Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Here's the sitation: You're playing a golf course where large electrical towers or utility poles are posted, and electric wires are strung across one or more fairways. You tee the ball up, take a whack, and your beautiful shot flies straight into the overhead cables, deflecting away. Do you get to replay the stroke without penalty, or is it rub of the green and play the ball as it lies?

A: This situation falls broadly under Rule 33-8a; it's specifically addressed in Decision 33-8/13.

Rule 33-8a states:

"The Committee may establish Local Rules for local abnormal conditions if they are consistent with the policy set forth in Appendix I." (Appendix I is the appendix that covers Local Rules.)

So, broadly speaking, your local course or club can enact rules specific to conditions at your course, as long as they do so in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Appendix I (covering Local Rules) to the Rules of Golf.

Luckily, Decision 33-8/13 makes the proper course of action when your ball hits overhead cables more clear. That decision states:

"An overhead power line is so situated that a perfectly played shot can be deflected. Would it be proper for the Committee to make a Local Rule allowing a player whose ball is deflected by this power line to replay the stroke, without penalty, if he wishes."

Q: My Ball is Stuck in a Tree - What are My Options?

A: There are three options for continuing play when your ball gets stuck in a tree: play the ball as it lies; declare the ball unplayable; or take a lost ball.

Play It as It Lies
What this means, of course, is that you're willing to climb up into the tree and take a swing at the ball. And if you did, you wouldn't be the first. Nick Faldo famously played a ball from a tree once.

But the odds of coming up with a decent shot in such a scenario are mighty slim. The odds of further messing up the hole are much greater. So this option is best left to golfers who are even crazier than you.

Unplayable
You can declare the ball unplayable, take a one-stroke penalty and, most likely, drop within two club-lengths of the ball (there are other options for continuing under the unplayable rule, but this is the most likely to be used in this scenario).

The spot from which you measure the two club-lengths is that spot on the ground directly under where the ball rests in the tree.

But in order to use the unplayable option, you must be able to identify your ball. You can't just assume that it's up there somewhere, and you can't just assume that a ball you see in the tree is yours. You must positively identify it as yours.

That might mean trying to shake it loose from the tree, or climbing the tree simply to retrieve the ball for ID purposes. Before you do either, make sure you've announced your intention to treat the ball as unplayable. If you dislodge the ball without having made your intentions clear (to continue under the unplayable rule), you'll incur a penalty stroke (Ball at Rest Moved) and will be required to put the ball back in the tree! (Failure to replace a ball such moved would result in an additional 1-stroke penalty.)

So make sure you identify your ball before continuing under the unplayable option, and make sure you declare your intentions before retrieving or dislodging the ball from the tree.

Lost Ball
Of course, you may not be able to find a ball that has lodged in a tree, even if you know it's there. The only option then is to declare a lost ball. (Ball Lost or Out of Bounds). The lost ball penalty is stroke-and-distance; that means assessing a one-stroke penalty and returning to the spot of the previous stroke, where you must replay the shot.

Even if you see a ball up in the tree, you'll have to take a lost ball penalty unless you can positively identify it as yours.