Stolen Ball - How to proceed

[onlybereaved]

With the interest of maintaining a nice pace, while having a group both in front of us and behind us on an over-booked busy course...

I waited until the group ahead of us were beyond my max-drive distance, and hit a bomb down the fairway.  The drive landed 35-ish yards behind them, and rolled up say 10 yards from one of them.  It was clear that this guy was upset, and took my ball/threw it over the fence and out of bounds (somewhere I couldn't even get it back).  I knew that my ball was within a few yards of the 150 marker prior to him doing this.

Free drop or no?

I didn't want to wait longer to hit, but in retrospect I could have waited a bit longer.  On the other hand, the ball didn't pass these guys or land within 35 yards of them.

I took a penalty stroke because I was already on pace to shoot a 90-something and didn't care at that point.  But if I was on pace to break 80, I would have been super-upset and hoping that I could get a free-drop.

Thanks in advance for the input

[Shorty]

So you are thinking that you might be penalised if a person takes your ball and throws it away?

Tiger Woods is on the fairway on the 18th and leading by one. A spectator runs up and steals his ball. You think that there's a chance he might be penalised?

Of course it's a free drop.

Next time you are about to "bomb" one, wait until the group ahead is clear of you.

[onlybereaved]

Thanks for the reply!

I am especially stoked that you weren't at all arrogant about it either.  You must be a really special/cool sort of guy.

[Rulesman]

18-1 . By Outside Agency

If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency , there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.

Note: It is a question of fact whether a ball has been moved by an outside agency . In order to apply this Rule, it must be known or virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball. In the absence of such knowledge or certainty, the player must play the ball as it lies or, if the ball is not found, proceed under Rule 27-1 .

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by onlybereaved

Thanks for the reply!

I am especially stoked that you weren't at all arrogant about it either.  You must be a really special/cool sort of guy.

I'm not as arrogant as a "bomber" who has to ask a question that would make your eyes roll if a five year old asked it.

[onlybereaved]

Anyways, I'll let you get back to scouring the forum for opportunities to be arrogant in order to feel better about yourself.  Again, thank you for contributing your holier than thou post on my honest question on a ruling I wanted clarification on.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by onlybereaved

Anyways, I'll let you get back to scouring the forum for opportunities to be arrogant in order to feel better about yourself.  Again, thank you for contributing your holier than thou post on my honest question on a ruling I wanted clarification on.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share my vast knowledge with you. I'm sure you're the better for it. It was a tricky situation and there's no way you could have worked it out without an internet knight in shining armour coming to your aid.

Feel free to ask any more questions. Just make sure that when doing so you mention that you "bombed" your drive so that we know we're dealing with a modest and humble person. Good day to you, sir.

"Bombed" = Hitting up on the group ahead, but without the guilt.

P.S. In my first post I didn't mention that you should have apologised to the group ahead.

[onlybereaved]

Look at my handicap index, "shorty".  My "bomb" is maybe 270 yards at best.  Sorry you got butthurt and had to put quotations around the word bomb and accuse me of being the opposite of a humble and modest person.

It's quite clear that your arrogance and condescending replies to my honest question are far more indicating that you "good sir" are more likely the opposite of humble or modest. (clearly, any 5 year old with psych background can figure that out while rolling their eyes)

Right...*edit to note* my "bomb" was maybe 270 yards, and not meant to describe myself as being a long ball hitting arrogant whatever (as you clearly took it).  Second of all, I did apologize to the group ahead of us as although I knew and was right that I wouldn't hit them, I didn't think it would even come that close.

Either way, I would rather you just be a prick to someone else and get off me.  You can be the cool-guy internet bully and win this one all day long.

You're super cool, guy.

[B-Con]

[url=http://www.barryrhodes.com/2009/10/ryo-ishikawas-ball-stolen.html]This blog post explains this exact issue[/url]. It walks through the rules involved and uses an actual example that happened on the Tour. The example was one very similar to Shorty's reply. Short story is: You get a free drop. This is one of the (few) times where misfortune isn't your problem. The core spirit of the golf rules is well known: "You should play the ball as it lies." However, there is a complementary rule of spirit as well, namely: "You are entitled to play the ball as it lies." Both of these are key to to the concept of "equity". You should not get anything you did not earn, but you should not lose anything you did earn. The rules try to spell out how to play the game with equity, and I get the impression that, for the large part, they're basically just trying to give explicit boundaries for those two ideas. But if for some reason they don't cover a situation clearly or you simply don't know how they cover a situation, try to proceed in equity using those two spirits. In your case, you fairly put the ball somewhere and it was interfered with by something non-golf play and non-course related. You are entitled to play from where you played the ball to. [edit] And pay Shorty no mind. You got a concrete answer to a legit question. Let the silly exchange drop. :-)

[onlybereaved]

Thank you B-Con and Rulesman.  I appreciate the non-judgmental replies.  They were of help for sure.

[zeg]

Originally Posted by B-Con

And pay Shorty no mind. You got a concrete answer to a legit question. Let the silly exchange drop.

Should the drop be one or two clublengths from the original exchange?

[GatorCallaway]

There should be a law, not a rule, that you can assault the guy that chucked it over the fence with a Momentus Power Hitter. It would state that the Power Hitter is not an official club, but a self defense aid only to be used for people that steal balls, screw around on greens, and purposely play slow.

[Johanna]

Originally Posted by zeg

Should the drop be one or two clublengths from the original exchange?

The drop should be as close as possible to the original spot. After the correct drop, the ball may roll up to two clublengths, but not nearer the hole.

[zeg]

Originally Posted by Johanna

The drop should be as close as possible to the original spot. After the correct drop, the ball may roll up to two clublengths, but not nearer the hole.

I'm not sure how to measure two clublengths from a post on the Internet.

[PLAYHOUSE]

haha, shorty's replies are super interwebz cool guy gold!

LoL!

OP free drop from where dude chucked your ball and awesome back and forth with shorty

[ApocG10]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Tiger Woods is on the fairway on the 18th and leading by one. A spectator runs up and steals his ball. You think that there's a chance he might be penalised?

Of course it's a free drop.

Has any fan ever done this to Tiger?

[Jmdmbike]

Thank you B-Con and Rulesman.  I appreciate the non-judgmental replies.  They were of help for sure.

Based on your avatars, seems you're a dog person and Shorty is a cat person. Conflict is inevitable. Either way, hopefully you got your question answered.

[ZAhacker]

I must go a little Off topic here.

The more i read various posts on this forum the more i see it seems to be very common there in USA to chuck people's ball or stomp them or kick them. I must say here in SA, that's very dangerous business.

If a guy harrase's you from behind constantly you rather wait for him to come up and have it out on the fairway. Better than touching his ball. You dont even really get banned for assault in that instance if a guy messes with your ball. Maybe on the more posh clubs it could be a small issue.

Moral of the story. DONT touch a ball rather put hands on the player.

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