A. Absolutely.
B. You're allowed to ground the club before the ball
while addressing it. Addressing the ball is defined as:
A player has "addressed the ball" when he has taken his stance and has also grounded his club, except that in a hazard a player has addressed the ball when he has taken his stance.
I think the definition effectively limits the distance in front of the ball to a few inches max. Otherwise, you're not in your stance therefore not addressing your ball therefore touching the line of your putt.
Kudos. You did the honorable thing by buying the drinks even though, by rule, neither side won.
1-3. Agreement to Waive Rules
Players must not agree to exclude the operation of any Rule or to waive any penalty incurred.
Penalty for Breach of Rule 1-3: Match play — Disqualification of both sides; Stroke play — Disqualification of competitors concerned.
Thanks for the clarification.
I figured that was the case.
We actually got into a pretty decent discussion.
This group of guys is a few years older than I am, and one of them is Karen's brother, so they always treat me with the protective kid brother type approach. I tell them all the time, I'll play you guys straight up, don't treat me special.
Well, I was out playing them, and beating them. Very rare, they are single digit handicaps. After we walked off the ninth when they were razzing me, and I insisted on taking the penalty I accused them of cherry picking the rules.
I said "Ok, back on 7, if I would have driven it in the water, dropped, hit on the green, and said I was laying 2, would you let the fly? No, of course not (they all agreed). Then why this? "
We never did get to a resolution. Like I said, I felt it only right to "give back the money" one way or another.
I posted with the penalty for a 43.
