Facts

Perhaps to no one’s surprise, Foremost found himself in the middle of a minor rules brouhaha recently on the very first hole at BMCC, a difficult Par 5 played into an elevated green.

In a Four-Ball competition, F’s approach had nestled at the front of the green some 30-40 feet from a back-center pin placement. Opponent PC had then hit a marvelous approach to about 8 feet below the hole, directly in F’s putting line. F arrived at the green first and saw that he was away and would be putting first. As PC had just parked his golf cart, and was in the process of walking to the green, F asked PC permission to mark his ball, which permission PC readily granted. (F was well aware that in Match Play a player must ask permission before marking and lifting the ball of an opponent). In marking, F used a small, traditional BMCC plastic ball marker. As PC reached the green, F rolled his ball to him.

Players BC and JB, had putted out for pars and F had putted and marked his own approach off to the side with his shiny Trump silver dollar coin (a fact which has nothing to do with the scenario at hand and is noted today simply for historic purposes). PC was left with his 8-footer for birdie to win the hole. He looked at F with expectation on his face as if waiting for something. F had no idea what this expectation concerned.

PC then tossed his ball to F. “Are we going to play by the Rules today?”, the low-handicapper asked F. “If so, we might as well start now. The person who marks the ball has to replace it.”

F said he had never heard of that rule, and that , no, he had no intention of replacing PC’s ball. He tossed the ball back to PC. PC said then that he (PC) couldn’t replace it, subject to penalty , and that if F refused to replace it, F would be subject to penalty (a threat which didn’t bother F in the slightest, since his partner, JB, was already in his pocket with a par). A bit of a stalemate ensued. F, ever the diplomat, finally agreed to replace the ball, after which PC narrowly missed his birdie putt, a miss followed with a look to suggest the miss was a product of F’s recalcitrance.

Issue

Must the person who marks a ball be the one to replace it?

Ruling

On a putting green, only the player (or his caddie) or any person “authorized” by the player may mark and lift the player’s ball. (R14.1b). F knew this, which is why he requested permission to mark PC’s ball. Had F marked PC’s ball without permission or authorization, he would have received one penalty stroke (R9.5b).

Either the player “or” the person who had lifted the ball may replace it. (R14.2b). There is no requirement that the person who marked must replace it. PC always had the right to replace his own ball. (PC later said this might have been an old rule, since he had in fact been penalized once in a competition for replacing his own ball when it had been marked by another person).

Today, many mark a ballot instead of a ball. Let’s hope we get the authorizations right!

As usual, any comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F