lift clean and place (winter rules)

Question
i play a course that has alotta night crawlers. these worms come to the surface at night and leave nice little piles of dirt that make a perfect tee to place your ball on.sometimes as much as 1/2 inch high. is it legal to perch my ball on these ?

Answer
Hi Doug,

With winter rules, you're able to lift, clean and place withing 6 inches (normally) of the original position, as long as the new position is no closer to the hole. The possible new positions would be in the area of a semi-circle with radius 6 inches.

If one of these positions is on one of the worm holes, you can place it there.

From a "getting better" point of view, however, I would not advise this. If you find it's "much easier" to hit the ball when it's raised as per the worm hole scenario, that indicates your are hitting up on the ball with your swing, instead of down on the ball. You're probably playing the ball too far forward in your stance and/or not transferring your weight enough to your hitting side on the downswing.

I always advocate playing the ball as it lies, even in the winter, unless it's a very poor lie. When playing summer rules, there is no latitude for movement. You may as well get practice playing from a variety of lies in preparation for the "scoring season."

Hope this helps.

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Ken Tannar