After playing from a bunker, a player smooths footprints that affects the stroke to be made by another player. There is no penalty if the player smooths the footprints to care for the course.
Answer: T
Rule 8.3b Exception
Golf
- In stroke play, a player deliberately changes the loft of his or her sand wedge during a round but the club still conforms to the Equipment Rules. The club is not used during the round but is used during a play-off. There is no penalty.
- A player presses down the grass behind his or her ball in play, improving the lie of the ball and accidentally moving the ball as well. The ball is replaced before the stroke. The player gets a total of three penalty strokes.
- A player damages one of his or her 14 clubs in making a stroke during a round. In the player's attempt to repair the club, he or she causes the shaft to break. The club may not be replaced with another club.
- In stroke play, a player who is uncertain about the right procedure while playing a hole may complete the hole with two balls without penalty. The player should choose which ball will count by announcing that choice to his or her marker or to another player before making another stroke. If the player does not choose in time, the original ball is treated as the ball chosen by default.
- In Four-Ball stroke play with side A-B, partners A and B agree to leave A's ball in place on the putting green to help B's play. The players do not know this agreement is not allowed. With A's ball left in place, B then makes a stroke. The side gets the general penalty.
- In Four-Ball match play with side A-B, A continues play of a hole after A's next stroke has been conceded. If this would help B, A's score for the hole stands without penalty, but B's score for the hole cannot count for the side.
- In match play, an opponent lifts his or her ball without marking it because of a reasonable misunderstanding that the player's statement was a concession of the opponent's next stroke. There is no penalty and the opponent's ball must be replaced on its original spot.
- A player uses one of his 14 clubs as a cane while climbing a hill and the shaft breaks. The player may replace the club with another club from his or her locker.
- In match play, A has holed out. As B is preparing to putt for a half, A gives advice to B as to B's line of putt. A is in breach of the Rules but the hole is halved because A had already gained a half.
- In match play without a referee, both balls are at rest on the putting green. A makes a stroke and his or her ball strikes B's ball. The players disagree about how to proceed under the Rules so they agree that the hole be halved. They are disqualified for deliberately agreeing to ignore the Rules.
- In a match, A requests B to lift B's ball that lies on the putting green and is on A's line of play. A's ball lies near but off the putting green. B refuses to do so and A makes a stroke with B's ball in place. B gets the general penalty.
- A player who started a round with 13 clubs breaks his or her putter in anger, adds a club from his or her locker and makes a stroke. There is no penalty.
- In stroke play, a player's ball lies in a bunker where the player takes several practice swings each time touching the sand. Another player advises the player that this is a breach of the Rules. The player disagrees and takes several more practice swings, again touching the sand before making a stroke. The player gets two separate general penalties for a total of four penalty strokes.
- A "dangerous animal condition" exists when a dangerous animal near a ball could cause serious physical injury to the player if he or she had to play the ball as it lies.
- A player's ball lies near a live alligator. Both the player's ball and the alligator are in a penalty area. The player may take free relief within the penalty area or penalty relief outside the penalty area.
- The Committee has defined all bird nests on the course to be no play zones. A player's ball comes to rest near a bird nest and both the ball and the nest lie in a penalty area. The nest interferes with the player's intended swing. The player must take penalty relief under the penalty area Rule.
- A player starts a round with 14 clubs. During a suspension of play, the player's pitching wedge is struck by a tree fallen in a storm and the shaft is bent. The player may replace the damaged club with any club prior to restarting play.
- A player's ball lies in a bunker next to a discarded cardboard water carton that is covered with a detached branch of a bush. The player removes the branch that causes the player's ball to move. The player replaces the ball. The player then removes the water carton and the ball moves while the player is removing the carton. The player replaces the ball and plays the ball from the bunker. The player gets a total of two penalty strokes.
- Before playing a ball that has come to rest on a branch of a tree, a player moves his or her motorized cart to assist in making the stroke by standing on the cart. The player removes the cart before making the stroke. There is no penalty.
- As they are approaching the first putting green in the finals of the club's match play championship, A and B agree that all putts within the leather are good and don't have to be holed. They are aware that it is only the next stroke that may be conceded. They have not yet acted on the agreement. There is no penalty if they immediately cancel the agreement prior to play on the first putting green.
- A player's ball comes to rest next to a cactus. The player may not place a towel on the cactus to improve his or her area of intended stance.
- When returning a ball to play on the putting green, if a player firmly presses it into the surface of the ground to help prevent it from being moved by wind and plays the ball, the player gets the general penalty.
- A player sees his or her uphill chip shot returning to the spot from where he or she played it. The player replaces the large divot taken by the shot into the divot hole and presses it down for the purpose of preventing the ball coming to rest in a bad lie. The ball stops short of the replaced divot. There is no penalty.
- In Four-Ball match play with side A-B, A's ball lies 30-feet from the hole and B's ball lies 3-feet from the hole on the putting green, with both A and B having taken two strokes. The opponents have scored four for the hole. A putts and, as the ball is rolling past the hole, B strikes the ball, returning it in the direction of where A is standing. B holes his or her putt for a score of three. Side A-B wins the hole.
- The player may repair damage to the hole on the putting green that was caused by removing the flagstick and where the dimensions of the hole have been changed.