Hi Linda –
Here is a simple one.
I was playing a Greensome Fourball. My partner’s was position
tight left and not good.
I went to check line of sight on my ball, which had gone
right, but as it’s a dogleg left should be ok and the obvious choice for a
second shot.
As I was about 70 yards away from my ball another match was
teeing off from a nearby hole and a lady in a buggy circled my ball and
promptly jumped out and picked it up before I was in distance to protest above
the buggy sound.
I explained it was “our ball” and she simply said sorry,
tossed it out the buggy to the approximate position and drove on.
Sadly even from 60-70 yards I could originally see our ball
stood up nicely for the second shot. Her “toss” ended with it sat down in an
awful and near impossible lie in an old divot mark.
Were we entitled to re-drop? We didn’t, as it was only my
understanding of how the ball had laid originally (no one else saw it) and we
would have risked disqualification.
In the end we did not trouble the referee but I’m sure it
would be relevant in the future to all golfers everywhere.
Regards,
Lou from Wales
Dear Lou,
When a ball is moved by an outside agency it must be
replaced [Rule 18-1]. The ball thief’s toss does not constitute a replacement.
Since you were too far away to be able to determine the spot where the ball
should be replaced, you were required to drop your ball at your best estimate of where it originally lay [Rule 20-3c]. If this process is not followed, and the ball is played from somewhere else, the player incurs a two-stroke penalty [Rule 18, Penalty Statement].
People who rudely lift balls that might be someone else’s
ball in play should, at the very least, return the ball personally to the
offended player with a profuse apology, and take a moment to point out the spot
from which it was lifted.
Linda
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