Rule 8 - Course Played as It Is Found
What You Need to Know
Rule 8 deals with restrictions on improving conditions that will affect your next stroke. Below is a list of those 5 conditions:
- The lie of the player's ball at rest
- The player's area of intended swing
- The player's area of intended stance
- The player's line of play
- The relief area in which the player intends to drop or place a ball
Additional Information About this Rule
Actions that are not allowed:
- Moving, bending, or breaking any natural object, immovable obstruction, integral or boundary object, or tee-markers when playing from the teeing area
- Moving a loose impediment or movable obstruction to aid in the player's stance or line of play
The above improvements can be restored to their original position before the player makes their stroke (in doing so, the player avoids penalty).
- Altering the surface of the ground (pressing down/replacing divots, filling in/eliminating holes, etc.).
- Removing or pressing down sand or loose soil
- Removing dew, frost, or water
Rule 8.1b in the Rules of Golf
If a player takes any actions to improve these conditions, the player receives the general penalty (cannot be restored to avoid penalty).
Allowable actions that cause improvements to the conditions affecting the stroke: improvements caused by...
- fairly searching for and identifying the player's ball
- reasonable actions to remove loose impediments and movable obstructions
- reasonable actions to mark, lift, and replace a ball
- grounding the club lightly in front of or behind the ball (does not include any bunkers)
- firmly placing feet in taking a stance, and reasonably taking a stance
- making a stroke/backswing of a stoke that is then made
- playing a ball from the teeing area - see Rule 6.2b
- smoothing sand in the bunker to care for the course
- removing sand and loose soil, and repair damage on the putting green
- moving a natural object to see if it is loose
Rule 8.1b in the Rules of Golf
