Golf Rules and Etiquette

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Can My Practice Golf Swing Cost Me A Stroke

Dear Golf Nut I have a question about taking a practice swing.  If you are taking a practice swing on a shot other than a tee shot, and accidentally hit your ball, what is the correct ruling?  Do you play it as it lies or are you allowed to replace it and hit [...]

6Mar2010 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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What’s The Golf Ruling On A Plugged Ball On A Sloped Green?

Dear Golf Nut,  A playing partner hit a ball into the green. The ball plugged on the slope of the green. He marked the position of the ball and repaired the plug hole. However when he replaced his ball it kept moving closer to the hole because of the slope. What relief or [...]

23Dec2009 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Golf Ruling On This Out Of Bounds Shot

Dear Golf Nut, please help me with this situation.  I hit a tee shot on a hole that had out of bounds stakes down the right side of the fairway.  Just outside of these stakes, in the out of bounds area, were a number of trees.  My shot sliced towards the out of bounds area [...]

7Sep2009 | David Stargel | 5 comments | Continued
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Can I Use My Bent Golf Club For The Rest Of My Round?

Dear Golf Nut,  I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I bent my 3 iron in anger early in a round of golf recently.  I was able to straighten it back enough to keep it usable.  So I finished my round and then I thought that maybe I had broken the rules.  Was I [...]

23Aug2009 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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Golf Nut, I Have A Question For You About Debris Around Your Golf Ball

I think this is ok, but wanted to see what the rules say about this. If you golf ball ends up in a pile of junk like leaves, pine straw, twigs, small branches, it’s ok to move all of that stuff out before you hit your next shot isn’t it?

19Jun2009 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Do I Have To Take A Drop On This Golf Shot

Golf Nut, on a par 4 I hit my second shot over a water hazard (yellow stakes) onto the green side of the hazard but off to the left, well clear of the hazard and playable. In trying to chip my third shot onto the green I shanked it back into the water. [...]

10Apr2009 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Warming Your Golf Balls During A Round

Hey Golf Nut, I have what may seem like a strange rules question for you. Is carrying an extra golf ball in your pocket during a round considered illegal for artificially warming the golf ball?

25Mar2009 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Is this a one golf stroke penalty situation?

Dear Golf Nut, I have a golf rules question for you. Recently, during a friendly round of golf with my usual foursome something unusual happened with my golf ball. We were about half way through the round when I noticed that I was playing the wrong golf ball. It was one like [...]

4Feb2009 | David Stargel | 1 comment | Continued
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Is my golf buddy entitled to a free drop on this one?

Dear Golf Nut,
My golf partner is a right hander. He recently had his backswing obstructed by a tree. So he changed to a left handed swing, but at that point, his stance was on the cart path. He claimed relief and took a drop, then he hit the golf ball right handed. [...]

29Jan2009 | David Stargel | 5 comments | Continued
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Playing With The Wrong Golf Ball

Golf Nut, I was playing a round of golf with my regular foursome last week when we hit a situation that we didn’t know how the golf rules handle. About halfway through the round, one of our group realized that he was playing the wrong golf ball. It was the exact same brand [...]

13Sep2008 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Is Using A Golf Club This Way Legal?

Dear Golf Nut, I play in a men’s league and one golfer I play with always lays a club down on the tee box and uses it to line up toward the tee before he actually hits the golf ball with his driver. After teeing off he picks up the club and puts it [...]

29Jul2008 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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Golf Shot Ends Up Right Next To Cart Path

Dear Golf Nut, if my golf ball ends up one inch from the cart path, am I allowed relief? In this situation, if I took my normal golf swing, my club would hit the concrete path. What am I allowed to do in this case?

25Jul2008 | David Stargel | 1 comment | Continued
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A Strange Golf Rules Question

Golf Nut, I have a really strange golf rules question. This really just happened to me and I want to check what the correct thing to do would have been.
I was teeing off on a par three when I hit a real low golf shot. I hit it thin and it was a real [...]

29May2008 | David Stargel | 1 comment | Continued
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How High A Golf Score Can I Take On A Hole?

Golf Nut I was recently playing a round of golf with a foursome. We got to hole #12 a par 5. Three golfers all hit in the water on their 2nd stroke, then 2 of those golfers hit in the water on their fourth stroke. They both pick up their balls and head to the [...]

5Apr2008 | David Stargel | 8 comments | Continued
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Golf Rule Question On Unplayable Golf Ball

Golf Nut, I can think of two circumstances where, after a shot, the golf ball can land farther away from the hole:
1) In the woods, you hit a tree, the ball bounces behind you farther into the woods.
2) Around the green, you catch the ball thin and hit it over the green into the woods/behind [...]

13Mar2008 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Golf Ball Moved On Green By Wind

Hey Golf Nut, before marking my golf ball on the green where it had come to rest, I helped my golf partner look for his ball. While we were looking, the wind gusted and my ball moved slightly closer to the hole. Where should the golf ball be played from and do [...]

28Nov2007 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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Golf Rule Changes for 2008 Set By USGA and R&A

Well, it’s that time of year golfers. The golf rule changes for the upcoming year have been announced. Like we always do, we will summarize the major changes here. Thank you for all the rules questions that we have received this year. More and more golfers appear to be learning or [...]

26Nov2007 | David Stargel | 5 comments | Continued
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Is this golfer entitled to a free drop?

Golf Nut, one foot inside a red staked hazard is a permanent fence. The golfer’s ball lays one foot outside this hazard. The golfer wants to take a drop because he says that the fence interferes with his backswing. Is he entitled to the drop or is it only if the obstruction [...]

24Sep2007 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Does a golfer have to look for a lost golf ball?

Dear Golfers, I have gotten a ton of questions on golf rules the last few weeks. I know that the last post was also on a ruling, so just bear with us as I am trying to respond to as many of the questions that come in in the order received.
During a [...]

10Sep2007 | David Stargel | 7 comments | Continued
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Golf Nut, I have a golf rules question about your golf ball hitting a golf cart.

Here is the situation: We were playing in a foursome. One of the guys hit his golf ball out of the greenside bunker. The ball went over the green and hit his opponent’s golf cart and bounced about 30 yards past the cart. One of the golfers said that he was entitled [...]

5Sep2007 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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Is this a violation of the rules of golf?

Dear Golf Nut, I have an unusual way of marking my golf ball and lining up my putt. My playing partners say that it is a violation. Can you help? Basically I aim the putter head length-wise and perpendicular to the hole and then set my ball behind the putter with the [...]

6Aug2007 | David Stargel | 5 comments | Continued
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Which golf club can you use for a free or penalty drop

Dear Golf Nut, which golf club can you use for a free or penalty drop? My playing partner and I were having a disagreement about this rule. Can you help?

1Aug2007 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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Is my golf ball out of bounds?

Golf Nut, a friend and I are having a disagreement over whether a certain shot should be out of bounds. If a player slices his golf ball over an out of bounds area of the golf course and during the flight the ball curves back into the fairway, is the ball still [...]

25Jul2007 | David Stargel | 4 comments | Continued
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I have a question on the rules during match play

Golf Nut, in match play, if a team concedes a putt to Player 1 of oTeam B, can Player 1 go ahead and putt to show his partner the line? Or is this a violation of the rules of golf? Does Team B lose the hole?

6Jul2007 | David Stargel | 0 comments | Continued
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Rules question on golf balls

Golf Nut, I have a question about playing with different golf balls. When I have a difficult golf shot where water is definitely coming into play off the tee, I usually play an older golf ball. My playing partner said that I could not do that. Who is right?

29May2007 | David Stargel | 2 comments | Continued
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