One of the most challenging parts of playing by the rules of golf is that there are so many rules (not to mention local rules that can modify the general rules).

It's hard to remember what to do when. For example, when taking a drop from a red marked hazard, you drop within two club lengths of the red marked margin but when taking relief from immovable obstructions, you get one club length from the point of nearest relief.

Here's an interesting story to illustrate... the other week I played in a tournament and was behind a very slow two-some. One was very old and the other either pull-hooked his drive or sliced it badly.

While waiting on the 10th tee, I went to help them look for a ball (the guy had sliced it 30 yards right). After looking for about 5 minutes, the slicer pulls another ball out of his pocket and drops it close to where he thinks the ball was lost. I then pointed out that he had to tee off again.

The older gentleman then went on a tirade explaining that his partner could drop a ball and take a two stroke penalty. He stated "Read the rules of golf, it's right in there." Rather than get into a heated argument, I didn't press the point (and fortunately the original ball was found).

It's not surprising how a convenience to help speed up play (taking two strokes rather than going back to the tee), becomes (incorrectly) attached to the rules of golf. As I mentioned at the beginning, there are so many rules (and decisions associated with the rules), that you can hardly know them all.

This is not to say that you shouldn't take the time to learn as much of them as possible, but I'd guess that most casual AND hardcore golfers break the rules each round without even knowing it.

oddly enough this is a convenience that a lot of people think is true. It is not. Neither is the rule that if you hit two balls out of bounds you can drop where they went out and take two strokes. These were "rules" made up for the convenience of recreational golfers to keep play moving. A few courses i played had local rules to this effect because of ridiculously hard tee shots.

In the event you describe though, had it been a rule the guy would have been charged strokes anyway under rule 27-1/2.3 (decision 2.3): "original ball fond within five minute search period after another ball dropped: original ball played. Having proceeded with dropping a ball in play and the original ball is no long er the ball in play, it is a wrong ball and the provisions of rule 15-3 apply. 15-3 is a two stroke penalty in stroke play for playing a wrong ball. The player must then correct his mistake by playing a stroke within the rules. If the player FAILS to correct his mistake before making a stroke on the next teeing ground, he is disqualified.
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