[Bob J]

I'm assuming this was the 150 yard marker that is usually placed for direction off the tee, not yardage for your third shot. Yardage markers through the green are usually flat plates or engraved on the tops of sprinkler heads for the very purpose of not interfering in the players line of flight.

Most of the erect 150 yard markers I've seen can be pulled out and replaced after a shot bringing them under the “movable obstruction” rule. This way a player doesn't need to take a drop. This player had to have been pretty close to the marker for it to ricochet fast and hard enough to blind him. If he failed to pull it out and place it on the grass then that was his error. If it was immovable and he didn't take a drop far enough away to take it out of play, again his fault.

[doodad]

I have seen many courses where a stake in the appropriate color was in the middle of the fairway. I always questioned the usage as well.

[Caramelgal]

Most of the erect 150 yard markers I've seen can be pulled out and replaced after a shot bringing them under the “movable obstruction” rule. This way a player doesn't need to take a drop. This player had to have been pretty close to the marker for it to ricochet fast and hard enough to blind him. If he failed to pull it out and place it on the grass then that was his error. If it was immovable and he didn't take a drop far enough away to take it out of play, again his fault.

Bingo! You are absolutely right! And “occasional" golfer says it all :)>,

I’ve played some courses where they have those yard marker poles in the middle of the fairway. They are made of PVC pipe and are easily removed and legally removed under the rules of golf as a “movable obstruction” if a player thinks that it will interfere with his/her shot.

If it is an “immovable obstruction” the player has only a two choices, take a drop under a penalty stroke or pitch out around it and take the stroke.

If I hit an errant shot and land behind a big tree that is between me and the green, I know I’m not talented to shape a shot around it or that my ball will magically pass through it. I’m not immune to the laws of physics and neither is anybody else.