DEFINITION OF BUNKER: A specially prepared area of sand, which is often a hollow from which turf or soil was removed.

The following are not part of a bunker:

> A lip, wall or face at the edge of a prepared area and consisting of soil, grass, stacked turf or artificial materials
> Soil or any growing or attached natural object inside the edge of a prepared area (such as grass, bushes or trees)
> Sand that has spilled over or is outside the edge of a prepared area, and
> All other areas of sand on the course that are not inside the edge of a prepared area (such as deserts and other natural sand areas or areas sometimes referred to as waste areas).

DEFINITION OF PUTTING GREEN: The area on the hole the player is playing that:

Is specially prepared for putting. The putting green for a hole contains the hole into which the player tries to play a ball.  The putting greens for all other holes (which the player is not playing at the time) are wrong greens and part of the general area. The edge of a putting green is defined by where it can be seen that the specially prepared area starts (such as where the grass has been distinctly cut to show the edge). If a double green is used for two different holes: The entire prepared area containing both hole is treated as the putting green when playing each hole. But the Committee may define an edge that divides the double green into two different putting greens, so that when a player is playing one of the holes, the part of the double green for the other hole is a wrong greens.

DEFINITION OF OBSTRUCTION: Any artificial object except for integral objects and boundary objects.

An obstruction is either a movable obstruction or an immovable obstruction. If part of an immovable obstruction (such as a gate or door or part of an attached cable) meets the definition of movable obstruction, that part is treated as a movable obstruction.

Examples of obstructions:

Artificially surfaced roads and paths, including their artificial borders.
Buildings and rain shelters.
Sprinkler heads, drains and irrigation or control boxes.
Stakes, walls, railings and fences (but not when they are boundary objects that define or show the boundary edge of the course).
Golf carts, mowers, cars and other vehicles.
Waste containers, signposts and benches.
Player equipment, flagsticks and rakes.

DEFINITION OF LOST: The status of a ball that is not found in three minutes after the player or his or her caddie (or the player’s partner or partner’s caddie) begins to search for it. If the search begins and is then temporarily interrupted for a good reason (such as when the player stops searching when play is suspended or needs to stand aside to wait for another player to play) or when the player has mistakenly identified a wrong ball: The time between the interruption and when the search resumes does not count, and the time allowed for search is three minutes in total, counting the search time both before the interruption and after the search resumes.

A player may not make a ball lost by a declaration. A ball is lost only when it has not been found within three minutes after the player or his or her caddie or partner begins to search for it.

A player may repair damage on the putting green, however, ‘damage on the putting green’ does not include any damage or conditions that result from natural wear of the hole (Rule 13.1.c)

No free relief from dangerous course condition if a player’s ball comes to rest in a spot where the player has interference from a plant or bush that could cause physical harm, such as poison ivy or a cactus, while the player may be faced with challenging circumstances or may be allergic to a given plant, he or she is not entitled to free relief under the Rule 16.2a/1

The line where the player intends his or her ball to go after a stroke, including the area on that line that is a reasonable distance up above the ground and on either side of that line. The line of play is not necessarily a straight line between two points (for example, it may be a curved line based on where the player intends the ball to go).

Rule 14.2b(2)/1: When a player drops a ball when the Rules require him or her to replace the ball, the ball has been replaced in a wrong way. If the player replaces the ball in a wrong way, but on the required spot (this also includes if the player drops the ball and it comes to rest on the required spot), he or she gets one penalty stroke if the ball is played without correcting the mistake under Rule 14.5