replay the stroke and correct the wrong ruling. A committee can add penalty strokes later to a player’s score if it needs to.
The committee can adopt a policy of always allowing all players a second opinion where they disagree with a referee’s decision. Most notably, the PGA Tour has this policy in place, which is probably why many believe this a default entitlement. It isn’t.
Important skills of a referee include listening to the player and establishing the facts. Other players, caddies and witnesses can be called upon to help.
Referees are human and The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf is longer than 500 pages and there is a lot to remember. While individual referees routinely make rules decisions on the course, if they have the slightest doubt, a good referee will jump on the radio to run it by someone else or ask for a second opinion. This could be another referee, the chief referee or tournament director.
All referees at a tournament are in communication with each other. Some rulings warrant a collaborative effort with the situation being raised on the radio. This simple practice ensures accuracy, however also consistency across the course for all players.
During the last round of the 2023 Australian Open in Sydney, I was in communication with two other referees to confirm precisely where the boundary edge was on the left side of the seventh hole at The Australian Golf Club. Once confirmed, I was then able to deliver the unfortunate news to Adam Scott that his ball was, in fact, out-of-bounds.
Resolving questions of fact is among the most difficult actions required of a referee. In many situations, the rules can be quite easy – it is establishing the facts that can be difficult.
• Stuart McPhee is a rules official for the PGA Tour of Australasia and co-host of the No.1 podcast in the world dedicated solely to discussing the Rules of Golf: The Golf Rules Questions Podcast.
Getty images: ross kinnaird
