Even the best golfers fall victim to the rules of the game — just ask Greg Norman, Paul Azinger, Craig Stadler and Michelle Wie.

The Advertiser, with help from Ko Olina director of golf Greg Nichols, has begun a question-and-answer feature on the rules of golf. If you have a question regarding the rules of golf e-mail a question to cmurayama@honoluluad vertiser.com.

For additional rules information, ask your local Aloha Section PGA professional or go online to www.USGA.org.

'Winter rules' might get player clearer shot

Q: A week ago our golf group had a situation regarding winter rules that coincidentally was partially answered in the Rules of the Game column on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Our situation was this. It was decided that we could "move" the ball about 12 inches.

One of the players' ball nested in the roots of a tree in the fairway.

Can the ball be lifted, cleaned, and placed within the 12 inches of where it lay so that the tree is no longer in the way (tree was not in a hazard)?

Please settle this question. The outcome of the match is at stake.

A: The original and fundamental spirit of the game of golf has always been for a player to play the course as he finds it and to play his ball as it lies; in other words, never improve his lie. In the first half of this century, the rules were so strict that tournament players couldn't even mark and clean their ball on the putting green!

So, as you can imagine, the rules of golf are very specific whenever it comes to a player getting to lift, clean and improve the lie of their ball. As I stated last week, the rules of golf do provide relief to handle abnormal ground conditions that occur occasionally — these are commonly referred to as "winter rules" or "preferred lies."

In your case, your group specified 12 inches as the relief distance that the player could move his ball. The player's ball can be moved from the tree roots a distance of 12 inches and 12 inches only, no closer to the hole than where the ball originally lay. If that means he now has a clear shot, then that's fine. If his ball is still in the roots or behind the tree, hard luck and the player must play from there, or take relief under the unplayable ball rule with a one-stroke penalty.

I hope that helps settle the bet and it was a "friendly" bet in any case!