"A stymie refers to an archaic rule in the game of golf. Prior to 1952, when a player's ball blocked the path of another player's ball, but was more than six inches from it, the offending player's ball was not lifted. Instead the other player had to attempt to slice or draw the putt around the obstacle. Often, a player would attempt to chip the ball over the opponent's ball. If the player failed, and his ball impacted that of his opponent's, then the ball would be played as it lay. The opponent would then have to choose whether to putt from the original, or new position."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stymie