Number of balls allowed by Pros in a single round or day?

[rdsandy]

  newtogolf said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkolo

That's a really interesting question! The sample one ball condition from the Appendix I on the USGA site says "During a stipulated round, the balls a player plays must be of the same brand and model as detailed by a single entry on the current List of Conforming Golf Balls."

I think they list the balls by model year, so my intuition is that it has to be the same model year, but I'm curious what other think.

That was actually part of the reason I asked the question.  With Titleist balls one has to know how to decipher the codes (alignment markings) to figure out which year the ball is from.

Aha, I just looked at the list they show 5 ProV1xs and a ProV1x + So I guess it's got to be the Same model year. The list identifies each one with the specific markings, bars arrows dots etc.

[rdsandy]

Now that it's mentioned, I remember not too long ago hearing about Staci Lewis was in a quandary because her ProV1 2009 was coming off the list and she was scrambling to find a replacement.

[Tee2Trees]

  dkolo said:

That's a really interesting question! The sample one ball condition from the Appendix I on the USGA site says "During a stipulated round, the balls a player plays must be of the same brand and model as detailed by a single entry on the current List of Conforming Golf Balls."

I think they list the balls by model year, so my intuition is that it has to be the same model year, but I'm curious what other think.

This is one of the ways Patrick Reed cheats.  He uses a 2014 Pro V1 on par 5's for more distance and a 2012 Pro V1 on par 3's for more spin.  All his former college teammates know about it but the USGA hasn't caught on yet.

[dkolo]

  Tee2Trees said:

This is one of the ways Patrick Reed cheats.  He uses a 2014 Pro V1 on par 5's for more distance and a 2012 Pro V1 on par 3's for more spin.  All his former college teammates know about it but the USGA hasn't caught on yet.

The worst of it is he's apparently cheating on Callaway with Titleist in this scenario, haha. A betrayal most egregious!

[rogolf]

  Tee2Trees said:

This is one of the ways Patrick Reed cheats.  He uses a 2014 Pro V1 on par 5's for more distance and a 2012 Pro V1 on par 3's for more spin.  All his former college teammates know about it but the USGA hasn't caught on yet.

There is an anomaly in your response.  While the USGA is the governing body which establishes the Rules of golf (along with the R&A;), they do not regulate the PGA Tour.  The Tour plays by the Rules of golf (as established by the USGA and R&A;) and are responsible for enforcing the rules (including the one ball condition) on the Tour.  I sincerely doubt that what you have posted is actually true - it does not satisfy the one ball condition implemented by the Tour.

[Golfingdad]

  rogolf said:

There is an anomaly in your response.  While the USGA is the governing body which establishes the Rules of golf (along with the R&A;), they do not regulate the PGA Tour.  The Tour plays by the Rules of golf (as established by the USGA and R&A;) and are responsible for enforcing the rules (including the one ball condition) on the Tour.  I sincerely doubt that what you have posted is actually true - it does not satisfy the one ball condition implemented by the Tour.

Not to mention, as was already stated .. Reed plays Callaway balls so ....

[turtleback]

  newtogolf said:

So if a player borrows a ball, does it have to be the same make and model he played during the round?

No.  But if he borrows a different make or model he is subject to a 2 stroke penalty for each hole he uses it on, with a max of 4 penalty strokes. (always assuming that the USGA model one-ball condition of competition from Appendix 1 is in place).

[joekelly]

Does the PGA Tour operate the USOpen, or the Master's Tourney?  If not, is the one-ball rule in effect at those 2 tournaments?

[Rulesman]

  joekelly said:

1) Does the PGA Tour operate the USOpen, or the Master's Tourney?

2) If not, is the one-ball rule in effect at those 2 tournaments?

1) No & no

2) Yes & yes.

The it is not on the R&A; hard card but is on the European Tour hard card.

[turtleback]

  Rulesman said:

1) No & no

2) Yes & yes.

The it is not on the R&A; hard card but is on the European Tour hard card.

So does it apply in the British Open?

[rogolf]

  turtleback said:

So does it apply in the British Open?

Of course you mean "The Open Championship" (its correct name)?  :)

Even though the one ball condition is not on the R&A; hard card, it has been in effect at previous Open Championships and I presume it still is.  The R&A; hard card applies to all the amateur events the R&A; runs and they do not use the one ball condition in those events.

[joekelly]

To leave no doubt where i stand:  Ams and pros alike may use any ball, any time, any where, if ball on approved list and used according to Rule Book.

[rogolf]

  joekelly said:

To leave no doubt where i stand:  Ams and pros alike may use any ball, any time, any where, if ball on approved list and used according to Rule Book.

You would be correct some of the time, but not for the professional tours.  The Rules do permit the Committee to implement a condition of competition that the player must use the same brand and model of ball for the stipulated round, and such ball must be on the approved list (page 138 of the Rule book).

[JoePete]

  Golfingdad said:

I don't think there is a limit. You can't swap balls out during a hole, though, so if you're playing well then it's gonna be 18.

Technically it is possible to swap out a ball during a round if it is deemed "unfit for play." While mere cosmetic issues don't make a ball unfit, and your fellow competitor or marker must agree a ball is unfit, it's a bit of hard prove one way or the other. I mean if someone in your group says "Oh yeah, this is out of round," it is a bit hard to fight them on that. Especially in a casual round, are you going to hold up the course while you get out a ring and start analyzing things? Even in a tournament, it just becomes a distraction either way. That's why pros just swap balls on the tee every few holes anyway. I think the origin of the rule and also the optional One Ball stipulation for tournament play is that some folks would swap in their "putting" ball when they got to the green, etc. This was all in the days when balls were made far less consistently than today. It wasn't uncommon for a ball to be out of round or balance, but that error could be an advantage in certain cases. Then even when manufacturing improved, you did have the gap between distance balls and balata. For the most part, those distinctions have disappeared. Everything is a distance ball today (knocking on the upper limit of the USGA distance standard).

[turtleback]

  rogolf said:

Of course you mean "The Open Championship" (its correct name)?  :)

Nope.  If calling it the British Open was good enough for Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus, it is good enough for me  Anyone is free to call the Masters the US Masters or the PGA the USPGA.  But I am old enough to remember when the British Open was routinely referred to, in the US, as the British Open and no one went all faint at it.

  joekelly said:

To leave no doubt where i stand:  Ams and pros alike may use any ball, any time, any where, if ball on approved list and used according to Rule Book.

Where YOU stand only controls YOU.   But the rest of the word is going to go by the actual rules, not by where you stand.

[Fourputt]

  turtleback said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogolf

Of course you mean "The Open Championship" (its correct name)?  :)

Nope.  If calling it the British Open was good enough for Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus, it is good enough for me  Anyone is free to call the Masters the US Masters or the PGA the USPGA.  But I am old enough to remember when the British Open was routinely referred to, in the US, as the British Open and no one went all faint at it.

Yep.  In the UK it's "The Open".  In the US, it's the British Open, since we have our own Open, and it's necessary to differentiate them.  If I don't have any problem calling ours the US Open, then he should be bothered by me calling his the British Open.  It also differentiates it from the French Open, the Scottish Open, the Irish Open, etc.  It was only "The Open Championship" when it was still the only one.  To continue to call it in the modern age that is the utmost in "homerism".

[iacas]

  Fourputt said:

Yep.  In the UK it's "The Open".  In the US, it's the British Open, since we have our own Open, and it's necessary to differentiate them.  If I don't have any problem calling ours the US Open, then he should be bothered by me calling his the British Open.  It also differentiates it from the French Open, the Scottish Open, the Irish Open, etc.  It was only "The Open Championship" when it was still the only one.  To continue to call it in the modern age that is the utmost in "homerism".

Not really the topic here, of course.

Here it would be: .

[joekelly]

Umm, Turtleback.  I expressed my opinion of what the rules SHOULD be.  If you think the currently entirely optional appendix addendums to the Rules of Golf ought to be incorporated into the body of Rules, then please speak up and say so.  And regardless of your opinion, or mine,  this 'one ball' rule remains entirely optional. It AIN'T A RULE.