Putt is Holed, Hits the Liner, and Comes Out?

[Fat Slice]

I played well yesterday but one hole got me. After taking a penalty for accidentally hitting my ball on a practice swing (chipping), I replace it and chipped to about 20 feet. I had an uphill putt that was going to break about 4 feet to the left. I put a good stroke on the ball and it was either going to drop or go about four three past the hole. So it was a firm putt, but not too fast.

The ball is breaking perfectly to the line and the speed uphill is decreasing as expected. All four of us yelled when it dropped dead into the exact center of the cup and TOTALLY disappeared. In a fraction of a second, the ball popped backwards out of the hole at a 45 degree angle and rolled a few inches. We were stunned! I went to look in the hole and the lip of the plastic cup was down pretty far. The ball must have hit it perfectly and it bounced back like a carnival game. I've got about 400 rounds of golf under my belt and my playing partner yesterday has over 1500 rounds and we've never seen that happen. Sure, I've seen balls go in and out of cups but I've never seen one totally disappear and then pop straight back out. Even though it sent me to quadbogeyland, I had to laugh about it.

Anyone ever seen that happen exactly? On tour ever?

[David in FL]

Never.

In order for it to happen the ball would have to rebound up higher than the distance that it actually dropped into the hole. Physically, I'm not sure how that could happen. Gophers maybe?

[iacas]

Anyone ever seen that happen exactly? On tour ever?

Happened to Ian Poulter once (on a short putt).

[Fat Slice]

Never.

It transferred some of the horizontal energy into vertical energy! The hole was cut into the green on a slope and I entered on the low end - I don't know if that made a difference but I had the feeling if I were putting downhill it might have stayed in?

[Thaddy]

What's the official ruling on that? Technically it went into the hole...

[iacas]

What's the official ruling on that? Technically it went into the hole...

It's not holed. Ball has to come to rest beneath the level of the green.

[Fat Slice]

I figure since it didn't stay in the hole it didn't count. USGA sez...

16/5 Ball Strikes Edge of Hole-Liner and Bounces Out of Hole

Q. A player's ball struck the rim of a hole-liner, which had not been sunk deep enough, and bounced out of the hole. Should the ball be considered holed in such circumstances?

A. No. Under the Definition of "Holed," the ball must be at rest within the circumference of the hole.

[Thaddy]

It's not holed. Ball has to come to rest beneath the level of the green.

Imagine draining a game winning 3-pointer from half court, only to have the ball bounce up and straight through the bottom of the net

Game over! Your team loses! It stinks, but rules are rules.

[kfowler]

I had something similar happen. When the greenskeeper put in the hole, he left the edge of the cup fairly exposed beneath the hole. My ball went in and hit the inside edge of the hole and popped right out.

[1par2win]

I would have played the ball as it lies and putted out and taken a second ball and played it as ground under repair (meaning moved the ball outside the interference and no closer to the hole) and keep both scores and let the pro or whomever is the ruling authority decide which score is valid. Just my two cents.

Edit; this is in reference to the lip of the cup higher than the surface of the green.

[chriskzoo]

I played well yesterday but one hole got me. After taking a penalty for accidentally hitting my ball on a practice swing (chipping), I replace it and chipped to about 20 feet. I had an uphill putt that was going to break about 4 feet to the left. I put a good stroke on the ball and it was either going to drop or go about four three past the hole. So it was a firm putt, but not too fast.

It's not holed. Anyone else remember seeing this special on the Golf Channel a few years back where they followed some guys in Q-School? One guy had the exact same thing happen - hit a 4-footer dead in the middle and it pops back out and sits on the lip. He has to take another stroke and ends up missing getting his Tour card by 1 stroke.

[case31]

I was playing in a scramble a few years back on a rain-soaked course. We had a putt for eagle on a par 5 and one of my teammates hit his putt really hard and it was tracking to dead center of the cup. It hit the back rim of the hole, then the front rim, bounced to the back edge, hung for about 2 seconds, then dropped in. We won the scramble by a stroke. If the greens weren't extra soft from all the rain, I don't see any way that putt would have dropped.

[plugged]

It's not holed. Ball has to come to rest beneath the level of the green.

Well, heck, I can make that happen with a couple of good foot stomps. Yes, indeed-y, it will be

well below the surface of the green.

[TimBob]

The exact same thing happened to me on a 4 foot putt once. I intentionally hit it on the firm side and it was perfect and the pace was such to go maybe 3 or 4 feet by perhaps if I had missed entirely.  It needed to be reasonably close to dead center and it was perfectly dead center. It hit the plastic lip -- I could hear it. Popped straight up and sat on the lip. The cup appeared to me to be properly placed in the hole within reason. I was having a really good round but the prior putt had been tentative so I wanted to get my confidence back. Instead it really threw me off and the round didn't go very well after that.

[bkuehn1952]

I wonder what would have happened if the flag stick had been left in the hole?  Seems to me that one's ball typically won't make contact with the far edge of the cup liner.

I have had the terrible luck to have a ball enter dead center only to bounce back at me because the liner was not inserted far enough.  One more reason to leave the flag stick in.

 

p.s. Chi Chi used to tell a story (fable?) about why he often put his hat over the hole after holing out.  He claimed once a long time ago that he holed a putt only to have it pop out of the hole when a frog hopped out.  Of course, there would be the issue of "outside agency", etc...  Still, a funny story.

Edited February 6, 2019 by bkuehn1952

[boogielicious]

Guys, this thread is 10 years old.

2 hours ago, TimBob said:

The exact same thing happened to me on a 4 foot putt once. I intentionally hit it on the firm side and it was perfect and the pace was such to go maybe 3 or 4 feet by perhaps if I had missed entirely.  It needed to be reasonably close to dead center and it was perfectly dead center. It hit the plastic lip -- I could hear it. Popped straight up and sat on the lip. The cup appeared to me to be properly placed in the hole within reason. I was having a really good round but the prior putt had been tentative so I wanted to get my confidence back. Instead it really threw me off and the round didn't go very well after that.

 

54 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

I wonder what would have happened if the flag stick had been left in the hole?  Seems to me that one's ball typically won't make contact with the far edge of the cup liner.

I have had the terrible luck to have a ball enter dead center only to bounce back at me because the liner was not inserted far enough.  One more reason to leave the flag stick in.

 

p.s. Chi Chi used to tell a story (fable?) about why he often put his hat over the hole after holing out.  He claimed once a long time ago that he holed a putt only to have it pop out of the hole when a frog hopped out.  Of course, there would be the issue of "outside agency", etc...  Still, a funny story.

 

[iacas]

1 minute ago, boogielicious said:

Guys, this thread is 10 years old.

It is, but we ask people to post in relevant existing topics rather than creating new, duplicate ones, so good job to the reviver for finding the relevant topic.

[Buckeyebowman]

This exact thing happened to me in league play. I had a straight uphill putt of about 8 feet. Stroked it firmly and it went straight in the front door, made this odd "clonk" sound, and jumped straight back at me, perching on the edge of the hole! What the hell? 

We went and looked at it, and the liner was jammed in the hole cockeyed! The back edge of the liner was a good 3/8" to 1/2" away from the dirt edge of the hole! The ball striking the upper edge of the liner was what made the clonk sound. So, I had to tap in and take the extra stroke. Man, was I pissed!

Take away lesson: There is no free relief from sloppy hole cutting!

P.S. And yes, I've never seen this thread before, so it's new to me!

Edited February 8, 2019 by Buckeyebowman
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