Related:

• A [golf] ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree.
  Hitting a tree is simply bad luck and has no place in a scientific game....
• Take it easy and lazily, because the golf ball isn't going to run away from you while you're swinging.
  -- Sam Snead...
• A [golf] ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed in the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough.
  Such veering right or left frequently results from friction between the face of the club and the cover of the ball and the player should not be penalized for the erratic behavior of the ball resulting from such uncontrollable physical phenomena....