Addressing the Ball – A player has “addressed the ball” when she has taken his stance and has also grounded her club, except that in a hazard a player has addressed the ball when she has taken her stance.
Advice – “Advice” is any counsel or suggestion that could influence a player in determining her play, the choice of a club, or the method of making a stroke.
Information on the rules or on matters of public information, such as the position of hazards or the flagstick on the putting green or if a hole doglegs right or left, is not advice.
Ball in Play – A ball is “in play” as soon as the player has made a stroke on the teeing ground. If you accidentally knock the ball off of the tee, you may re-tee the ball without penalty. The ball is not in play until you make an attempt to strike the ball.
Casual Water – “Casual Water” is any temporary accumulation of water on the course that is visible before or after the player takes her normal stance and is not in a water hazard. Pressing down with the foot to cause water to show up is not considered taking your normal stance.
Complete Relief – If you are taking a drop from an obstruction, abnormal ground condition, or a wrong putting green, you must take complete relief. Complete relief means that you no long are affected by the situation by your stance or swing.
Equipment – “Equipment” is anything used, worn, or carried by or for the player except any ball she has played at the hole being played and any small object, such as a coin or a tee, when used to mark the position of a ball or the extent of an area in which a ball is to be dropped. Equipment includes a golf cart, whether or not motorized.
Lateral Water Hazard – A “Lateral Water Hazard” is a water hazard or that part of a water hazard so situated that it is not possible or is deemed by the Committee to be impracticable to drop a ball behind the water hazard in accordance with Rule 26-1b.
That part of a water hazard to be played as a lateral water hazard should be distinctively marked. A ball is in a lateral water hazard when it lies in or any part of it touches the lateral water hazard.
Loose Impediments – “Loose Impediments” are natural objects including: stones, leaves, twigs, branches, and the like, dung, worms and insects and casts or heaps made by them, providing they are not: fixed or growing, solidly embedded, or adhering to the ball.
Sand and loose soil are loose impediments on the putting green, but not elsewhere.
Lost Ball – A ball is deemed “lost” if:
- It is not found or identified as her ball by the player within the five minutes after the player’s side or her or their caddies have begun to search for it; or
- The player has made a stroke at a substituted ball; or The player has made a stroke at a provisional ball from the place where the original ball is likely to be or from a point nearer the hole than that place.
Move or Moved – A ball is deemed to have “moved” if it leaves its position and comes to rest in another place.
Nearest Point of Relief – The nearest point of relief is the reference point for taking relief without penalty from interference by an immovable obstruction, and abnormal ground condition, or a wrong putting green. It is the point on the course nearest to where the ball lies that is not nearer the hole and provides complete relief.
Obstructions – An obstruction is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice, EXCEPT:
Objects defining out of bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes, and railings. Any part of an immovable artificial object that is out of bounds, and Any construction declared by the committee to be an integral part of the course.
Out of Bounds – “Out of Bounds” is beyond the boundaries o the course or any part of the course so marked by the committee. The ball is out of bounds when all of it lies out of bounds. You are not permitted to move an out of bounds stake in order to play a shot.
Provisional Ball – A provisional ball is a ball played under Rule 27-2 for a ball that may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds.
Water Hazard – A water hazard is any sea, lake, pond, river, ditch, surface drainage ditch, or other open water course, whether or not containing water, and anything similar in nature on the course. A ball is in a water hazard when it lies in or any part of it touches the water hazard.