Penalty (golf)

In the sport of golf, a penalty or penalty stroke is an additional stroke or strokes added to a player's score for an infraction of the rules. In match play, rather than adding strokes, the usual penalty is loss of the hole except for penalties assessed for relief from a hazard or a lost ball.

Situations in which a penalty may be assessed include, but are not limited to:

When a penalty is incurred because the ball has been lost or hit into an unplayable area, the player plays a new ball or moves the current one according to the rules governing the situation in which the substitution or placement occurs. This may be from the spot at which they hit the ball into that position (a stroke and distance penalty), a playable point directly in line with the hole and behind its current position, or in some circumstances at a point two clublengths or less and no closer to the hole from which the ball crossed the boundary of the unplayable condition. If the player elects to move an unplayable ball in a sand trap, the ball must remain in the hazard.

The penalty stroke assessed is not the stroke made on the new ball; it is counted in addition to any and all swings made at the ball. For instance, hitting a ball into a water hazard, dropping a new ball at the position from which you hit the last one, then hitting the new ball counts as three strokes, not two.

However, under certain circumstances during informal games, especially involving novice players, the penalty stroke is not counted; the player simply drops a ball at the spot of the last hit and plays again. This is an unmitigated violation of several rules of the game which would normally call for disqualification from sanctioned play, but can help make the game more enjoyable in a friendly setting as well as increasing the pace, as it reduces searching for a ball and playing from extremely disadvantageous lies. When an errant shot is re-played from the same spot, it is called a mulligan and neither the first shot nor the penalty stroke is counted.

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