Your queries resolved
After finishing the 17th, I put the ball I had played in my pocket. But then, when teeing off on the 18th, I played the ball that I was carrying as a provisional and not the one I had played on the previous hole. This ball then got lost in a bush, but my opponent found it. He asked me which ball I was playing and I mentioned the ball I’d played on the previous hole. But then I checked and found out that I had actually played the other ball that was in my pocket. What should the ruling be? Austine Omondi, via email
Q
Under Rule 6.3, a player may play any conforming ball when starting a hole from the teeing area and may change balls between holes. This means that even though you mistakenly switched balls, because you did so between the play of two holes, the ball you played from the teeing area was still your ball in play. There is no requirement to announce that you are changing balls (although it is good practice to do so), so if you realised your accidental change when you identified the ball, you would simply continue with that ball without penalty.
Chris Wallace,
R&A Rules manager
A
My partner found his ball in the rough literally balancing on top of another ball! His ball was not on the ground. Rather than play it as it was lying, he elected to lift it, remove the other ball and drop his ball, which fell back into the hole the
Q
other ball had made. He proceeded without penalty. Was this correct, or should he have placed his ball on the ground where the other ball was sitting?
Paul Lowe, Cardiff, via email
Your partner was
A correct not to replace
the ball and there would be no penalty in this situation. A stray ball on the course is simply treated as a movable obstruction, and as the ball was perched on top of it, it is treated as being ‘on’ a movable obstruction. He was entitled to free relief under Rule 15.2, and when your ball lies on a movable obstruction in the general area, you may take free relief by lifting your ball and removing the movable obstruction. You may then drop your original ball or another ball within one club-length of the point right under where the ball was at rest.
Chris Wallace,
R&A Rules manager