Rules of the Game: Some one-stroke penalties that can sneak up on you, some may seem unfair

It’s amazing how fast a par can become a bogey when an eagle-eyed member of the group says, “Hey, did you mark your ball before you rolled it over out on the fairway to be sure it was yours?”

Now, you know you didn’t, but with the new rules a couple of years ago, you were pretty sure that was okay now, so you respond, “Of course not, you don’t need to anymore. The rules are way better now.”

Dang, I wish it weren’t so, but you just got a one stroke penalty for moving your ball in play. ‘Sigh.’ The Rules of Golf did become a lot more player friendly, but that’s not one. Here are a few others that many players have wished would go away but haven’t yet.

• You accidentally move your ball when you address it in the rough, or on the fairway or in a penalty area or a bunker. Now you have a one stroke penalty and must replace your ball. The confusion here arises because the penalties for accidental movement of the ball on the putting green have all been eliminated and in our celebration of that many golfers have assumed that it applies everywhere on the golf course. Not yet and maybe never.

• You rotate your ball on the putting green to align it without marking it. This isn’t accidental movement, so add a penalty stroke.

• Your ball is on the fringe of the putting green and you are pretty sure it could be in the way for another player so as you walk over to mark and pick it up you casually say, “I’ll just mark that and lift it out of your way.” You just received a one-stroke penalty for being nice. Doesn’t seem at all fair, but it’s the Rules of Golf and as a good friend has been known to say, “Fair is where you take a pig.” Think on it, you’ll get it.

• Your back is feeling a little tired from carrying your partner all day so on the sixteenth hole you simply roll your ball back into position in front of your ball marker with your putter. Oops, another one stroke penalty. The Rules of Golf require that you replace it with your hand.

• Staying on the putting green…. you can’t find your favorite ball marker so you put a leaf into the position to serve as a ball marker and lift your ball. Sorry, this used to be acceptable, but the ball marker needs to be a small man-made item. Another one- stroke penalty.

• You just hit what you thought was a monster drive but your ball performed mid-air gymnastics and went about half as far as you expected or hoped. Must be cut. You lift your ball anywhere other than the putting green to see whether it is cut or cracked. There is mud on it so you clean it so you can see the entire surface. Oh, no, you guessed it; a one-stroke penalty. The Rule? You cannot clean it at all to see if it is cut or cracked. I know, that seems a little over the top, after all how can you see through mud? But, think it through…. can you imagine how many golfers would be “just checking to see if my ball is cut or cracked” every spring or rainy day if we let them clean their ball each time?! Everyone that I know would be! Just a note to remember, the rules no longer allow a ball that “is out of round” to be taken out of play as the ball manufacturers say the modern balls are constructed such that this no longer happens.

Hopefully there’s a nugget or two here that you can win a bar bet with. Curious about more one-stroke penalties? Check them out at usga.org/rules