USGA rules govern all play except where modified by the following rules:
- You may take a free drop from perimeter fences and locker barn. Stance and swing, no closer to the hole. Tee screens, railroad ties, pump houses and cart paths are immovable obstructions. Free relief may be taken for stance and swing. Drop ball within one club length of nearest point of relief.
- Winter rules apply all year: You may improve your lie by 12 inches or less, no closer to the hole, staying in the same cut of grass, everywhere except bunkers, penalty areas and within 3 feet of a tree or stump. You may lift, clean and place.
- Penalty areas are defined by red stakes and the long grass they’re in – not necessarily a straight line between stakes.
- Out of Bounds (marked by white stakes) and Lost Ball:
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- Option 1: Hit again from the same spot with a one stroke penalty.
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- Option 2: Hit from where the ball was lost or went OB with a two stroke penalty. You may place the ball in the fairway within 2 club lengths of the edge of the fairway.
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- Bunker: if your ball lands in a footprint or other unraked condition not of your making, you may pick up your ball, rake area, and replace your ball in same spot without penalty.
- Planted area: you must take a free drop, no closer to the hole. This includes the rhododendron between #3 pond and airport, the shrubs around #4 tee box, the plants along #2 tee box and all other planted areas. The wild rose around the stump between #2 and #7 is not a free drop.
- The wooded area behind green #5, between the two cart paths, is a penalty area. A drop zone is provided.
- Root or rock: if your ball lands against an exposed root or immovable rock, you may take a free drop, no closer to the hole.
Rake bunkers, repair ball marks, and replace divots, please.
This is the Pacific Northwest, and there is a lot of ground cover such as salal marking the rough. It eats golf balls. While the USGA allows three minutes to look for a lost ball, players searching for a ball should signal the group behind them to play through as soon as it becomes apparent that the ball will not be easily found. Consider limiting your time searching for balls in the rough, and hit provisional shots freely.
(Note that proper attire on Lopez is not what it might be at Augusta National. Casual dress, including denim and T-shirts, is fine, but swimsuits, for example, would be going a bit too far. And please don’t hit when there are eagles – the feathered kind – on the course; watch and enjoy their presence.)