Some of you will play golf until the first snow. In Fall, we often play in the rain and a few things are important to know concerning the actions that are not permitted under the Rules
1. Water near the ball or our stance.
Water on the ground can’t be removed before making a stroke. When I work in a tournament, many players ask me if they can use a towel to sponge the water. It is not permitted. The penalty is 2 strokes.
This Rule applies also with dew or frost.
RELIEF AVAILABLE
If water interferes with the position of the ball or our stance, we can always have a free relief. On the green it is also possible to have a relief if temporary water is on our line of putt….and this is not necessarily a direct line between the position of the ball and the hole.
2. The use of an umbrella or other piece of equipment.
A player may hold an umbrella over his head while he is making a stroke. A caddie or anybody else can’t do it at our place.
We may also wrap a towel around the grip of the club or around our body. It is not permitted to wrap a towel around something else like a tree or bush.
We may not put a towel on the ground to put our knee on it.
3. When play is stopped.
Sometimes it rains so much that we must stop play. During the interruption it is not permitted to change the configuration of our clubs and we must not change any clubs in our bag.
When play is stopped because of bad weather that is not dangerous, we may finish the play of the hole we have started. But a player may stop right away even if the other players continue to play that hole.