I would play 2 balls. Go back and re tee one of them and play the ball as it lies for the other but not grounding the club in case it is ruled as lateral and then figure that out after.

A similar thing happened in a group after me in a tourney I was in that delayed play for like 20 minutes, some guy bombed the ball over a lateral hazard into the parking lot and someone saw it was in parking lot not hazard with no listing of the parking lot being OB. No clue what the ruling ended up being but they wasted a lot of time to figure it out.

What's the ruling here:

Course I play has 2 holes where the 150 marker is a white pole sticking out of the ground in the middle of the fairway. It's high enough that your ball could hit it if it landed close enough. I hit a drive that landed about 5 yards behind the pole and it was right in my line of fire to the flag. Do I get a free drop here? If so, where would I drop?

The pole is immovable.

Yes, free drop within one club length from your nearest point of relief.

Don't think that's right. If it's not a temporary obstruction and doesn't affect your stance or swing you gotta play it as it lies.

Everywhere I've ever played with those, you can pull them out and move them. That's weird that they'd be immovable, are they cemented in or something?

Don't see how you could call it out of bounds, how would you determine where the OB started?

Are there stakes on both sides of this hazard or just on the side closest to the fairway?

Agree. Similar to a sprinkler box, you get relief from stance and swing but not line of flight. Any course that has 150 poles cemented in must have a moron in charge.

This. All dependent on if there are red stakes on both sides of the hazard. If there are stakes only on the fairway side then your ball is in the hazard and you can proceed accordingly. If there are stakes on both sides of the hazard then your ball is in play and you can proceed accordingly.

Hazard stakes just on the inside (closest to the fairway). I will post what I did in the am.

I ended up using #3 above, playing it as if it was in a lateral water hazard. At that point in the round I was at +7 through 12 holes so I had no realistic chance of winning anything.

I think if I was in it I would have done two things:
1) Re-tee and play the hole out and;
2) Drop a ball as if it was a lateral water hazard and play the hole out.

After the round I would have received a ruling as to what score to use.

The lie was really bad but I thought why no try and advance it, which I didn't, as I hit it right back into the lateral hazard. I took a drop and still had 230y to the green. Ended up making a quad.

Here's one I have never heard of before. It happened in a friendly game at the local muni. But I wonder what the correct ruling would have been if this, somehow, occurred in an official tournament.

Hole 8, long par 4. One of our foresome, call him Fred, is on the tee. He tees up his ball. He invariably takes two practice swings on every tee. On his second practice swing he must have been standing a little too close to the ball and he just barely grazes the ball! The ball shoots off at a nearly 90-degree angle from the tee, going right over our golf cart.

We all laughed uncontrollably and Fred was as red-faced as anyone I have ever seen. He trudged after the ball and played it where it lay. It was only about 50 yards due right from the teeing ground and was actually very playable (don't worry about it being out of bounds or anything like that).

After the round we were yukking it up in the clubhouse when someone overheard our conversation about poor Fred hitting a tee ball with a practice swing. He told us that Fred need not have played that shot since he was not intending to hit it with that swing. (Some of us were pretty sure that was correct.) No penalty shot or anything. Just tee up another ball and hit away.

However, given that he did play that "foul ball", did Fred violate any rule by playing that ball? We asked a few of the more knowledgeable folks at the muni, but nobody had a definitive answer.

OB question:

What is the rule if your ball is clearly beyond the boundaries of the course, but these boundaries are not marked in any way AND no local rule exists to define the boundary of the course? For instance, say your ball lies 50 yards into someone's personal property, but there are no markings or local rules defining this as OB?

As far as I can tell, you have the right to play the ball as the Rules of Golf only mention "marked" boundaries and local rules that define boundaries. Absent a marking or local rule it seems like there is no boundary. Is this correct?

On the tee, if he didn't intend to hit the ball, he doesn't have to play it. Anywhere else on the hole you have to play it. (The ball isn't in play on the hole until you tee off)

Not sure how it's ruled for actually playing it.

Here's a pic.

Yeah I guess you can. I wonder if a no trespassing sign would make it OB. It is one of those things they always make clear before a tournament though.

I have never ever ever played a course where you can't remove them. How do they mow the fairway near them? I would figure out a way to move that **** if it was an issue.

If you unintentionally hit the ball it's a 1 stroke penalty and you have to replace it, with the exception being if you are on the tee there is no penalty.

https://www.thoughtco.com/accidental...e-ball-1561299

I think the ruling is the guy is DQ'd for not hitting his first shot from the tee

This is correct. The guy would not be DQ'd, he would be penalized however.

And the "guys at the muni" were not very knowledgeable.

Any ball hit off the property of the golf course is OB.

From the USGA rule book definitions: "Out of bounds" is beyond the boundaries of the course or any part of the course so marked by the Committee.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/you...-pga-tour-card

2 stroke penalty for not rehitting a putt after a leaf knocked if offline. What is that BS??

It's in the rule book in black and white, he broke it. Simple.

Admittedly, this has happened to me in a casual game and I didn't know the rule until this weekend.

It shouldn't be in the rule book. It's nature.

Didn't some random leaf (or something similar) fall out of the sky and stop or knock off line a putt by mickelson at the masters a couple years ago? I don't remember him replaying it.

Nevermind, looks like it fell right before his backstroke and wasn't moving.

https://youtu.be/8bc2HC3Q-GQ

are baseball hitting gloves legal for USGA play?

many baseball gloves are pretty similar to golf gloves (summer, winter or rain... i.e. some are tacky, some are not)... but some have alot of rubberized material on the palm.....

thx in advance.. i think i know the answer but not sure.

Appendix IV - Devices and Other Equipment Gloves (Rule 14-3) Gloves may be worn to assist the player in gripping the club, provided they are plain.... A "plain" glove must not incorporate: material on the gripping surface or inside of the glove, the primary purpose of which is to provide padding or which has the effect of providing padding.... Padding is defined as an area of glove material which is more than 0.025 inches (0.635 mm) thicker than the adjacent areas of the glove without the added material; Note: Material may be added for wear resistance, moisture absorption or other functional purposes, provided it does not exceed the definition of padding (see above)....
Rules and Decisions |http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-...le-21474844050

can someone "cliff notes" the leaf putting incident? thx

on the "no white stakes but common sense OB", i played with a crazy guy who played off the shoulder of a quite busy road cause of poor marking.

my home course has a hole with this issue and it's red staked. so it's not even ambiguous.