Virginia Golfer May / Jun 2020 | Page 16

TheRules Play It BY KELSEY SOLAN As It Lies One of the most fundamental Rules of Golf is to play the course as you find it. While there are exceptions, in general, you must play the ball as it lies on the golf course and play the course as it’s found. This means that normally you must accept the conditions of where your ball came to rest. To maintain this principle, Rule 8 protects areas known as the “conditions affecting the stroke” for the next stroke that you will make. These protected conditions include: • the lie of your ball at rest, • the area of your intended stance, • the area of your intended swing, • your line of play, and • the relief area where you will drop or place a ball. While you generally may not make improvements to these areas, the Rules do allow you to take certain reasonable actions even if they improve those conditions affecting your stroke. Additionally, there are limited circumstances where you can avoid penalty by restoring conditions even after they have been improved. Let’s take a look at some of the actions you are and are not allowed to do as well as some examples of each. ACTIONS THAT ARE NOT ALLOWED Except as allowed by certain actions, you may not take any of the following actions if they improve the conditions affecting the stroke (that is, if they are likely to give you a potential advantage): • Moving, bending or breaking any object that is growing or attached, an immovable obstruction, an integral object or a boundary object. BIGSTOCK 14 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY/J UNE 2020 vsga.org