An OB pin is getting in the way of my swing. Can I move it without penalty?

The Rules of Golf Are Complicated! Thankfully, we have the teacher. our Rules Guy knows the book inside out. Have a question? He has all the answers.

I recently found myself on a local golf course where my ball landed in bounds, but the out of bounds tee would block my swing. As I have done with a red hazard post, I pulled it off the ground, hit the ball and put it back where it was. My playing partner said I took a two stroke penalty as the pin was out of bounds and therefore could not be moved. -Bob Wackerman, San Mateo, California.

Bob, your playing partner got the decision right even if his explanation wasn’t exactly on point.

Since it is a boundary object, an out-of-bounds action is not treated in the same way as a penalty area pin. Boundary objects are considered fixed and, under Rule 8.1a(1), cannot be moved if this improves one of your conditions that affects the stroke, such as target movement area.

When you removed the stake, you had the option of avoiding the penalty by replacing it before taking the stroke (see rule 8.1c), but once you made the stroke with your target swing area enhanced by the absence of the stake, you incurred the general two-stroke penalty in stroke play or losing the hole in match play for a breach of Rule 8.1a.

Now that this answer has been posted, ah, we hope others won’t make the same move to lose, uh, wrong.

For more pin instructions from our teacher, read on…

If a retention pond is not endangered, is it still considered a water hazard? — Paul Neubert, Surfside Beach, SC

Zen philosopher Ty Webb once said, “A flute without holes is not a flute. A donut without holes is a Danish.”

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

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