I was playing in my father-in-laws member guest tournament today. We were on the last hole of the best-ball portion of the tournament. It was a short par 3 where my father-in law was laying 3 and about to chip onto the green (he had a stroke on the hole, I did not). I marked my ball and had a 6 inch putt to make par.

He decided to chip and sure enough he knocked it in for a 4 and with his stroke he made par. He walked to the flag and pulled up on it dislodging his ball from the cup. We had a 3 and the best I could do is make three, so I went to pick up my mark and the other team member said. Wait, you have to putt. According to the rules, your father in law had to pick the ball out of the hole with his hand. When he pulled the flag and the ball flew out, he technically was not done with the hole.

No problem, I line up my putt and sink it. Anybody know the ruling on this.

Joe

Found this on another website after a google search.

When the ball went in the hole thats it! There is nothing in the rules of golf saying you must remove it with your hand. However, proper etiquitte would have been to remove it with his hand. When your jerk the flag out to remove the ball it will sometimes tear or damage the edge of the hole. Anyway its still a four, Yall must have been playing for alot of $$$$$$$$ for someone to call such a trivial penalty in a member guest !!!! Good Luck

<h5 class="gray">17-4. Ball Resting Against Flagstick</h5>When a player's ball rests against the flagstick in the hole and the ball is not holed, the player or another person authorized by him may move or remove the flagstick, and if the ball falls into the hole, the player is deemed to have holed out with his last stroke; otherwise, the ball, if moved, must be placed on the lip of the hole, without penalty.




Holed
A ball is "holed" when it is at rest within the circumference of the hole and all of it is below the level of the lip of the hole.

If you pull on the flag and the entire ball is not below the hole and it come out it must be placed on the lip (no penalty) This is why players gently wiggle the flag so the ball falls in then they pull it out with there fingers, no question this way.

Thanks Guys:

I figured that was the ruling. The guy we played against was a bit of a jerk and he was playing like crap.