A homeowner threw my wayward ball back at me. Now what?

The rules of golf are tricky! Thankfully, we have the guru. Our rules guys know the book from cover to cover. Have a question? He has all the answers.

On the stroke play, I drove the ball into an unstaketed bush with no stakes or markers. As we were riding we spotted a woman retrieving my balls from the bushes. She asked whose ball it was and threw it to me. Given that the ball was clearly in the bushes before being retrieved, I decided to provide lateral relief for the inability to kick. Another player in the group said there was an extra penalty for hitting the ball from the wrong place: His point was, I need to ask the woman to change the ball before it. After a calm discussion, he was voted down. Did we get it right? -Zolin, Brookshire, Texas

Sounds like it, despite the rules the guy will pay good money to see you asking the nice lady to put the ball back in the bush where she found it – that would have been a fool!

Rule 9.6 does require you to replace the ball when an outside influence moves it, but Rule 14.2C allows players to relax without replacing the ball first, in which case as long as the correct reference point (the ball’s original position) is known and used.

For more relief guidance from the masters, read on…

I hit a three-shot tee on the tee box on the next hole. As I was getting ready to hit my recovery shot, I noticed that the spacer was interfering with my intended swing. I informed my playing partners that I was on free relief. He said the gasket was a permanent structure and I had to play ball. Instead, I got the right amount of relief, didn’t get any closer to the hole, hit an amazing chip, and settled the putt for par. He said I should have made a bogey to lie. Who is right? -Matt Davis, Woodbury, Minnesota.

Matt, the answer depends on whether there is any fluid in the gasket. joke! The answer depends on whether the gasket is removable.

From your description it sounds like it’s permanently installed, in which case you have free relief as it interferes with your intended swing area under Rule 16.1A(1). Therefore, as long as the relief taken is correct (i.e., nearest point of relief, one club length, no holes nearby), there is no penalty.

It’s worth noting that another result would have been played from a wrong place, which would have given you a general penalty of 2 strokes instead of 1 because you had no intention of playing under the rules where you couldn’t compete. If the washing machine is in fact removable, that would also be the result, since the free relief allowed by a removable barrier is to move the object out of the way.