Posts by stangmark

even if you slip and accidentally ground your club and take a swing and hit the ball, it is a penalty.  oddly, if you slip and accidentally ground your club, swing and miss the ball, it is not a penalty.  

Aeration plugs are a man-made impediment not intended to be a part of the course, making them an artificial, movable obstruction.  mark your ball, lift, move the obstruction and recreate your lie, no penalty.  

Should have read your local rules first, a mistake a lot of people make.  Might have been an area designated free relief, might have been a hazard (a drain area is not always a hazard, unless designated and/or marked as...

If you accidentally moved the ball when searching, there is no penalty; but you must recreate the lie as exactly as possible, including putting it back in the rolled up leaf (although you may expose a small part of the ball to aim...

Your entitled free relief from any man, animal or naturally (trenches from run-off, puddles, ect.) made deficiency that interferes with your lie or stance, even in a bunker, but in a bunker you must recreate the original lie---if it...

Without markings or officials, simply declare the hole as man/animal made and take free relief---and let the course manage know it exists.  Give yourself a stroke if the course manager declares it an intended part of the...

You can declare the ball unplayable, and follow those applicable rules, at the cost of one stroke; or play it as it lies.  

The sprinkler head must physically interfere with stance or swing.  If it's in your line, tough cookies.

You took the time to find the ball and declared it lost---once you struck the new ball, it was in play.  

Actually it is against the rules to place or leave any object within the teeing area, including another person, after addressing the ball.