stymie

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To be an obstacle to; prevent the advancement or success of; thwart or stump.
• noun An obstacle or obstruction.
• noun Sports A situation in golf in which an opponent's ball obstructs the line of play of one's own ball on the putting green.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In golf-playing, a position in which a player has to putt for the hole with his opponent's ball directly in the line of his approach.
• noun See stimy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• (Golf) The position of two balls on the putting green such that, being more than six inches apart, one ball lies directly between the other and the hole at which the latter must be played; also, the act of bringing the balls into this position.
• (Golf) To bring into the position of, or impede by, a stymie.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An obstacle or obstruction.
• noun golf A situation where an opponent's ball is directly in the way of one's own ball and the hole, on the putting green.
• verb To thwart or stump; to cause to fail or to leave hopelessly puzzled, confused, or stuck.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of
• noun a situation in golf where an opponent's ball blocks the line between your ball and the hole
• noun a thwarting and distressing situation