Lesson well Learnt

LarMan

I'm sure most of us at one point or another has played a wrong ball and usually we check to make sure that we are playing the correct ball. I know I do but I still got caught out last week by not checking well enough and some bad luck.

I'm playing in a fourball and two of us are playing the same ball type. Anyway no problem untill the 17th. On our second shots we both hit left into rough so both go looking for our balls. My playing partner reaches a ball and after checking the ball says that it is his ball. I then continue looking for mine and having believed I hit a worse shot go back from his and find the same ball type as I had played sitting nicely in the rough. Good job I say and hit it up to the green. Anyway the captain of the club is also in our group and after reaching the green he says you played the wrong ball. Sure enough it was the wrong ball. The ball that the other chap played was mine and his ball was only a couple of feet from what he though was his ball. Upshot two stroke penalty for both of us.

Lessons learned!! Don't just assume that a ball is not yours because someone says it is. Make sure you check the ball is yours before playing it.

Bad luck was if the ball I found was any other brand I would have know it was the wrong ball:(

WHIP IT!

Tough break. Even if you had of discovered it after he'd played your ball but before you'd played his you could've saved yourself a two-shot penalty.

Whyner

Did you both go back and play your next shots from correct place?

I was in a 4 ball the other week and played my partner's ball by mistake, he had played a provo so there was 4 in view and one in the bunker (mine)

Took 2 to get out of the bunker!

LarMan

Yes we did go back and play again, mine of course had to be repositioned as close to where the ball had been. His of course was sitting where it always was

Anatom

Very easy mistake to make. I happened to me last weekend actually, on the 17th hole after a fine drive down the middle. I walked up to the ball and said to partner - "Eh, I think that's your's." Both of us were playing a Srixon (I know, I know...) and I only discovered the mistake when I walked up to what I thought was my ball, only to discover it wasn't . Didn't incur a penalty luckily, but a lesson indeed....

Glencarraig

Do you guys not put your own personal mark on the ball with a sharpie? I wouldnt go out and play with an unmarked ball........ever.

seanmc1980

i had a crazy episode of this last year in a comp.
i was playing in stroke play comp. i wasn't going well, way over and just hoped to get in and end the misery
on the 8th i hit a snap hook into the tree on the left and saw the ball drop down into the rough(heavy rough) got up to it and saw tietlist 2 through the grass. proceeded to smash it down middle of fairway beside on of my partners ball. (as we walked down he ltold me he lost a ball last week in the same tree, i said wow, luckily i found mine) as we got down to teh falt he got up and planted a lovely 7 iron 10 ft from the hole. i went to hit my ball and said. hold up this isn't my ball?
we both had a look and he said it was his ball. he couldn't understand, the ball he hit was his ball defo, he always play titelist 2's with a red dot on the side?
anway a long story short i found his ball from a couple of weeks back and he hit his old ball on the green, we were both playing crap so we didn't even both with the rule book, just called NR's and played out the rest of teh comp with the other guy.

heavyballs

Glencarraig wrote: »

Do you guys not put your own personal mark on the ball with a sharpie? I wouldnt go out and play with an unmarked ball........ever.

it shoould be made compulsory imo
sick of these lads even in scr cups looking for a prov1 number1,like no one else uses them
i'm not a member of a society but we have a few work outings and i make the lads mark there own ball with the sharpie provided by myself,they think i'm a right stickler but i couldn't give a toss

G1032

heavyballs wrote: »

it shoould be made compulsory imo
sick of these lads even in scr cups looking for a prov1 number1,like no one else uses them
i'm not a member of a society but we have a few work outings and i make the lads mark there own ball with the sharpie provided by myself,they think i'm a right stickler but i couldn't give a toss

AFAIK it is compulsory.
This came up on this forum before.
2 years ago we had a rules official from the GUI down at our club, giving a rules lecture. He said it was compulsory to have your own identification mark on the ball.

Edit...not compulsory but read below.........

From the 'Decisions on the rules of Golf 2008 - 2009:

Rule 27/10

Player Unable to Distinguish His Ball from Another Ball

Q A and B hit their tee shots into the same area. Both balls were found but because A and B were playing identical balls and neither had put an identification mark on his ball, they could not determine which ball was A's and which was B's. What is the ruling?
A Since neither player could identify a ball as his ball, both balls were lost.
This incident underlines the advisability of the player putting an identification mark on his ball - see rules 6-5 and 12-2

zztop

And if you cant id it because of dirt etc cant you lift it
with 2 fingers..id and replace without cleaning.Does this
apply in a bunker or can you hit it in good faith..

bailey99

So let me see if this is correct. Playing in a fourball, yourself and another player are playing identical balls with no distinguishable marks on either ball. On discovering this fact, neither of you two decide to change golf balls to another number/brand etc?

And you consider it bad luck that it took until the 17th hole for any confusion/mistake to happen. Ah there's one born every minute

PhilipMarlowe

zztop wrote: »

And if you cant id it because of dirt etc cant you lift it
with 2 fingers..id and replace without cleaning.Does this
apply in a bunker or can you hit it in good faith..

You used to be able to hit a (wrong) ball out of a hazard without issue but now you can't. You are entitled to remove sand & loose impediments etc from around the ball in order to be able to identify it. You should then re-create the original lie as best possible.

One weird one here - you are entitled to see the ball before making a stroke in the bunker so if the ball was completely buried originally and you had to root around to find it, when you ID the ball and recreate the lie, you are allowed to see a portion of the ball so there will obviously be (slightly) less sand around the ball now...

zztop

:pac:

LarMan

There were distingushing differences mine had a logo which his didn't the problem was the logo was not facing him or he would have seen it. As he had identified my ball as his I made the "assumption" incorrectly that the ball I played was mine. I did not lift it to look for the logo as I assummed incorrectly that he had identified his ball correctly.

BTW we did not start off with identical golf balls I had started with a different make but lost it. (but that's a different story)

LarMan

bailey99 wrote: »

So let me see if this is correct. Playing in a fourball, yourself and another player are playing identical balls with no distinguishable marks on either ball. On discovering this fact, neither of you two decide to change golf balls to another number/brand etc?

And you consider it bad luck that it took until the 17th hole for any confusion/mistake to happen. Ah there's one born every minute

There were distingushing marks, mine had a logo on the ball. I'm not sure about his, he identified my ball as his and when I found the ball with the same make as mine I made the incorrect assumption that it was mine without lifting the ball to see if the logo was present. As I said lesson learnt

stockdam

I have learnt by experience to always mark and check my ball.

I was once playing a match and hit the ball into the short rough. I went looking for it and my opponent pointed out my ball.....same make and number. He double bogied the hole and I parred it. When I took my ball out of the hole, it was obvious to me (and to me alone) that it was to old to be my ball so I had to concede the hole. That was a two hole swing and I lost the match on the 20th.

I was very annoyed as I knew better but since my opponent said it was my ball I didn't check it correctly.

I also find it funny that some people need to lift their ball every shot to identify it.........I consider it to be a form of cheating as their intention appears to be to improve their lie.

billy3sheets

I always mark my ball.
As I tend to lose a few and find a few, I regularly go through my bag, remove the worst ones and then mark the ones I'm keeping.
Occasionally, if I grab a provisional from my pocket which I've found on the round and not got to mark yet, I can end up with an unmarked ball. I do carry a marker in my bag though.

Good idea to call out your ball type and number on the first just before teeing off. This gives a chance to either change or mark identical balls.

heavyballs

stockdam wrote: »

I also find it funny that some people need to lift their ball every shot to identify it.........I consider it to be a form of cheating as their intention appears to be to improve their lie.

i always thought you could only turn it not lift it up

G1032

heavyballs wrote: »

i always thought you could only turn it not lift it up

no. you can lift it alright.

Ben1977

Playing in the Pierce Purcell last year, 2 of our foursome teams hit the wrong ball on the first hole. All teams had checked for markings before teeing off.
Was frustrating since we only lost the last match on the 18th.