Rules of Golf Quiz #11

Answer to Rules Quiz #10

Before hitting his shot William pulled up an out of bound stake that interfered with his intended
swing, but his partner informed him that was not permitted under the rules and was subject to
the general penalty (2 strokes). Since William replaced the OB stake before making his next
stroke, he was able to avoid the penalty. Rule 8.1c allows a player to eliminate any
improvements by restoring the original conditions; specifically mentioning “replacing a
boundary object, returning a tree branch or grass, or an immovable obstruction to its original
position after it had been moved”. Rule 8.1c goes on to state “a player cannot avoid penalty if
the improvement is not eliminated, or the player tries to use anything other than the original
object to restore the condition. (ex. using tape to repair a broken branch).

Rules Quiz #11

After hitting his approach shot into the green, Miguel found his ball landed on the
fringe which left a big pitch mark between his ball and the hole. Even though his ball lies on the
fringe, Miguel figures his best play is to putt so he wants to repair his pitch mark and restore
the smooth surface. Do the Rules of Golf permit this?