FC Hits Ball, Player Re-Tees, Discovers on Green

[Phil McGleno]

So in a fairly big tournament here recently-Big for us anyway-Four players were in a foursome playing stroke play.

Player A hit his ball in the right rough of a par five.-Player B hit trees in the right rough too.

Player B thought he identified his ball and played his second shot on the par five.-Player A looked for five minutes, returned to the tee, and played another ball.

When they got to the green the other players saw the ball B was using and pointed out to him that it was not his ball.-He admitted to it then and went back to the tee to play another ball as his ball was obviously lost. He got a 10 on the hole-Including the stroke and distance and two shots for a wrong ball.

What should A have done?

Edit: Player B hit Player A's ball.-This was discovered on the green after A already went back to the tee to play another ball thinking his ball was lost-Cuz B already hit it.

[newtogolf]

4 minutes ago, Phil McGleno said:

So in a fairly big tournament here recently-Big for us anyway-Four players were in a foursome playing stroke play.

Player A hit his ball in the right rough of a par five.-Player B hit trees in the right rough too.

Player B thought he identified his ball and played his second shot on the par five.-Player A looked for five minutes, returned to the tee, and played another ball.

When they got to the green the other players saw the ball B was using and pointed out to him that it was not his ball.-He admitted to it then and went back to the tee to play another ball as his ball was obviously lost. He got a 10 on the hole-Including the stroke and distance and two shots for a wrong ball.

What should A have done?

Was the ball Player B hit Player A's?  If so doesn't he get to drop the ball in close proximity to where Player B mistakenly played it?  

[Groucho Valentine]

15 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Was the ball Player B hit Player A's?  If so doesn't he get to drop the ball in close proximity to where Player B mistakenly played it?  

That would be the fair thing. But I'm not sure since player A declared his ball lost and re-teed. 

[DaveP043]

I remember seeing this in another thread.  If this were match play, Player B would lose the hole.  In stroke play, however, Player A's ball was lost, since he didn't find it within 5 minutes.  It didn't seem fair to me at the time, but that's what the rule states, refer to decision 27/6

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-27

[colin007]

if player B played player A's ball, then i dont think theres any way that player A should be penalized.  if he is, then i think thats stooopid.

[bkuehn1952]

@DaveP043 has cited the correct Rule/Decision.  Both players should probably check any ball found if Player A and Player B hit into the same area.  Especially if the same brand of ball is used or the markings share some similarities.

Of course the reality is that we never do that.  We trust the other player to correctly identify his ball. I have seen and heard of enough of these messes that I may have to start being "that guy" who walks over and double checks.

[DaveP043]

I'm not sure it makes you "that guy."  If I'm looking for two balls in the same general area, I'll probably make sure to walk by the first ball that was found to take a look.  I might even say "We're both here in the same area, lets make sure we get the right ball."  

[iacas]

3 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Was the ball Player B hit Player A's?  If so doesn't he get to drop the ball in close proximity to where Player B mistakenly played it?  

The OP had me edit his post with clarifying information. I wondered the same thing.

3 hours ago, Groucho Valentine said:

That would be the fair thing. But I'm not sure since player A declared his ball lost and re-teed. 

Whether you agree or not, the fellow competitors are outside agencies, and thus the ball is lost and player A should have re-teed (as should B, plus the two strokes for playing a wrong ball).

[hilmar2k]

So under this same scenario, what if Player B hits the wrong ball before Player A even got to the area to look for his? It would have been impossible for him to have ever seen his ball, since it had already been played by Player B. Is he supposed to walk all the way up to it's new location to inspect it? Being penalized for that seems awfully harsh.

[iacas]

Two relevant things…

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15-3b/1

Competitor Plays Wrong Ball and Loses It; Wrong Ball May Have Been Fellow-Competitor's Ball

Q.In stroke play, A and B drive into the same area in the rough. B finds a ball and hits it into the middle of a deep water hazard. A finds a ball that turns out to be B's ball. No other ball is found in the area, so presumably B played A's ball. B incurs a penalty of two strokes under Rule 15-3b and must play his own ball. What is the proper procedure for A?

A.As it was virtually certain that B played A's ball, A must place another ball at the spot from which B played the wrong ball, without penalty - Rule 15-3b.

 

27/6 Player Unable to Find His Ball Because Another Player Played It

Q.A and B hit their tee shots into the same general area. A found a ball and played it. B went forward to look for his ball and could not find it. After a few minutes, B started back to the tee to put another ball into play. On the way, he found A's ball and knew then that A had played his (B's) ball in error. What is the ruling?

A.In match play, A lost the hole (Rule 15-3a).

In stroke play, A incurred a penalty of two strokes for playing a wrong ball and must then play his own ball (Rule 15-3b). A's ball was not lost even if A and B had been searching for more than five minutes because A had not "begun to search for it (his ball)"; the searching had been for B's ball - see Definition of "Lost Ball."

On the other hand, B began to search for his ball as soon as he went forward to look for it. If less than five minutes had elapsed before B found A's ball, B should have placed a ball on the spot from which A had wrongly played his (B's) ball and continued play, without penalty - see last paragraph of Rule 15-3b. However, if five minutes had expired, B's original ball was lost and he was obliged to put another ball into play under penalty of stroke and distance (Rule 27-1).

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Yes, it does kind of suck for A (in the OP's case), and he rightfully could be very very mad at B, but he too had to go back to the tee and hit again.

It was A's obligation to notice that the balls were in the same area and to ask B to fully identify his ball.

I included 15-3b/1 though, too, because you can obviously be virtually certain that the ball was A's… but where the Rules get you here is the definition of a lost ball. There are a few times in the Rules of Golf where you can have the ball, know it's yours, and yet it's still "lost" per the Rules of Golf. This is one of 'em.