You, sir, are Out of Bounds! / A Golf Rule Story

A few events back I incorrectly applied a rule of golf to a competitor. I thought I would share in case others encounter a similar situation.

(Short Version: When a fence defines OB, it is the inside (course side) of the fence posts that determine OB, and not necessarily the fence itself).

Mesa Linda / Hole #5

My competitor (we will call him "Jim" for this story) hooked his tee shot, and we were not sure if the ball remained in bounds. Jim correctly hit a provisional from the tee (a perfect drive, long and down the middle of fairway), and we then walked along the fence line looking for his first ball.

We found his ball on the course side of the fence, and here is where I messed up.

Even though his ball was indeed on the course side of the fence, and just an inch from the fence, the fence at that specific area had been pushed a foot or more into the out of bounds area. And since it is the inside of the fence posts that determine OB, the ball was actually OB.

I incorrectly called the ball 'in play', and advised Jim that the provisional was to be picked up.

Jim decided to take an unplayable penalty from the fence, and the drop area was still problematic, taking a couple more strokes to get the ball back to the fairway.

It wasn't until after the round I realized my error. Jim should have been lying 3 in the fairway with his provisional, but instead, because of a misunderstanding of the rules, was lying 5 well back from where his provisional was.

I apologized to Jim, and we remain friends. 

All golfers are probably going to make mistakes at some point, interpreting or applying the rules of golf. We just need to learn from them, as I have.

Jeff