Your ball is on the fringe and there is a pitch mark in front of your ball. Can you repair it?
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No, no, no. Doing so will cost you a two stroke penalty.
During a 2016 US Open qualifier, an amateur finished one stroke shy of getting into a playoff for one of four coveted spots to go to the big stage at Oakmont.
USGA Rule 13-2 states a player cannot improve his lie if the mark is in "his line of play".
13-2. Improving Lie, Area of Intended Stance or Swing, or Line of Play
A player must not improve or allow to be improved:
- the position or lie of his ball,
- the area of his intended stance or swing,
- his line of play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond the hole, or
- the area in which he is to drop or place a ball,
by any of the following actions:
- pressing a club on the ground,
- moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed (including immovable obstructions and objects defining out of bounds),
- creating or eliminating irregularities of surface,
- removing or pressing down sand, loose soil, replaced divots or other cut turf placed in position, or
- removing dew, frost or water.
However, the player incurs no penalty if the action occurs:
- in grounding the club lightly when addressing the ball,
- in fairly taking his stance,
- in making a stroke or the backward movement of his club for a stroke and the stroke is made,
- in creating or eliminating irregularities of surface within the teeing ground or in removing dew, frost or water from the teeing ground, or
- on the putting green in removing sand and loose soil or in repairing damage (Rule 16-1).
Read the article on the infraction at GolfChannel.com.
While we are on the subject of improving one's lie, be careful about standing on a semi-buried rock or acorn and using your feet to scrape the ground and dislodge them. You may be called out for improving your lie since neither is a loose impediment.
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