(Foursomes) In a mixed competition, your tee shot goes out of bounds. Because its alternate shot, does your teammate hit the next shot from your tee or the tee she normally plays from?
From your tee your partner must play from the same tee she did. Had she hit her first shot out of bounds, you would be hitting three from her tee box.

(Four-ball) You and your teammate both hit into the same greenside bunker. If he removes a pebble that is in the path of your intended swing - but not his - does your side lose the hole?
Yes, your partner was in violation of Rule 13-4, which prohibits moving loose impediments in a hazard when his ball lies in the same hazard. Your side loses the hole. (Decision 30-3f/1)

(Singles) If your opponent says "your putt is good," but you putt anyway and miss, does the missed putt count?
No, rule 2-4 says that after a concession is made, the player given the concession "is considered to have holed out."

If your opponent marks your ball on the green without asking your permission, is he or she penalised?
Yes, According to Rule 18-3b states that there is a one-stroke penalty for moving an opponent's ball at rest.

In singles, if your opponent says "your putt is good," but you putt anyway and miss, does the putt count?
No, Rule 2-4 says that after a concession is made, the player given the concession "is considered to have holed out."

In foursomes, can you intentionally whiff a shot so your big hitting teammate can carry a water hazard on the hole?
No, because there was no intention to hit the ball, your swing is not, by definition, a stroke. (Decision 29 2/3.5)

In a singles game, what is the maximum number of holes your match can be adjusted if you carry more than 14 clubs in your bag?
Two holes. That's the maximum adjustment, according to Rule 4-4.

If your partner is running late in your fourball, can you take on your two opponents alone?
Yes, according to Rule 30-3a, "a side may be represented by one partner for all or any part of a match."

In a four-ball (better-ball) match, can your side play in any order, no matter who is the farthest from the hole?
Yes, Rule 30-3b states: “Balls belonging to the same side may be played in order the side considers best.”

In a foursomes match, you just miss a short putt to lose a hole, so you stay there for a few minutes practising the same putt. Your team mate hits the next tee shot. Is this allowed?
No, your side would lose the hole for breach of Rule 7-2, which states you may not practice during the play of a hole.

Your tee shot rockets down the middle of the fairway, but the ball strikes a post that indicates the 150-metre mark and ricochets out-of-bounds. What is the ruling?
A yardage or direction post is considered part of the course, and it's the "rub of the green" that the ball was deflected out-of-bounds. You have to play your third shot from the teeing area.

You find a range ball next to your ball and notice the driving range is next to the hole you are playing. While waiting to hit your shot, you casually knock the ball with your club back onto the range. Penalty or no penalty?
As long as you casually flick the ball back onto the range, and do not make a swing that could be determined as practice, there is no penalty.

To speed play while playing a match in a club tournament, you and your opponent agree to concede all putts “inside the leather.” Your caddie overhears the deal-making and interrupts to say the Rules don’t allow your arrangement. Is such an agreement permissible?
A player may concede his opponent’s next stroke at any time provided the opponent’s ball is at rest (Rule 2-4). However, players must not agree to exclude the operation of any Rule or to waive any penalty incurred (Rule 1-3). The penalty in match play is disqualification of both players.

Before a match, Player A tells Player B that they should come up with a standard length for gimmie putts so that they don’t have to debate it later. Player B agrees, suggesting it should be the length of the putter grip. Is this allowed?
No. Both players would be disqualified. The only stroke that can be conceded is the next strike. (Decision 1-2/7)

Player A appears to hook his drive into a bush. He says he’s not going to look for it and hits another. Walking down the fairway, only three minutes later, he finds his ball sitting in a bunker. Can he play it?
No. Player A played a second ball without declaring it as a “provisional” ball. The second ball is in play, and the original ball is lost.

Player A has hit his ball on a cartpath and is entitled to relief. Instead of going back to his bag, which is about 25 feet away, he asks player B if he can borrow his driver to measure the one-club distance. Is player A allowed to do this?
Yes, he doesn't incur a penalty as long as the spot on which the ball was dropped could have been reached with one of his clubs. (Decision 20/2)

A player leaves his bag on the fairway so he doesn't have to carry it all the way back to the tee. After he hits his tee shot out-of-bounds, he realises that he doesn't have another ball in his pocket. He asks his playing partner if he can borrow one. Is this allowed?
Yes. The rules do not prevent a player from borrowing anything but golf clubs from another player playing on the golf course.

Neither player A nor player B brand their golf balls with an identification mark before the start of the round. When they hit their tee shots into the same area, they can’t identify their golf balls. Are both balls considered lost?
Yes, because neither player could identify his ball, both are considered lost. Re-tee under penalty of a stroke and distance.

If player A is in a matchplay championship that begins at 11am (Note that Rule 6-3 is in effect.) He shows up at 11:02, but his opponent doesn't arrive at the first tee until 11:04. Does player A win the hole?
No. The hole is halved, and the players should go to the second tee. (Decision 6-3a/3)

You try to stop your swing when you see your ball start to topple off the tee, but you lightly tap the back of the ball and the ball rolls forward. What do you do?
A stroke was made at the ball, so the player does not have the option of re-teeing without penalty. The stroke counts, but there is no penalty.

You hit your ball into a bunker that is covered by leaves. After removing a few so you can see part of the ball, you make a backswing that touches a few of the remaining leaves. What's the ruling?
A backswing is not considered part of the stroke, so it is a penalty to touch a loose impediment during the backswing. However, you are allowed to remove enough leaves to see a portion of the ball before you make a stroke in a hazard.

A golf cart is considered part of your equipment, meaning if your ball strikes it, its a one-stroke penalty in match play. But what if you're sharing a cart with your apponent in match play and he'e moving the cart when you hit it. Are you penalised?
If your opponent is moving the cart when the incident occurs, there is no penalty, and you have the option of playing the ball where it lies or cancelling and replaying the shot.

You about to putt for birdie from off the green when you notice a pitch mark on the fringe in your path. You also notice the sod from the divot is nearby. Can you fill the divot with the sod to putt over the spot without interference from the divot?
No. Rule 13-2 prohibits a player from improving the line of play by eliminating a surface irregularity.

Two players are all square through 15 holes when the skies open and it begins to pour. Player A wants to keep playing, but Player B doesn't. If Player B leaves the course, the match is...
Over. Player B is disqualified for not completing the match.

After hitting your ball into a lateral water hazard and tossing another one down where your original ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. You realise that you didn't take a proper drop. You pick it up, hold it at shoulder height and arm's length, drop it and play on. Penalty or no penalty?
Under Rule 20-6, a ball incorrectly dropped but not played may be lifted without penalty, and the player must then proceed correctly. No penalty.

During a match, you swing at a ball buried in the rough, but you miss it. The ball doesn't move. You look down and notice that it isn't your ball. You find your ball nearby and play on. What's the ruling?
A stroke is defined as the forward moving of the club with the intention of hitting the golf ball. It does not matter whether the ball was struck. The loss of hole in match play or two-stroke penalty comes from playing the wrong ball.

You hit a ball into the bank of a lake that has been marked as a lateral water hazard. You think you see the ball resting in the hazard, but just to be sure, you tee up another ball, declare it a "provisional" and rifle one into the fairway. That ball you just hit is...
If a ball is in a hazard, a player cannot opt to play a provisional ball. The minute another stroke is played from the tee, the original ball is lost, and the new ball is in play.

You’re at a corporate golf outing, playing in a four-man team best ball. While waiting for your turn to putt on a difficult green, your caddie takes your putter and demonstrates how you should swing it to make the putt. You hole the putt - but have you just violated a rule?
A player may always seek and accept advice from his caddie, provided there is no undue delay (Rule 8-1).

Your ball comes to rest next to a tree with low-hanging branches. Keeping both hands on the grip, you back into a tree to take your stance in the least intrusive manner. A branch breaks because of your actions. Your opponent says you’re in breach of Rule 13-2 and should incur a penalty. You say no penalty has been incurred. Who’s right?
You are. If a player deliberately uses his hands, feet or body to bend, braid or break a branch in order to take his stance or see the ball, he is in breach of Rule 13-2 and incurs the general penalty. However, a player is entitled to "fairly take his stance" (Decision 13-2/1). Therefore, if the player keeps both his hands on the grip of the club and backs into a tree to take his stance in the least intrusive manner and in the process branches bend or break, no breach of the Rule has occurred.

A player takes a rake into a bunker so that he can smooth his footprints after playing from the bunker. He sticks the handle of the rake into the sand prior to playing his stroke. Is this permissible?
Sticking the handle of the rake into the sand constitutes testing the condition of a hazard, which is prohibited when the ball lies in the hazard (Rule 13-4).

During a stroke-play event on a course with numerous water hazards, you run out of balls. May you borrow one or more balls from another player? a) No, your only chance to avoid a DQ is to run like heck to the pro shop and return with a new supply of balls without delaying play. b) Yes, you can borrow golf balls during a stipulated round.
Rule 4-4a prohibits a player from borrowing a club from another player playing on the course, but the Rules do not prevent a player from borrowing other items of equipment, such as balls, tees or gloves from another player or outside agency. (Note: If the “One Ball” Condition in Appendix I is in effect, the player would need to obtain the same brand and type of ball as required by that condition.)

A man and a woman are playing in a mixed league match play format. One hole on the course is a par 5 for women (from the red tees) and a par 4 for men (from the white tees). If the woman, playing from the red tees, records a par 5, and the man, playing from the white tees, records a par 4, who wins the hole?
The player who completes the hole with the fewest strokes wins the hole (Rule 2-1).

Two players’ balls are on the fringe of the green. Player A’s ball is farther away; he asks his opponent to mark because he wants to putt rather than chip and the other ball is in his line. Player B refuses to mark his ball, saying he doesn’t have to since they are both off the green. What is the correct ruling?
If a player believes that the ball of another player might interfere with his play, he may ask that it be lifted (Rule 22-2). Thus, Player B was required to mark and lift his ball when asked to do so by Player A, regardless of whether it was on or off the green. If Player B refuses to comply with a Rule affecting the rights of another competitor in stroke play, he is disqualified (Rule 3-4). In match play, Player B loses the hole.

You’re playing a match against a friend. He drops you off at your ball and starts to drive the golf cart to his ball when you hit a shot that caroms off the tire. Penalty or no penalty?
Two people riding in the same cart share that cart (which is considered to be equipment). Because your opponent was driving, the shared cart was his equipment at the time he was moving it. Therefore, your ball struck his equipment, for which there is no penalty in match play. You may play your ball as it lies or cancel and replay the stroke, without penalty (Rule 19-3).

During a stroke-play event on a course with numerous water hazards, you run out of balls. May you borrow one or more balls from another player? a) No, your only chance to avoid a DQ is to run back to the pro shop and return with a new supply of balls without delaying play. b) Yes, you can borrow golf balls during a stipulated round.
Rule 4-4a prohibits a player from borrowing a club from another player playing on the course, but the Rules do not prevent a player from borrowing other items of equipment, such as balls, tees or gloves from another player or outside agency. (Note: If the “One Ball” Condition in Appendix I is in effect, the player would need to obtain the same brand and type of ball as required by that condition.)

A friend accidentally was waggling his club in front of him when he struck his ball off the toe and sent it flying perpendicular to his target line, into high grass. He dropped another and said there was no penalty because he did not intend to make a stroke. Ruling?
It’s true that a “stroke” in golf is defined as “the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking the ball.” But intension isn’t all. If you hit a low screamer into the bushes, you can’t re-hit by claiming that wasn’t what you “intended” to do. And even though your friend did not make a stroke, he did move his ball, and the penalty for moving a ball in play is one stroke and the ball must be replaced. The only time that you can get away with a tee shot, a ball hit accidentally on the tee is not yet in play.

Your shot lands in a pond on a par 3. You hit another just short of the green only to discover the hole has a drop area. Can you forget about your second tee shot and play from the drop area?
No. Not being aware of the drop area doesn't entitle you to a do-over. Always check before hitting another ball from the tee.

A friend accidentally was waggling his club in front of him when he struck his ball off the toe and sent it flying perpendicular to his target line, into high grass. He dropped another and said there was no penalty because he did not intend to make a stroke. Ruling?
It’s true that a “stroke” in golf is defined as “the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking the ball.” But intension isn’t all. If you hit a low screamer into the bushes, you can’t re-hit by claiming that wasn’t what you “intended” to do. And even though your friend did not make a stroke, he did move his ball, and the penalty for moving a ball in play is one stroke and the ball must be replaced. The only time that you can get away with a tee shot, a ball hit accidentally on the tee is not yet in play.

Your shot lands in a pond on a par 3. You hit another just short of the green only to discover the hole has a drop area. Can you forget about your second tee shot and play from the drop area?
No. Not being aware of the drop area doesn't entitle you to a do-over. Always check before hitting another ball from the tee.