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BCC Golf Newsletter - Issue 168 Date 05/15/11
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TCT Quick Tip -  Three Tips For 3 Footers
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Three tips to help make those knee-knocking 3 foot putts: 
Relax your grip 
Have a nice smooth rhythm 
Listen for the ball to fall into the hole - hear it fall, don't see it fall 
Enjoy, Tom


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Golf Tip:  Q&A: Unplayable Lie
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This is something that you might not think of that could save a stroke 
under the right circumstances. I watched a player six putt at a tournament
- that's not a typo - on a brutally sloped green ( hole # 5 at Willowbrook GC
in Lockport, NY ).  There was a point during his puttathon where replaying 
his first putt would probably have saved him at least 2 strokes.  

Q: If I am on the green and because of some unusual circumstances such as 
a fast sloping green and funny pin position or just a bad putt, my ball rolls completely 
off the green and into a bunker on the edge of the green. Can I replay the putt by 
taking an unplayable lie?

A: Rule 28 of the Rules of Golf states in part that “The player may deem his ball 
unplayable at any place on the course, except when the ball is in a water hazard. 
The player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable.”  

So if you putt a ball, and it runs off the green, down the hill, and into a brutal bunker 
you don't think you can handle (or anywhere else for that matter), one option is to 
replay the putt from where it was originally played. You must place the ball on 
the green as near to the original spot as possible if you want to replay the shot 
The down side is you must add a one stroke penalty to your score.  (Note that there
are other options besides replaying the shot.)

There is always an option in golf to replay the shot but it costs one stroke, which must 
be added to the number of times you hit the ball on that hole. The reason for not being 
allowed to declare a ball unplayable when it enters a water hazard is not because you 
can't replay the shot, but because there are differences in the options you have. If you
hit your ball into any water hazard, replaying the shot with a penalty stroke is always 
one of the options.

This is a little known rule so remember that you don't always have to play the ball from 
where it lies. If you are prepared to add a stroke to your score for that hole, you can take 
it back and play it again from where you previously hit it

Remember, replaying the shot is always an option available to you anywhere on the course. 

Enjoy, 

Tom