Be the Referee: Golf Relief
By
Paige Winne
MHSAA Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
April 30, 2025
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment – Golf Relief - Listen
Your tee shot lands on the cart path. I know you are used to playing from the middle of the fairway, so you may not know what your options are when this happens. You think you are entitled to relief, so you drop your ball one club-length to the side of the path – closer to the hole.
Is this allowed?
No.
Because a cart path is an immovable obstruction, you are entitled to relief. But your drop can’t occur closer to the hole. That’s called improper relief and is a one-stroke penalty.
You are allowed to drop the ball within one club-length of the nearest point of complete relief, no closer to hole. There is no penalty in this instance.
Of course, the best relief is to continue hitting your drives to the middle of the fairway.
Previous 2024-25 Editions
April 22: Soccer Scoring Area Penalty - Listen
April 15: Fair or Foul? - Listen
April 8: Girls Lacrosse New Stoppage Rule - Listen
April 1: Base Runner Interference - Listen
March 25: Pine Tar Usage - Listen
March 11: Basketball Replay - Listen
March 4: Gymnastics Deduction - Listen
Feb. 25: Competitive Cheer Inversion - Listen
Feb. 18: Ice Hockey Delay of Game - Listen
Feb. 11: Ski Helmets - Listen
Feb. 4: Wrestling In Bounds or Out? - Listen
Jan. 21: Block or Charge? - Listen
Jan. 14: Out of Bounds, In Play - Listen
Jan. 7: Wrestling Scoring - Listen
Dec. 17: Bowling Ball Rules - Listen
Dec. 10: Neck Laceration Protector - Listen
Dec. 3: Basketball Goaltending - Listen
Nov. 26: 11-Player Finals Replay - Listen
Nov. 19: 8-Player vs. 11-Player Football - Listen
Nov. 12: Back Row Setter - Listen
Nov. 5: Football OT - Listen
Oct. 29: Officials Registration - Listen
Oct. 22: Volleyball Serve - Listen
Oct. 15: "You Make the Call" - Soccer Offside - Listen
Oct. 8: Roughing the Passer - Listen
Oct. 1: Abnormal Course Condition - Listen
Sept. 25: Tennis Nets - Listen
Sept. 18: Libero - Listen
Sept. 10: Cross Country Uniforms - Listen
Sept. 3: Soccer Handling - Listen
Aug. 24: Football Holding - Listen
What's My Why: Official Brady Driver
June 12, 2026
Brady Driver, Sturgis
Driver just completed his 20th year as an MHSAA-registered official. He has worked football, wrestling and boys lacrosse all 20 years, and also officiated basketball for six seasons and volleyball and girls lacrosse for one apiece.
One, the opportunity to continue interacting with athletics, and school districts, and sports, and being part of educational athletics.
Two, the thousands of student-athletes that I get to see grow up in and through sports and then go on to great things in their lives.
And then three, for me, to also be able to have the joy of building lifelong friendships with multiple officials across these three sports, and the opportunities to have been able to travel, in some cases across the United States to officiate, and also meeting some pretty incredible people through the circles of football, wrestling and lacrosse.
I would highly encourage, if you have a desire to stay involved and get the best seat in the house every time, every game, every night, to be an official. It’s one of the best things you’ll ever do.
“What’s My Why” is a weekly feature telling the stories of MHSAA-registered officials in their own words. If you’re an MHSAA official and would like to share your reason why, please submit a 15 to 45-second video, taken horizontally, to director of officials Sam Davis at [email protected].
Don't miss Officiate Michigan Day 2026, July 25 in Grand Rapids! Check out MHSAA.com/OMD to register and learn more.
What's My Why
June 8: Cindy Tyzo, West Bloomfield - Watch
June 3: Jeff Spedoske, DeWitt - Watch
June 1: Mike Carrier, Commerce Township - Watch
May 27: Stan Wright, Warren - Watch
May 26: Murray Rose, Zeeland - Watch
May 22: Mike VanLaan, Alto - Watch
May 18: Clint Abbott, Newaygo - Watch