See Rules 13, 17, 20, 21, 22, 32, 36, 38; Special Rules for Medal Play, 8 and 'J.

11. In playing through the green, all loose impediments, within a club-length of a ball which is not lying in or touching a hazard, may be removed, but loose impediments which arc more than a club-length from the ball shall not be removed under the penalty of one stroke.

Compare with Rules 30 and 31, also with Rule 15. This rule only applies to 'loose impediments.'

12. Before striking at the ball, the player shall not move, bend, or break anything fixed or growing near the ball, except in the act of placing his feet on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball, and in soling his club to address the ball, under the penalty of the loss of the hole, except as provided for in Rule 18.

Through the green the natural lie of the ball must not be improved in any way. The club may be soled, but this must not be done in such a way as to contravene the first part of the rule.

13. A ball stuck fast in wet ground or sand may be taken out and replaced loosely in the hole which it has made.

This only applies to wet ground or sand, and the ball must be replaced in the hole; the hole cannot be closed and the ball placed on the top.

14. When a ball lies in or touches a hazard, the club shall not touch the ground, nor shall anything be touched or moved before the player strikes at the ball, except that the player may place his feet firmly on the ground for the purpose of addressing the ball, under the penalty of the loss of the hole. But if in the back ward or in the downward swing any grass, bent, whin,or othe growing substance, or the side of a bunker, a wall, a paling, or other immovable obstacle be touched, no penalty shall be incurred.

The italics are mine This latter part of the rule was added at a meeting of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club held on 1st May 1895, The whole rule is one of the most important in the code. It expressly prohibits anything that would in the slightest degree improve the position of a ball in a hazard. When the ball gets into 'fog, bent, whins, etc., Rule 18 must, be read in conjunction with the above, but the player is not thereby entitled to put aside the whins, etc., to enable a belter stroke to be made. The whins, etc., must not be touched (save with the object of allowing the ball to be seen) until in the act of striking.

15. A 'hazard' shall bo any bunker of whatever nature: - water, sand, loose earth, mole-hills, paths, roads or railways, whins, bushes, rushes, rabbit-scrapes, fences, ditches, or anything which is not the ordinary green of the course, except sand blown on to the grass by wind, or sprinkled on grass for the preservation of the links, or snow or ice, or bare patches on the course.

This rule consists of two parts, the first specific and the second general; but the specific hazards mentioned do not limit the definition of hazards to those specifically enumerated. It would seem that blown sand, snow, or ice can be regarded as loose impediments within the meaning of Rule 11, and in this case the sand, etc., within a club-length of the ball can be brushed away, which practically results in leaving the ball teed. I hardly think, however, that this can have been intended to be the meaning of the rule, but rather that it was merely meant to permit of the club being soled when the ball lies on such sand, etc. With reference to this, see Rule 34, which permits sand, etc., to be removed on the putting-green.

Here is an interesting question upon which the rule gives no direct information. Suppose a large bunker with a fair-sized patch of grass in the centre of it. Is a ball lying on this patch of grass in a hazard or not? My own view is that it is not. The ball is either in the bunker or it is not, and grass is not a bunker; therefore the ball is not in the hazard. I am aware, however, that the point is considered debatable.

16. A player or a player's caddie shall nut press down or remove any irregularities of surface near the ball, except at the teeing-ground, under the penalty of the loss of the hole.

At the teeing-ground anything can be done to improve the tee, and it is quite usual to press down with the foot the grass behind the ball; but this cannot be done at any other place, nor can the lie of the ball through the green be improved by pressing the club down behind the ball or otherwise.

17. If any vessel, wheel-barrow, tool, roller, grass-cutter, box, or other similar obstruction has been placed upon the course, such obstruction may be removed. A ball lying on or touching such obstruction, or on clothes. or nets, or on ground under repair or temporarily covered up or opened, may be lifted and dropped at the nearest point of the course, but a ball lifted in a hazard shall be dropped in the hazard. A ball lying in a golf-hole or flag-hole may be lifted and dropped not more than a club-length behind such hole.

The theory of the rule is that there should not be any ' vessels, etc.,'on the links in the player's way. Ground under repair should be marked off and indicated; it frequently happens that turf has been lifted from ground off the line of play, but on to which erratic players manage to drive, and the rule cannot be said to be intended to cover this contingency, because, if the ground is off the line, the player has no business to be there, and he is only receiving his deserts by finding himself in difficulties.

It is part of the unwritten laws of golf that balls shall not be played off a putting green, and where a ball does happen to get on to the wrong putting-green, requiring to be played off, it is invariably lifted and dropped on the nearest part of the course. A rule for this, adopted by many clubs, is given at the end of this code.

18. When a ball is completely covered with fog. bent, whins, etc., only so much thereof shall be set aside as that the player shall have a view of his ball before he plays, whether in a line with the hole or otherwise.