Okay, how's this for a situation, this was on a par four so no contraversy on whether it's an ace. The flag sticks at a muni course I play don't have a round top, but rather an indention. I've noticed this a few times and thought it odd. Anyway, buddy is about 130 out for his second shot. He hits a HIGH shot that landed just off the green, bounces straight up (as we walk up, we see that he actually hit a sprinkler head) and lands. . . . you guessed it, on this indention on top of the flag stick. In the spirit of "playing the ball as it lies" he takes his putter and taps the ball off and has 12" for the MOST uncommon par I'll prolly ever see.. I claim to be a decent "rulesman" but honestly, no idea here. Craziest thing I ever saw, but now when we play, there is always countless jokes about whether he wants the flag left in!!!
But I'm guessing MOST golfers would not be CERTAIN about the proper ruling in this scenerio. We did the best we could. More importantly, we have a great memory from "that one time" and isn't that mostly more important!!!!!