8/16/2024 - Admiral Baker South

I had never noticed the white OB stakes along the right hand side of #5, but these didn't come into play.  The white stakes beyond the green did.

My approach shot landed in the bunker, and I hit it a little too clean, sailing well over the green.  I didn't know that it was out of bounds at this point, so I raked the bunker.  When my playing partner told me that it was OB, we pondered whether or not there was a penalty for this or not.

Per Rule #12.2b(3), once you have played the ball out of the bunker, you are allowed to rake it.  So my ball was out of the bunker (and out of bounds), which allows me to rake before I drop.  If the shot remains in the bunker, then you can't rake it.

By the way, I did this twice, scoring an 8 on one of the easiest holes on the course.  :|

8/7/2024 - Balboa

I'm surprised that I had never encountered this before, but now I have.  A player in the group was in the left rough, and it was run over by a lawnmower.  I've seen them mowing the course frequently while folks are playing, but they are always good about avoiding a ball in play.  Until today.

So what's the ruling?  The mower is an outside influence, and the rule that covers this is Rule #9.6 - Ball lifted or moved by an outside influence.  You have to be virtually certain that this occurred (it did).  And then you have to estimate where the ball originally came to rest.

The ball had a big cut from the mower.  Can you put a new ball in play?  Any time you're taking relief (free or penalty), you can substitute in a new ball.  You can also replace a ball that is cut or cracked (but not if it is only scratched or scraped).