GOLF RULES You’re not allowed to flatten the grass behind your ball

Play It As It Lies is one of the fundamental rules of golf. This means you are not allowed to flatten the grass down behind your golf ball.

Under The Card have been smashing out some beautiful drone footage of some of Australia’s best golf course, but they’ve also recently teamed up with David Blake from Golf Rules Questions to produce more Rules of Golf videos.

Here is one we see violated a lot relating to one of the fundamentals of golf; play it as it lies.

Specifically, you cannot improve the lie of the golf ball by pushing down the grass behind the ball either with your club or your feet, it would be in violation of Rule 8. You can lightly rest the club behind the ball, but any flattening or squashing is against the rules of golf and a violation of Rule 8.1a.

Rule 8.1a. Actions That Are Not Allowed
Except in the limited ways allowed in Rules 8.1b, c and d, you must not take any of these actions if they improve the conditions affecting your stroke:

• • Move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object, or immovable obstruction, integral object or boundary object, or tee-marker for the teeing area when playing a ball from that teeing area.
  • Move a loose impediment or movable obstructionMovable Obstruction: An obstruction that can be moved with reasonable effort and without damaging the obstruction or the course.(…Continued) into position (such as to build a stance).
  • Alter the surface of the ground.
  • Remove or press down sand or loose soil.
  • Remove dew, frost or water.

A breach of the rule would be a loss of hole in match play or a two-stroke penalty.