Rules Guy: An OB stake is hindering my swing. Can I move it without penalty?

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Recently I found myself at a local golf course where my ball landed in bounds but the out-of-bounds post would hinder my swing. As I have done with a red hazard post, I pulled it out of the ground, hit my ball and replaced it back where it was. My playing partner said I incurred a two-stroke penalty as the post was not in bounds and for that reason could not be moved. —Bob Wackerman, San Mateo, Calif.

Bob, your playing partner got the ruling correct even if his explanation wasn’t precisely on point.

Since it is a boundary object, an out-of-bounds stake isn’t treated the same way as a penalty-area stake. Boundary objects are considered fixed and, under Rule 8.1a(1), may not be moved if doing so improves one of your conditions affecting the stroke, such as your area of intended swing.

When you removed the stake, you had the chance to avoid penalty by replacing it prior to making the stroke (see Rule 8.1c), but once you made the stroke with your area of intended swing improved by the stake’s absence, you got the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play for a breach of Rule 8.1a.

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Now that this answer has been, er, posted, we hope others won’t make the same stake miss, uh, mistake.

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

If a retention pond isn’t staked, is it still considered to be a water hazard? —Paul Neubert, Surfside Beach, S.C.

The Zen philosopher Ty Webb once said, “A flute with no holes is not a flute. A donut with no hole is a Danish.”

Similarly (or perhaps dissimilarly — it’s hard to say), Decision 26/3 clarifies that if a water hazard is unmarked by the committee it does not lose its status as a water hazard. Hit into it, and you can still take relief under the water hazard rule … or, better yet, don’t hit into it.

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