"A golf ball that is incorrectly re-placed, dropped or laid down in the wrong place or otherwise not in accordance with the rules, but not played, may be picked up without penalty and the player must then proceed correctly"².
The Official Rules of Golf therefore allow a player to pick up and re-drop an incorrectly re-placed, incorrectly dropped or laid down ball without penalty. Unless the golf ball has already been played. Then, according to the rules of golf, the ball was played from the wrong place and the player will incur a penalty stroke. You can find more information on this in the rule books published by Albrecht Verlag or Köllen Golf.
Status: 2018
