Is it a penalty to pick up an unmarked ball to avoid a collision?

The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.

In stroke play, player A didn’t mark his ball on the green. Player B putted, with his ball headed toward A’s ball. Player C picked up A’s ball before the collision and replaced it after B’s ball passed. Who is the penalty on, if anyone? —Joe Wisinski, Clearwater, Fla.

Player D, just because he wasn’t paying attention. Kidding!

Anyone possessed of vintage Rules knowledge would be convinced that someone is in trouble. In the here and now, however, so long as C isn’t A’s partner (which is obviously not the case here) there is no penalty to anyone. Generally, before lifting a ball that has to be replaced, you need to mark it first, and if A had requested C to lift, A would’ve been on the hook for C’s failure—but since that’s not the case, Rule 9.6 applies here.

There’s no penalty to A for C’s lifting of the ball and then no penalty to C under Rule 11.3 because a ball at rest on the putting green may be lifted while another ball is in motion. Now … who’s on first?

For more penalty-application guidance from our guru, read on …

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By:

Rules Guy

In a four-ball match, a member of the other team was about to putt and asked what everyone was laying. My partner mis-spoke, causing the other team to conclude that the putt didn’t matter and pick up the ball. It was an honest mistake, almost immediately corrected, but too late to fix. Cue the controversy and unfair accusations of cheating. In any case, are players in match play obligated to answer questions such as “What is everyone laying?” And what if the answer is unintentionally wrong? —Eric Schurr, Scottsdale, Ariz.

The rules regarding match play are designed to reflect the fact that the opponents’ play influences the player’s strategy, and thus the player has the right to know how they stand during a hole.

If a player asks an opponent what they lay, the opponent must answer before the player makes their next stroke. If they make a mistake and give the wrong number, it must be corrected before the player makes their next stroke or “takes a similar action”; here, that includes picking up the ball sans marking.

Under Rule 3.2d(1), the penalty is loss of hole for the opponent who does not correct this mistake in time, and in four-ball it could lead to the whole side losing the hole if this breach hurt the other side’s play. So, as teachers like to tell their students, think carefully before answering.

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