If a player plays a ball from the tee and it deflects off a maintenance vehicle and comes to rest out of bounds, what is the correct procedure?

The correct procedure involves understanding how the Rules of Golf apply when an external factor, such as a maintenance vehicle, interferes with the play of the ball. When a player's ball deflects off an object that is considered a movable obstruction and subsequently comes to rest out of bounds, the situation dictates a specific response.

In this case, the rules state that if a ball is played and then hits an obstruction (which a maintenance vehicle can be) and ends up out of bounds, the player must take a stroke and distance penalty. This means that the player must go back to the original spot where they played the ball and hit another shot. The concept of “stroke and distance” maintains fairness in play by requiring players to adjust for an unexpected outcome influenced by an external object.

Thus, in this scenario, stroke and distance is appropriate, as it allows the player to reattempt their shot from the initial position, effectively accounting for the interference caused by the maintenance vehicle.