Rules Guy: Can you take free relief from a mole hill?

The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.

My ball came to rest within an inch of a mole track — the mounded-up soil left by a burrowing mole — so I couldn’t hit the next shot without striking the mound. Free relief? — Gary Schlotterer, Durham, N.C.

We appreciate you invoking the mole, which is not a varmint in our book, rather than the cliched gopher.

To your query, ground pushed up resulting from an animal digging a hole underground gets treated the same way as a hole itself, namely, an abnormal course condition.

Free relief is allowed if the pushed-up ground interferes with your lie, stance or swing, unless the Committee has limited relief to only lie and swing by local rule. Please see Rule 16.1 and Definition of Animal Hole.

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For more animal-related guidance from our guru, read on …

As my friend and I were approaching his tee shot in the fairway, a fox trotted out of the woods, sniffed the ball and then urinated on it. Is my friend allowed to clean or replace the ball? — David Cole, via e-mail

Well, presumably unlike the now “marked” golf ball, the rules here are cut and dried. In equity, the player is entitled to the lie present when the ball came to rest.

Thus, your friend may lift and clean the ball. If there is, um, “casual water” present, the player can take relief under Rule 25-1, which also allows the ball to be cleaned (and disinfected).

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Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

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