From: Alan Baker on
In article <hptk4l$mv7$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Bob <rgsros(a)notme.invalid> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Not a golfer, but I enjoy watching a bit sometimes.
>
> Question: Saw Mickelson putting today, where his putt hit a golf ball
> marker, and angled off. Undoubtedly cost him a stroke.
>
> Why wasn't it removed by whoever placed it there ?
> Isn't it there responsibility to do so ?
>
> Why didn't Mickelson remove it ?
> He's allowed to, isn't he according to the rules ?

It didn't hit a marker. It hit a "stamen" (IIRC how it was described at
the time) that fell onto the green just before he took the putter back.

If Mickelson had noticed, he could have stopped his swing and removed
it, but since he didn't...

....rub of the green.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
<http://gallery.me.com/alangbaker/100008/DSCF0162/web.jpg>
From: Howard Brazee on
On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:27:16 -0700, Alan Baker <alangbaker(a)telus.net>
wrote:

>However, if you have addressed the ball (taken your stance *and*
>grounded the club, or in a hazard, just taken your stance) and then the
>ball moves, you are deemed to have moved the ball and you take a penalty
>stroke and the ball must be replaced.

That's a tough thing about hazards, when your ball is on a steep slope
- we can't avoid taking a stance, the way we can avoid grounding.

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison