By John M. Bodenhamer, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Golf Association
(first published in Pacific Northwest Golfer, March 2001)

As is oftentimes the case at PNGA championships, a unique rules situation will occur when least expected. In fact, a common term we teach our volunteer rules officials is to "always expect the unexpected."

A few years ago at our wildly popular PNGA Men’s Master-40 Amateur Championship (40 years of age and over) at storied Manito Golf & Country Club in Spokane, Washington, the unexpected indeed happened.

Those familiar with Manito know the second hole is a relatively short, sharp dogleg right, par four that requires a well placed tee shot and then a pin-point approach to a small, slick green. It just so happened that during the first round of play, I was sitting in my cart near this hole observing play and minding my own business (as a good rules official should), when all of a sudden all heck broke out!

The entire situation started rather routinely. One of our contestants hit his approach shot into the bunker guarding the front of the green.

Then it got interesting.

He bladed his next shot out of the bunker, clear over the green, and into the club’s parking lot. Along with the entire group, I observed the ball land in a sea of cars and then heard the terrible sound of glass breaking. Yes, the player’s ball had struck the windshield of a car. But what really made matters worse was that it was his own car!

My first thought was not only was this guy gonna take a really big number on this hole, but the check he would soon be writing to repair the damage would include a pretty sizable figure on it, too. My next thought was "what do I do now?"

Panic set in as I noticed there were no white out-of-bounds stakes or lines present around the parking lot defining the course boundary. I shuddered to think that the ball might still be through the green (in play). After all, it had careened off of the player’s windshield and ended up underneath another car. As play began to quickly stack up behind us, my mind raced. Are the parking lot and all the cars obstructions? If so, where is the player’s nearest point of relief from underneath the car?

To make matters worse, a "compassionate" fellow competitor in the group chimed in and asked, "Is there a penalty for hitting your own equipment?" I replied, "Yes there is, two strokes." He then said, "Well, then penalize him because isn’t his car part of his equipment?" Needless to say, I was in no mood to explain the definition of equipment to this individual. At that moment, I could only think that out there somewhere there was a village being deprived of an idiot.

Luckily, I caught my breath, directed the group behind us to play through, and then recalled that in marking the golf course prior to the championship, our rules committee had decided to designate on the local rules sheet that the inside edge of the paved parking lot was the out of bounds boundary. After realizing this none to soon, I moved quickly and instructed the player to return to the bunker and drop a ball as near as possible to the spot from where he played his last stroke and play away. To my horror, he then proceeded to blade the next ball over the green, but mercifully this time it landed short of the parking lot. He then completed the hole, with the assistance of a calculator, and played on.

Upon returning to my cart and wiping the sweat from my brow, I reflected on what I would have done had the parking lot and the cars in it been obstructions.

First, Rule 24-1 (Obstructions) allows a player to remove a movable obstruction if he wishes. Had we been able to find the driver of the car under which the ball rested, we could have had him move it and the player, under no penalty, could have played his next stroke from atop the obstruction, which was the parking lot. However, more than likely, the player would have sought free relief, under Rule 24-2. We would have then determined his nearest point of relief, which would have likely been 75 yards back up the adjoining fairway that happened to be the first hole. He would have then been able to drop his ball, under no penalty, and complete the hole.

I learned several valuable lessons that day. When involved in a difficult ruling situation, don’t be in a hurry, which is easier said than done. Take a deep breath and calmly gather all the facts and evidence before rendering a decision. A slow good decision is better than a fast bad decision.

Secondly, the importance of properly marking a golf course and writing a comprehensive local rules sheet in advance can never be underestimated. Thank goodness we had done both or we might still be in that parking lot trying to determine the nearest point of relief!