Thwack. (Wedge meets concrete.)
Fifteen years of golf, thousands spent in lessons and equipment, yet he’s grinding metal on asphalt because nobody ever informed him about free relief from cart paths.
Most golfers assume the rules of golf exist solely to punish them. Dead wrong. Sometimes the rules are actually designed to help you.
Where weekend golfers throw away strokes
After almost 30 years of watching recreational players repeatedly make the same mistakes regarding the rules, I felt compelled to share the following with you.
These are seven situations where you can either save shots or get dinged with a costly penalty —depending, of course, on whether you know them or not.
1) Free relief from cart paths (plus everything else artificial)
Cart paths provide you with free relief. So do sprinkler heads, yardage stakes and markers, maintenance sheds and any other man-made and permanent structures.
The process is dead simple: Find the nearest spot where you get complete relief from interference. Drop within one club length. Not closer to the hole. Done.
It’s astounding how many players hack at balls sitting against sprinkler boxes or try chipping off concrete. The rules make a clear distinction between stuff that belongs on a golf course (trees, slopes, rough) and artificial junk that shouldn’t mess with your shot.
Don’t overthink it. To simplify, if humans built it and stuck it there permanently, you are entitled to free relief.
Important exception: If your ball is in a penalty area (water hazards, red/yellow staked areas), you don’t get free relief from artificial objects. You must either play it as it lies or take penalty relief under the penalty area rules.
2) Wind moving your ball isn’t your problem
A mind-blowing concept for most golfers: natural forces like wind, gravity, or ground settling never count as penalties.
Address your ball on the tee, wind gusts, and the ball moves three inches? Play it from the new spot — zero penalty strokes.
The same applies to greens. Mark your ball, replace it, and watch it roll two feet down a slope you didn’t notice? That’s where you putt from now. Mother Nature moved it, not you.
When YOU accidentally move the ball, it depends on the location:
On the green: No penalty for accidental contact. Whether your putter accidentally touches the ball during a practice stroke, or it slips from your hands and hits the ball — just replace it where it was. No penalty.
Off the green: Accidentally moving your ball (kicking it, club brushes it) is a one-stroke penalty, and you replace the ball. Exception: No penalty when searching for your ball.
Bottom line: Natural forces = free pass. Your accidental contact = depends on where you are.
3) Cleaning your ball is legal more often than you think
Any free relief situation = automatic ball cleaning privileges.
Taking relief from a cart path? Clean it first. Dropping from an unplayable lie? Clean it. Even relief from penalty areas lets you wipe off the mud before dropping, as well.
You can also substitute your ball entirely during any relief situation — swap out that scuffed ball for a fresh one if you want.
Why does this matter? Because mud changes everything. A caked-in mud ball flies shorter, curves unpredictably, and generally performs like garbage. Clean ball = predictable ball.
The next time you’re near artificial interference, check if cleaning is an option; usually, it is.
4) Provisional balls work for more than OB
Anywhere your ball might vanish into the Bermuda Triangle of golf course design, such as deep rough, thick trees, tall grass, they all count: you should hit a provisional ball. This “just-in-case” shot does not just apply to potential shots hit out of bounds.
Remember: the three-minute search rule applies whether you’re looking in bounds or out. Miss the fairway by 30 yards into grass taller than your ankles? You only get three minutes.
The beauty of a provisional ball saves you the hassle of trudging back to the tee when searching fails.
Critical detail: announce it clearly: “I’m playing a provisional ball.” Say it loud enough for your group to hear.
Failing to do so would result in a rules violation that’ll make your scorecard look like a phone number.
Side Note: The USGA has introduced a relatively new “model local rule” to preserve the pace of play and enjoyment of the game for recreational players. (Model Local Rule E-5).
This rule lets you take two penalty strokes and drop in the fairway near where your ball was lost or went out of bounds, instead of walking back to re-hit.
You estimate the lost ball spot, find the nearest fairway edge that’s not closer to the hole, then drop within two club-lengths of that edge or anywhere between there and the estimated spot.
5) Moving loose stuff (including in the sand)
This rule changed in 2019 along with several more. Most golfers missed the memo.
Leaves, twigs, stones, pine cones, dead insects … move them anywhere you want, including bunkers. Just don’t improve your lie in the sand while doing it.
Before this change, touching anything in a bunker meant an automatic penalty. Now you can clear debris like you’re doing spring cleaning, as long as the sand underneath stays in place.
This is a massive difference for anyone who has ever had to hit over leaf piles or from behind fallen branches. Suddenly, those spots are playable instead of automatic trouble.
However, there is one exception to remember: if the debris is still attached to something alive (such as a branch connected to a tree), hands off.
6) Plugged balls get free passes, everywhere
Ball buried in its own divot mark anywhere in the general playing area? Free relief, no questions.
This used to be limited to “closely mown” areas, such as fairways. Since 2019, it has been in effect anywhere except in penalty areas and bunkers.
Perfect approach shot that plugs six inches deep in soft ground? Mark the spot, lift and clean the ball, drop within one club length no closer to the hole. Easy peasy.
7) Green repairs go beyond ball marks
Obviously, you fix ball marks and hole plugs on the green. But cart tire damage? Animal prints? Maintenance equipment tracks? All fair game for repair.
The 2019 rule change expanded what constitutes fixable damage. The basic rule is that if it wasn’t due to natural conditions or normal play, you can repair it.
However, you cannot fix aeration holes, natural wear patterns or weather damage. Unfortunately, that stuff has to stay.
But that sprinkler head leak that left a muddy patch across your putting line? Fix away. Your ball shouldn’t have to navigate around maintenance problems.
Why this all matters
Golf is already punishing enough for the mistakes we make so we shouldn’t create extra ones through ignorance. The rules of golf are usually not the enemy but, rather, tools that keep the game fair and playable.
Mastering these seven situations can seriously help your game. More importantly, you’ll understand that sometimes the rulebook works in your favor.
You just have to be smart enough to know when and how to use it.
Bonus Tip: For a summary of this helpful article, click HERE
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