How
about this one? Two-day competition. Player A loses his ball in a lateral
hazard area. He always plays the same ball with the same green dot on top. Later
that afternoon player B loses his ball in the same hazard and finds a ball
(player A's lost ball).
The
next day on the 18th hole both players hit their tee shot in a wooded area near
an out of bounds. Player A finds his ball with the green dot and announces that
he found his ball. The other ball seems lost. Player B goes back to the tee and
plays the hole. Upon arriving at the green, Player A picks up the ball on the
green and notices a red dot on the back of the ball and announces such. Player
B says "that's my first ball." That's when they find out that player B put into
play on the 18th hole the ball which he found the previous day which
belonged to Player A. Player B did put an additional mark on the opposite side
but only one red dot.
Does
every player have to pick up their ball and ID it before they play…and if they
did pick up…every ball… is there any penalty for doing so?
Thanks, Lou
Dear
Lou,
Every
player should assure that the ball he is about to hit is his. Only on occasion
does that require lifting the ball [see Rule 12-2 for the correct procedure to
identify a ball]. There is no penalty if a player repeatedly lifts a ball to
identify it, provided the player follows the correct procedure each time. If a
player were to lift his ball every time before hitting it, he would run the
risk of being penalized for undue delay (and he might have trouble finding
people who wanted to play golf with him).
When
players begin their round, they should mention the brand and number of ball
they are playing and explain their identifying marks. Any time a player changes
to a different ball, he should inform all the golfers in his group. If Player B
had described the new ball he was about to put into play on the 18th
hole, none of the ensuing problems would have occurred.
It
takes about 10 seconds to announce a change of ball. Compare that to the time
it takes to replay a shot because you hit a wrong ball, and to return to the tee
to hit another shot because your ball was “lost.” That doesn’t even begin to
take into account all the aggravating penalties, discussions, and possible
procedural arguments caused by carelessness on the tee.
Linda
Copyright © 2015 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
