Hi Johanna,
I found your last reply to the 'protective material' chat very interesting indeed, especially the apparent contradiction from the R&A.
If you consider the wording of R4-2. b. 'Foriegn material must not be applied to the face for THE PURPOSE of influencing the movement of the ball.'
Heavily implicit in that, is that it is OK to do so for other purposes. 'That purpose' is the only one specifically singled out as against the Rules, therefore applying material for 'protection' MUST be OK.
I would suggest that armed only with the wording of that Rule, a Rules Official would find it hard to argue to the contrary if a player insisted on having protective material on the face of a club.
A player could say .. 'show me where it says I can't'.
And if the USGA Rules are worded exactly as the R&A Rules, I would say the same applies. If it is against the Rules, it has to be published somewhere, is that not correct?
Cheers,
Michael.

Michael

The R&A rules and the USGA rules are the same. They jointly write and publish 'The Rules of Golf'

And I would agree that if something is against the Rules it has to be published.

A good adage is - if it doesn't say you can't then you can.

Hi Michael & Doug,

As I mentioned earlier the problem with the protective tape on the clubface happened in my club last September.

Someone from the LS pointed out the following from an R&A publication:

"The most important question to ask when ruling on a club which has had something temporarily applied to the face by a player is 'Why has it been put there?'. If a material or substance has been applied to the face in order to protect it (e.g. to test out a new club before purchasing it) or to clean it, then it would probably be permitted. However, if the purpose of the application is to influence the movement of the ball, it would be prohibited."

However, in a publication by the USGA it said that protective tape on the clubface is NOT allowed. I've tried to find it again on the USGA website without success. The site has undergone changes since my last visit.

Reading Rule 4-2a and b I cannot see anything there to prohibit it if it is purely done to protect the clubface from damage.

An LS member with a good contact in the R&A has asked the question and was told that it was not allowed!

One thing I don't understand is why the lady played in a competition with an untried new club.
She won and after the prize giving told some folks on the terrace about the club. All members listening to her told her she shouldn't have played with the club. But then in my club all 750 members are Rules experts , course design experts and course maintenance experts !

Lets hope the Ruling Bodies will clarify this with a Decision, because in the Rules I cannot find anything to prohibit it.

Johanna

Where do you play golf Toxandria, the Netherlands