If a brand-new, high-quality ball just removed from a sleeve, box, or carton is struck by a player from the teeing ground of any hole directly into water, deep woods, impassable terrain, or ground out-of-bounds under circumstances that appear to foreclose the possibility of its recovery, the loss of that ball shall be deemed good and sufficient punishment for any infraction of the rules, and the player may hit a second ball without assessing a stroke or incurring any further penalty.

A player may replay his shot without assessing a stroke if at any time during his backswing or downswing, and prior to the moment when he strikes his ball, he shall hear a distracting sound or noise, including, but not limited to (a) a horn, siren, bell, gong, or chime; (b) a backfire, tire squeal, or engine whine; (c) a cheer, shout, groan, or whoop; (d) a bang, clap, crack, crash, slam, or snap; (e) a blast, rumble, or roar; (f) a thud, click, clunk, rattle, or clatter; (g) a bark, bellow, whinny, bleat, or howl; (h) a squawk, quack, cackle, cluck, chirp, honk, mew, or coo; (i) a cough, hiccup, sniffle, snort, or sneeze; or (j) a giggle, chuckle, chortle, snicker, or guffaw.

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

A player may replay any tee shot once, without assessing a stroke, if his ball fails to pass beyond the forward edge of the raised mound or grassy area comprising the ladies’ tees, or if, as a result of his ball having contacted any artificial fixed equipment found on or near the teeing ground, such as tee markers, informational signs, ball-cleansing devices, benches, litter receptacles, drinking fountains, or his or his fellow players’ golfing equipment or carts, it comes to rest in a place farther from, or no nearer to, the hole than the point where it was teed up prior to being hit.

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

A player who assumes his stance, formally addresses the ball, and then fairly strikes at it, but in so doing fails completely to make contact with any part of the ball, is deemed to have performed a full-address rehearsal of his swing (practice swing) and therefore need not count a stroke provided that he strictly observes the following procedure:

1. He must immediately readdress the ball with the same club, and his next stroke shall be counted regardless of result.
2. He must not exhibit any surprise or dismay or suggest by gesture or facial expression that he ever harbored an expectation or belief that his swing would cause his ball to undertake any forward movement whatsoever.
3. He must make no remark disparaging the course, the prevailing weather conditions, the state of his  equipment, or the level of his own playing skill, other than a statement speaking not of the fortuitous elimination through practice of a faulty swing or a declaration of an intention to strike at the ball with less force or in a more controlled and measured manner when making his actual, true, real, final, intended, and accountable stroke.

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

A player is permitted to tee up his ball in front of the tee markers defining the forward limits of the teeing ground as follows:
 

1. If the encroachment is so slight that a complaint about the transgression voiced by another player would constitute an instance of unsportsmanlike conduct considerably more grave than the infraction itself.
2. If the markers have been placed far to the rear of the official yardage marker indicator so that the stated distance to the green and the hole has thus been lengthened improperly. 
3. If the markers have been placed so close to the blue tee markers that players who have not elected to engage in championship play are nonetheless compelled to do so without even being able to enjoy the approbation that would have accrued to them had they teed up on the back tees voluntarily.
4. If the markers have recently been moved back from a significantly more advanced position and a player is thus being arbitrarily penalized by being denied the opportunity to play the hole from an advantageous tee placement that countless other golfers were permitted to use.
5. If the turf within the area of the designated teeing ground has been so damaged by the taking of divots that in teeing up his ball slightly in front of the markers a player merely rectifies an unfair playing condition, and the tiny real advantage he thereby gains is more than offset by the huge potential disadvantage he would have suffered had he been obliged to tee up on the remaining playable turf well to the rear of the markers.

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

If, in fairly taking his stance on the teeing ground of any hole, a player intentionally lines up well to the left or well to the right of his desired target in order to compensate for a chronic hook or slice and proceeds to hit a straight and flawless shot directly into unplayable terrain along the margins of the hole, he may replay that shot without assessing a stroke or incurring any penalty.  

However, if he thereupon deliberately readjusts his customary corrective alignment to a square stance in the belief that his long-established directional error has been unexpectedly and inexplicably cured, and then hooks or slices his second ball, he must play that shot from wherever it lies, no matter how unfavorable its position, even if he can clearly and convincingly demonstrate to his fellow players that if he had adopted his habitual preventive posture, his ball would have come to rest in the middle of the fairway.

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

If, after hitting an unsatisfactory tee shot, a player exercises his right to play a revisional ball (mulligan) and thereupon hits a plainly laughable shot or one that is demonstrably and ludicrously inferior to the original flawed drive that gave rise to his desire to take a replay, he may, upon declaring his intention to abide by “The Rules of Golf” and desist from further unserious play, pick up the frivolous ball (gilligan) and play his first ball without forfeiting any residual rights he may possess to the replay of another drive at some future point during the round.

If, after establishing by common consent the right of replay of a drive at a specified point or points during a round, a group of players additionally agree among themselves to allow a right of preference as to play of the first or second ball, a player who has hit a revisional ball (mulligan) following an unsatisfactory tee shot shall have the option of playing either ball, subject to the following restrictions:

1.     Before leaving the teeing ground, he must designate which of the two balls he will keep in play, and he may not later amend or alter his decision if it thereafter proves to have been imprudent. 

2.     If he chooses to keep his original ball in play and pick up his second ball, he shall nevertheless be deemed to have hit his one permitted revisional ball (mulligan), and he may not hit another such ball on a subsequent tee even if he would have been otherwise allowed to do so under prevailing conditions of permissible replay. 

However, he shall not be deemed to have exercised his right to replay a tee shot if his revisional ball (mulligan) was so absurdly mis-hit as to constitute a frivolous ball (see: Exception 3).

Coming Soon! Exception # 3 - The Frivolous Ball ("Gilligan")

The attorneys with Roach, Geiger & Caudill neither endorse nor condone the use of the above in a competitive environment …unless, of course, a distinct advantage can be derived therefrom.

Source:  The Official Exceptions to the Rules of Golf, Special Titanium Edition, by Henry Beard, copyright 1992, 1997 by Henry Beard and John Boswell Associates;  Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., www.randomhouse.com

 For Previous Exceptions, scroll down:

If, prior to teeing off from the teeing ground of the first hole of any stipulated round, a player informs his fellow players of his intention of replaying one unsatisfactory tee shot and secures from them their clearly stated consent to this procedure, he may, upon hitting a flawed drive, put into play a revisional ball (mulligan) without assessing a stroke or incurring any penalty, under whichever of the following conditions of permissible replay has been mutually agreed to:

1. On the first tee of any 9-hole or 18-hole course, or
2. On the first and the tenth tees of any 18-hole course having two distinct 9-hole layouts, provided play is suspended, however briefly and for whatever purpose, at the conclusion of play on the first 9 holes, or
3. On the tee of any one hole, regardless of its position in the sequence of holes.

However, if a player elects to hit a revisional ball, he must play that ball, even if it comes to rest in a lie substantially worse than that occupied by his original ball, unless the option of playing the better of the two balls has itself also been separately endorsed by all the players in the playing group (see: Exception 2, Preferential Ball).