Linda,
Your latest ruling on removing a flagstick was well
explained [Ask Linda #1475-Lift flagstick while
putt in motion]. You should maybe add if a moving ball may hit
another ball on the green, it would have to be marked and removed by the owner
of that ball only, unless he gave permission for someone else to mark and pick
up that ball. You said any golf equipment may be moved out of the way of a
moving ball, and I assume a ball is golf equipment. Am I correct?
Lou from Davenport, Florida (winter); Wingham, Ontario,
Canada (summer)
Dear Lou,
If you have not marked and lifted your ball on the green,
and you suspect another player’s ball in motion may hit it, you may not mark and lift your ball while the
other ball is in motion [Rule 16-1b]. Unlike a golf club that has been placed
on the green, which is equipment and may therefore be lifted out of the way of
a moving ball [Rule 24-1], your ball in play on the green is not equipment; it doesn’t become
equipment until you mark and lift it [Definition of “Equipment”]. You will
incur a two-stroke penalty in stroke play (loss of hole in match play) if you
lift a ball that might influence the movement of another player’s ball in
motion.
This is not to say that it is against the Rules to mark and
lift your ball on the green while another ball is in motion. If your ball does
not lie on the other player’s line of putt, and it does not lie where the other
player’s ball might contact yours if he misses his putt, there is no penalty
for marking and lifting your ball while another ball is in motion [Decision
16-1b/4].
Linda
Copyright © 2017 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
