IN today's Rules Corner, your ball comes to rest in a bird's nest and

is lying there like a cuckoo's egg -- an everyday occurrence.

What may you do?

* YOU may lift and drop without penalty at the nearest spot not nearer

the hole which will allow you to make a stroke without damaging the

nest.

Those who know the definition of a loose impediment as a natural

object may protest -- and if the ball moves when a loose impediment is

removed there is a penalty under Rule 18-2c -- but here we have an

exception.

Decision 1-4/9 declares that if the ball is in the nest or so close

that a stroke could not be played without damaging it then there is free

relief.

So there is no need to make an omelette which is good for golfers, and

even better for birds.

But even if that rule hadn't existed you would have taken a penalty

drop and not played the ball as it lay, wouldn't you?