What are the rules for marking your ball if it is not on the green?
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The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thank you, we have a guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Have a question? You have all the answers.
I got about five feet from the green on my approach, and the grass was short enough that I decided to putt. Problem: My friend had also landed short, three feet before my ball, right on my putting line. I asked him to mark his ball. He refused, saying that you are not allowed to mark your ball anywhere but on the green. I asked him to play first. He refused again, saying that the rules dictate that the long ball be played first, and he also admitted that he did not want to study for me. I ended up cumming on his balls. But was he right about the marking? – Name withheld, via email
May I introduce you and your disrespectful friend (lawyer, perhaps?) to Rule 15.3b, which states that if the ball interferes with someone’s play, you have the right to have it raised anywhere on the field.
Once you have made this request, the other player is responsible for raising the ball; In playing a stroke, you have the option of playing first rather than raising. He cannot, however, plead it a fifth time.
For more ball marking guidance from our guru, read on…
Rules Guy: After marking the ball, can you replace it with your caddy?
Rules Guy
One of my competitors marked his ball and picked it up. He then replaced the ball and placed it without picking up his marker. I told him that his ball was out of play because he left his marker in the area, and thus hit the wrong ball – he needed to replace his ball, with a two-stroke penalty. He said I was full of balloons. Is the ball in play if you don’t raise your marker? – Robert Tarbox, via email
Really, Robert, the Laws Guy can’t stomach baloney, and alas you are both full of it.
The placement or removal of a ball marker has nothing to do with whether or not the ball is in play. Bupkis.
In fact, the act of lifting or changing the ball can change its shape. That said, Law 14.1 prohibits playing the ball without first removing the ball marker, a violation that earns the opponent one penalty (not two), even if it wasn’t a foul ball.
He needs to change his ways, and he needs to eat less crow.
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