Rules Guy: What do you do when you chunk it so bad, the ball gets stuck in the grass on your clubhead?

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.

When my opponent attempted to play his shot from a tall fescue area, a clump of grass tangled around the clubhead … but there was no sign of the ball. After he’d taken at least two steps back toward the fairway, the ball fell out of the clump and into much lighter rough. We were perplexed. Play it as it lies? Take a drop — and, if so, from where? Penalty? — Carl Herbermann, Annapolis, Md.

Ah, the old hidden-ball trick. First off, and this should be obvious, the stroke itself counts.

Secondly, while it’s a question of fact whether or not the ball was in motion when it got stuck, in the end that doesn’t matter because relief is the same either way.

Whether you’re operating under Rule 11.1b exception 1 (ball coming to rest on any person, animal or moving outside influence) or Rule 15.2a(2) (ball in or on a movable obstruction), you drop the ball within one club length of the spot directly under where the ball first got stuck to the club, no nearer the hole.

There is no penalty, which would be adding insult to injury.

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

I was tending the flag with my hand behind my back, facing away from the fairway approach. Suddenly, I heard a thud and felt a ball land in the crook of my left little finger and the flag. What should I have done in this situation? What I did was to just drop the ball straight down and walk away. I told the apologetic golfer what I had done and left the stroke question to their foursome. 
— Tom McCumsey, Bremerton, Wash.

Kudos to you and your self-control, Tom, for not taking that flagstick and, well, you know, impaling this accurate but awful golfer … Not even a “Fore!”???

As to the rules of the situation, what you did was fine. As to the player, there is no penalty, etiquette breach notwithstanding; because the ball accidentally came to rest on someone, there’s no penalty to anyone and the ball needs to be placed under the estimated spot where it came to rest, per Rule 11.1 and Exception 1 to Rule 11.1b.

In this case, given that your hand was holding the flag, the ball should have been placed on the lip of the hole. Not to be vindictive, but Rules Guy hopes it was for a tap-in triple-bogey, not a birdie.

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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.