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

The Rules of Golf Are Complicated! Thankfully, we have the teacher. our Rules Guy knows the book inside out. Have a question? He has all the answers.

In stroke play, Player A missed his ball on the green. Player B set up, with his ball headed towards A’s ball. Player C picked up A’s ball before the collision and replaced it after B’s ball passed. Who is being punished for, if anyone? – Joe Wisinski, Clearwater, Fla.

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

Anyone with a knowledge of vintage rules would be convinced that someone is in trouble. However, here and now, as long as C is not A’s partner (which is clearly not the case here), there is no penalty for anyone. Generally, before lifting a ball to be replaced, you must first mark it, and if A had required C to lift, A would be on the hook for C’s failure – but since this is not the case, rule 9.6 applies here.

There is no penalty to A for lifting the ball from C 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 first?

For more tips on applying the penalty from our teacher, read on…

In a four-ball match, a member of the other team was about to shoot a shot and asked what everyone was putting up. My partner misspoke, causing the other team to conclude that the putt didn’t matter and took the ball. It was an honest mistake, corrected almost immediately, but too late to fix. Bring on the controversy and unfair accusations of cheating. In any case, are the players in the match forced to answer questions such as “What is everyone laying down?” And what if the answer is inadvertently wrong? -Eric Schurr, Scottsdale, Ariz.

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

If a player asks an opponent what to lay, the opponent must answer before the player takes the next stroke. If they make a mistake and give the wrong number, it must be corrected before the player takes the next stroke or “takes a similar action”; here, that includes getting the ball off the mark.

Under Rule 3.2d(1), the penalty is the loss of the hole for the opponent who fails to correct this error in time, and in four ball it may result in the loss of the hole for the whole side if this offense damages the other side’s play. So, as teachers like to tell their students, think carefully before you answer.

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