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 to replay the shot out of the bunker because he hit the opponents cart. Is this true?

Well, there is actually a specific ruling on hitting a golf cart if you can believe that. And knowing how golfers are, I can. First let’s look at the basic golf rule for a situation like this.

Rule 19-2 states that “If a player’s ball is accidentally deflected or stopped by an opponent, his caddie or his equipment, there is no penalty.” The golfer has the option to replay the shot or to play the ball as it lies. And decision 19/1 from the rules of golf identify a golf cart as equipment, whether motorized or not.

Now here is the rest of the golf rule: Rule 19-2 also states that “If a competitor’s golf ball is accidentally deflected or stopped by himself, his partner or either of their caddies or equipment, the competitor incurs a penalty of two strokes.” That is for stroke play, for match play the competitor loses the hole.

So my advice is to watch where you park your golf cart, and if, possible, try to influence where your opponent parks theirs!