Broken Ball

[ghalfaire]

I've never seen this before, but on the 16th tee this morning I hit my drive and it felt good.  Well after about 75 yards of travel it just took a nose dive to to right and fell out of the sky, or so I thought.  My buddy was telling me it went left not right.  Anyway I found  about half the ball when I saw it land and my buddy found a piece on the left side of the fairway.  There was a third piece somewhere that we never found.   So what is the rule regarding a ball that comes apart in flight?  I have been golfing a long time and I have never seen this before or even heard of it (other than the exploding joke balls). 

No this is not a joke, it really happened and I don't know what you're supposed to do when it happens.

[iacas]

Did you look in the Rules?

[ChetlovesMer]

11 minutes ago, ghalfaire said:

I don't know what you're supposed to do when it happens.

 

I think you are supposed to get tested for steroids.  

[iacas]

42 minutes ago, iacas said:

Did you look in the Rules?

I'm asking because:

• I'm curious.
• People tend to learn things better when they invest a little time into trying to find the answer themselves, rather than just waiting for the answer to be given to them by someone else.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=4&subrulenum=2

[ghalfaire]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

I'm asking because:

• I'm curious.
• People tend to learn things better when they invest a little time into trying to find the answer themselves, rather than just waiting for the answer to be given to them by someone else.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=4&subrulenum=2

No I admit I didn't do much other than a quick look as I had several tasks for this day which I why I skipped my normal Monday round and did a 9 hole walk at sunrise.  But you're correct if one invests some time they will likely remember it longer. Thanks for the response.  I was amazed to see this is directly addressed in the rules.  Must have happened to others.  But first time I happened to me and since I'm close to 80 I am sure the ball didn't break because of my excessive swing speed.

Again, thanks for your response.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, ghalfaire said:

Must have happened to others.

Happened a lot more back in the day when balls weren't as good. The practice balls break downtown at Golf Evolution after a few years. They're NXT Tours.