I got inspired by a few other topics from the past three or four weeks and by three events that all happened in the past two months in stroke play or Stableford club competitions (!), and the people involved are players who play in such events on a regular basis.

1) I was told by a fellow competitor that I suffered a one stroke penalty for replacing my ball on the green (right where I had marked it) before a putt, because I aligned the arrow on the ball according to the intended line of my putt. He argued that marks indicating the line of play were not allowed. I asked him if he knew that this arrow was called an "alignment aid", if he thought that all ball manufacturers made illegal balls and if he had ever watched a tournament on TV and what the pros do with those lines on the golf balls. Luckily, before things got ugly, one of the pros of our club, who also headed the competition committee, came by in a cart and cleared things up.

2) A friend of mine was told by two (!) of the other people in his group that he had suffered a penalty stroke for repairing an old pitch mark in his putting line. The argument was that he was not allowed to touch the green on the line of the putt and that he was only allowed to repair his own pitch mark, but not somebody else's (sic!). He just took his rule book out, handed it to them and told them to go through it for the rest of the round and that he would be willing to add a stroke to his score on that hole before signing his score card, if they could show him the rule they were referring to.

3) Somebody in my group (luckily not the person whose score I had to keep) duck hooked a tee shot on a par 4 into a lateral water hazard that runs along the whole left hand side of the fairway, starting about 20 meters from the tee and ending about 100 meters short and left of the green. The boundary of the hazard is about 200 meters long, all staked red, yet the first stake and the last stake are a little more to the left and further from the fairway than the others in between, not like a semi-circle, but there is a little curve to the boundary of the hazard. But in my view it is totally correct that the whole hazard is marked red, because it really is to the side of the intended line of play in its entirety. However, quick duck hook, which entered the hazard between the first and the second stake. The player wanted to proceed to drop the ball within two club lengths at the very end of the hazard, near the green, between the last and the second from last stake. Argument: "It is a lateral hazard, so I am allowed to drop on the opposite side from where my ball entered". The scorer of this person pointed out that the rule in question also said "equidistant from the hole", but to no avail. Luckily, the other player took 8 on this hole anyway, and as it was a Stableford competition, did not post a score for this hole, otherwise it would have gotten ugly, because the scorer was determined to refuse to sign the card.

Who has similar stories?

I had the guy I was playing in my club championship tell me that I could not hit a provisional on a potential lost ball. He said I was only allowed to hit a provisional if I thought my ball might be OB. He said that by hitting a provisional on the lost ball might affect the time I look for the ball if I hit a really good provisional. Luckily I always carry a rule book in my bag.

Lateral water hazards are the worst, even for more seasoned golfers. The concept of "the point where the ball last crossed the hazard" is lost on 90% of the people out there. The think that they get their two clublengths from where they find their ball in the lateral hazard, not where it last crossed the margin of the hazard which can be a 100 yards further back or more.

I agree with this, although my one friend (who has terrible depth perception and generally looks for his ball in the rough 30 or so yards short of where it actually is) usually places himself too far back, close to the front of the hazard even if he went in further up. Interested to see what other stories are out there.

I had a friend, very new to the game, who thought a 'given' put did not count towards the score for the hole. When i told him a 'given' putt in fact had to be recorded as a stroke, his response was "wow, i am a lot worse than i thought then"

I played a friendly match for some beers with a guy who knew the rule, and still didnt count those strokes. Luckily, he was bad enough where I beat him anyway and so didnt make a big deal about it, but it was a bit surprising the first few times it happened.

When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought this. In addition to above, it is amazing how many believe "drop behind the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the marked hazard" means drop on the "line of flight".

I played a GAM tourney in which a bad ruling was nearly made:

Guy teed off, hit way left into some bushes. He hit a provisional. Provisional went way right into some trees. Hit hit a 2nd provisional, right down the middle.

We all go to look for his first ball, and there happened to be a rules official there. We find his first ball in the bushes. While he's trying to decide if he should play it, the rules official tells him he CAN play his provisional if he wishes. So I pipe up and say that he cannot play his provisional (either one!) because we found his first ball, and that if he declares it unplayable that he would have to rehit if he didn't want to take a drop.

The official just looked at me like I was crazy, but fortunately the player decided to attempt to play his ball.. 6 whacks later he got it out into the fairway! OUCH!