[Abraham]

Fourputt hasn't been around since November.

[Vkowefek]

Here is the definition of putting green from usga.org:

Putting Green
The “putting green’’ is all ground of the hole being played that is specially
prepared for putting or otherwise defined as such by the Committee. A ball is
on the putting green when any part of it touches the putting green.

I agree (as I said, I never thought otherwise), but it came up yesterday and I figured if anybody'd know a weird decision somewhere it'd be someone here.

[VowJoyday]

Mind if I hijack this as well?

Say you're playing and hit a nice shot..say..just right of the fairway. You know it's there, and are happy with the shot. Now the other 3 golfers in your group hit, and also hit their 2nd shots before you get to your ball. Problem is..you can't find it. You know where you hit it..but you can't find it. My 2 questions are..

1) What do you do? You know where you hit it..but for whatever reason..you can't find it. Do you take a penalty stroke and drop it...where?

2) You also noticed there are other golfs on another hole..and they might have possibly taken your ball..what do you do?

[Tamawaipsemek]

Mind if I hijack this as well?

Say you're playing and hit a nice shot..say..just right of the fairway. You know it's there, and are happy with the shot. Now the other 3 golfers in your group hit, and also hit their 2nd shots before you get to your ball. Problem is..you can't find it. You know where you hit it..but you can't find it. My 2 questions are..

1) What do you do? You know where you hit it..but for whatever reason..you can't find it. Do you take a penalty stroke and drop it...where?

2) You also noticed there are other golfs on another hole..and they might have possibly taken your ball..what do you do?

To 1... It's a lost ball penalty and I believe you have to re-hit it (though that's difficult in a public course type setting)

To 2... Track them down and give them a one-two piece.

[AlissBart]

To 1... It's a lost ball penalty and I believe you have to re-hit it (though that's difficult in a public course type setting)

To 2... Track them down and give them a one-two piece.

Yeah, you are supposed to play it as a lost ball, and re-hit from teh previous location.

[psbiuigw]

Maybe a spectator picked it up... He should get a free drop in the area he believes it landed - that's what Tiger got

[VowJoyday]

Maybe a spectator picked it up... He should get a free drop in the area he believes it landed - that's what Tiger got

That's how I've played if I knew someone picked it up. Nothing more frustrating than that!

[Tamawaipsemek]

It's also easier if you have 15 marshals with little red flags to mark where it is. Some rules are much easier to follow in tourny play than in real (public course) life.

[tiereenny]

Can also drop anywhere on that 30 yd line from the tee to where it went in, I believe. If you didn't want to hit off a steep bank. Still hitting 3 no matter which.

You have three option 1. Re-tee 2. Two clubs from point of entry (already mentioned by others) 3. Keep the point of entry between you and the flag and go back as far as you want on that line. There is another option that is rarely used so I don't waste your time

Yellow stakes for a Hazard, red for a lateral hazard. Hazards are lateral if the committee determines there is no practical way to drop behind the hazard as per Rule 26/1b. (Keeping the point of entry between you and the flag.)

Back to the original question yes, play from where the last stroke was played under penalty of stroke and distance (the first one counts). Or keep the point where your ball entered between you and the flag and drop anywhere along that line you wish.

Two clarifications, one response was that the golfer had the option to drop anywhere along the flight of the ball to the hazard which is a common misconception. As many have pointed out, you may drop as far back as you want as long as the point where your ball entered the hazard is between you and the flag.

Thanks for the clarification on that. I don't know where I got that one turned around but I'm glad I know now.

[Unakjyfk]

I'm usually fairly knowledgeable when it comes to the rules of the game, but I had an incident that came up during our round this afternoon that I had no clue how to answer. The guy I was playing with was playing a Titleist Pro V1 number 2 with a logo of a company I had never heard of. I know you are supposed to have some kind of distinguishable marking on your ball and he was using the logo as that marking. He hit his second shot on a hole just left of the green and it ran down the hill just past the hazard line. It was still very much playable. When we located his ball, it was sitting right next to another Titleist Pro V1 number 2 ball with the same logo. We had no idea which ball was his. Both balls were sitting just past the hazard line, but both were playable and had very similar lies. What is the ruling for that situation?