Golf Rules Q & A - 1 to 10

These are the Golf rules I gathered from my golf subscription on internet. Hope it will help golfers to understand the rules better.

QUESTION 1:
A fellow competitor's drive may have landed in a water hazard as it cannot be located. Your competitor asks to drop his ball behind the hazard and incur a one-stroke penalty.

Should you allow this? More importantly, do the Rules allow it?

ANSWER 1:
The rules don't allow it and neither should you, especially if money or bragging rights are on the line. Seriously, Rule 26-1 states that in the absence of knowing or being virtually certain that a ball entered a hazard; it must be treated as a lost ball.
In this instance, your competitor must make the long walk back to the tee and suffer a penalty stroke.


QUESTION 2:
While chipping onto the green from thick grass, Player A hits the ball twice.
In attempting to remain within the rules, Player A counts the stroke and adds a penalty stroke, for a total of two. Player B objects, stating that since the ball was hit twice, two strokes should be counted and a penalty stroke added, for a total of three.

Which player is correct?

ANSWER 2:
According to Rule 14-4, Player A is correct in his assessment. Essentially, he only made one stroke at the ball.
The penalty effectively makes up for the second contact with the ball


QUESTION 3:
Bill was playing in a strokes competition on a Saturday afternoon. Just before putting across the green he tapped down three scuff marks in the vicinity of the hole, but not on his line of putt. They had presumably been made by the metal studs of the group playing in front. Did he break any Rule of Golf?

ANSWER 3:
Bill incurs a penalty of two strokes.
Rule 16-1c states that on the green a player may only repair an old hole plug and any damage made by the impact of a ball. Nothing else can be repaired, including spike marks, if it might assist the player in his subsequent play of the hole. Of course, it would be good etiquette for Bill to repair damage to the green once he and his playing partners had holed out.


QUESTION 4:
During a round, a competitor adds a strip of lead tape to the back of her driver.
She justifies this by stating the rules stipulate only that no foreign matter is to be applied to the clubface, which would impact the ball's spin and flight. Is she correct?


ANSWER 4:
Although she is correct about applying foreign matter that would affect ball flight to the club face, Rule 4-2(b), she's only partially right. Rule 4-2(a) states that the playing characteristics of a club must not be altered during a stipulated round. Lead tape certainly can alter the club's playing characteristics. She suffers the penalty of disqualification.


QUESTION 5:
A player's caddie is attending the flag stick while the player chips from just off the green.
After making the stroke, the flag stuck in the hole and the caddie is unable to remove it before the player's ball strikes it. Has there been a rules breach and, if so, what is the penalty?

ANSWER 5:
Unfortunately, even though it was an accident on the caddie's part, Rule 17-3 dictates that a two-shot penalty is incurred in stroke play and the hole is lost in match play.

A player can choose to have the flag attended before making a stroke from anywhere on the course. An example may be when he is playing from a position where he cannot see the flag as he is standing off the green but way below the hole. He can ask for the flag to be held up above the hole so that he can judge where the hole is. In this case, and any others where the player authorises the flag to be attended, whether his ball is on or off the green, there would be a two stroke penalty if the ball hits the attended flagstick (which includes the flag itself).


QUESTION 6:
Two competitors' shots have come to rest within a few inches of each other inside the boundary of a water hazard, but not in the water.
They both elect to play their shots from the hazard.
Player 2's ball is interfering with the play of Player 1.
Both players survey the lie of Player 2, noting the ground condition and lie of his ball.
Player 2 then marks and lifts the ball, taking care not to clean it in any way.

Has there been a penalty?

ANSWER 6:
Under Rule 20-3, the players have acted appropriately to that point.

If the lie of Player 2 is altered, the ball must be replaced in the nearest spot most closely resembling the previous lie, not more than one club length away from the original spot, no nearer to the hole. Except on the putting green a player may not clean their ball when they lift it because it is assisting or interfering with play (Rule 21).


QUESTION 7:
On a par-three, a Player A drives his tee shot into a thickly wooded area.
Knowing the likelihood that the ball is lost, he declares he will play a provisional ball and plays a masterful shot from the tee that comes to rest within mere inches of the hole.
He informs the other players that he will not look for the ball; however, Player B does not hear his declaration and finds the original ball.
What does Player A now have to do?

ANSWER 7:
Since Player B kindly found the original ball, it is neither lost nor out of bounds and, as a result, according to Rule 27-2, the provisional ball is no longer in play and the original ball must be played.

Yes, even when an axe couldn't get to it, it is now the ball to be played.

An often asked question amongst Rules aficionados is whether Player B could run onto the green and tap his ball into the hole for a four before anyone else could find his ball in the thickly wooded area. The answer is that he can do so because in stroke play there is no penalty for playing out of turn, and once the ball is in the hole it is out of play and it does not matter if his original ball is later found. In match play his opponent has the right to ask him to replace his ball because he played out of turn. However, putting the ball into the hole meant that the ball was in play and the same result applies even though he has to putt it again when his turn comes.


QUESTION 8:
A player's approach shot to the green lands deep within a water hazard.
The player then declares his ball as unplayable and drops a ball as nearly as possible to where he played his last shot.

Has there been a breach of the rules?

ANSWER 8:
You cannot declare your ball unplayable when it is in a water hazard (Rule 28). It is a question of fact whether it is in the hazard.
In order to obtain relief under penalty (Rule 26-1) it must be known, or virtually certain, that the ball is within the margin of the hazard.
However, one of the options for taking relief for a ball in a water hazard is to play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played. The player therefore acted within the Rules, even though he did it for the wrong reason.

0nce it is agreed that the player's ball is in the water hazard and cannot be played he has the following options under Rule 26-1, all of which incur a penalty stroke; a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); or b. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped; or c. As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.
When proceeding under this Rule, the player may lift and clean his ball or substitute a ball.


QUESTION 9:
During a round played in a severe Texas wind, Player A's ball comes to rest on the green.
As all four players in the match four ball approach the green, the ball begins to move, blown by the wind, away from the hole.
Player A and his partner state the ball was moved by an outside agency and the ball is replaced near the spot where it rested before it began to move.
Have they acted correctly?

ANSWER 9:
No, they did not. The Rules of Golf defines an "outside agency" as any agency not part of the match, not part of the competitor's side, and includes a referee, marker, observer and forecaddie.

Wind and water are not considered outside agencies.

The ball must be played from wherever the wind blew it to, whether that was nearer to, or farther from the hole.


QUESTION 10:
While playing particularly fast greens, a player's ball comes to rest on a steeply sloped area of a green. She then marks the ball and awaits her turn to putt.
After replacing the ball and taking her stance, she decides not to ground her putter, just as the ball begins to roll without her touching it.

Has she addressed the ball and will she have to play the ball where it stops?

ANSWER 10:
"Addressing the ball" is defined in the Rules of Golf as having taken a stance and grounding the club, except that in a hazard, the stance is all that is needed.

The golfer in the question hasn't addressed the ball and she will not incur a penalty. However, the ball must be played as it lies.

Bro NG, now I'm clear on the differences of playing out of turn between Match play & Stroke play under question 7.

And most importantly, "An often asked question amongst Rules aficionados is whether Player B could run onto the green and tap his ball into the hole for a four before anyone else could find his ball in the thickly wooded area. The answer is that he can do so because in stroke play there is no penalty for playing out of turn, and once the ball is in the hole it is out of play and it does not matter if his original ball is later found. In match play his opponent has the right to ask him to replace his ball because he played out of turn. However, putting the ball into the hole meant that the ball was in play and the same result applies even though he has to putt it again when his turn comes."

Thanks.

Yes, for par 3 especially... swee arh!