2008 #16 Things Your Ball Should Not Hit

In Rules Tip #9 you learned that you would be penalized if your ball hit your partner’s equipment. One of our members asked what other things your ball should not hit. So, I made the following list:

You would incur a 2-STROKE PENALTY in stroke play and a LOSS OF HOLE PENALTY in match play in all of the following scenarios.

   If your ball, from on the putting green,
       struck the flag, in the hole, unattended.

   If your ball:
       struck the person attending 

            or holding up the flagstick

          or anything carried by her

   If your ball:
       struck the flag
           when attended or
           when removed (lying on the ground) or
           when held up

You would incur a 1-STROKE PENALTY in both stroke play and match play in the following scenario:

   If your ball
       struck you, your partner, 

            either of your caddies 

         or equipment.

You would incur a 2-STROKE PENALTY in stroke play in the following scenario.

   If your ball,
       putted from on the green, struck another 

            ball lying on the green.

  (Stroke play only. No penalty at all in match play)

That is a lot for you to remember. But basically it concerns only 3 things:
the flag, putting and a partner.

All of this can be found in Rules #17 and #19.