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Flagstick - Putting with flagstick in hole
This Rule applies to a ball played from anywhere on the course, whether on or off the putting green.
If you make a stroke with the flagstick left in the hole and the ball in motion then hits the flagstick there is no penalty, and the ball must be played as it lies.
The decision to have the flagstick in the hole must be made before your stroke, by either leaving the flagstick in the hole or having a removed flagstick put back.
In either case, you must not try to gain an advantage by deliberately moving the flagstick to a position other than centred in the hole. If you do so and the ball in motion then hits the flagstick, you get the general penalty.