GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
Is there a penalty if a golf ball hits a flagstick left in the hole?
Under the joint R&A/USGA 2023 Rules of Golf, choose before the stroke whether to leave the flagstick in the hole or have it removed. A ball hitting it left in is normally played as it lies without penalty. A penalty can apply for deliberately setting it off-center for an advantage and then hitting it, or moving an in-hole flagstick to affect a ball in motion. An already removed flagstick may be moved out of the way; deliberately deflecting the ball is different.
For Golfers deciding whether to leave the flagstick in the hole or remove it before a stroke. · Updated
Choose whether to leave it in before the stroke
Rule 13.2 lets the player leave the flagstick in the hole or have it removed, including by having someone attend it and take it out after the stroke. The player must decide before making the stroke.
If you leave it in, the flagstick may remain in its position or be centered in the hole. You must not deliberately move it away from center to try to gain an advantage.
Attendance means showing the hole with the flagstick before the stroke and then removing it during or after the stroke. Attendance is treated as authorized if the player’s caddie holds it in, above or beside the hole, or stands right next to the hole, when the stroke is made, even if the player is unaware; if the player asks another person to attend and they do so; or if the player sees another person holding it there or standing right next to the hole and plays without asking them to move away or leave the flagstick in.
Accidental contact is normally penalty-free
When a player makes a stroke with the flagstick left in the hole and the ball in motion hits it, there is no penalty and the ball is played as it lies, subject to the deliberate off-center exception. If the player decided to have it removed, including through authorized or deemed-authorized attendance, accidental contact with the flagstick or the person attending it is also penalty-free; play the ball as it lies.
That normal result is specific to accidental contact. It does not mean that every act involving a flagstick is penalty-free.
Deliberate actions to affect the ball are different
A player who deliberately moves the flagstick off-center to gain an advantage gets the general penalty if the ball then hits it. After the player leaves the flagstick in the hole, the player and their caddie must not deliberately move or remove it to affect where the player’s ball in motion may stop; if they do, the player gets the general penalty.
If the player left the flagstick in the hole without authorizing attendance, another player or their caddie must not deliberately move or remove it to affect the ball. The other player gets the general penalty if they do so before or during the stroke and the player makes the stroke unaware, or if they do so while the ball is in motion after the stroke.
An already removed flagstick is different: Rule 11.3 permits lifting or moving it out of a moving ball’s way. This does not permit deliberately deflecting or stopping the ball, such as leaving a removed flagstick in a chosen position to serve as a backstop.
If an attendant deliberately deflects or stops the ball and this is known or virtually certain, use Rule 11.2c rather than playing it as it lies. For a stroke made from the putting green, replay from the previous spot; for a stroke made elsewhere, apply the relief procedure in Rule 11.2c(1). If the person who deliberately deflected or stopped it was a player or that player’s caddie, that player gets the general penalty.
A fictional leave-it-in decision
Before a fictional putt, Avery decides to leave the flagstick centered in the hole. The putt hits it accidentally and rolls away; Avery receives no penalty and plays the ball as it lies. In a separate case, Avery leaves it in without authorizing attendance. While Avery’s ball is moving after the stroke, another player, Blake, deliberately moves the flagstick still in the hole to affect where that ball may stop. Blake gets the general penalty. Moving a flagstick that was already removed out of the ball’s way would be a different case under Rule 11.3.
Related questions
Can I change my mind after I hit the ball?
Decide whether to leave or remove it before the stroke. The intent-based restrictions in Rule 13.2a(3)–(4) concern a flagstick still in the hole. An already removed flagstick may be moved out of the way under Rule 11.3; this is not permission to deliberately deflect or stop the ball.
Is hitting a flagstick always penalty-free?
No. Accidental contact is normally penalty-free, but deliberate off-center positioning followed by a hit, prohibited movement of an in-hole flagstick, or deliberate deflection by an attendant can bring a penalty. The actor and the applicable Rule determine whose penalty applies.