Scigolf Presents Excerpts from the Golf Rules Dictionary

The Golf Rules Dictionary by Hadyn Rutter

i2 IDENTIFYING THE BALL

Basic Rules

it is the player's responsiblity for playing his proper ball and it is recommended that he put an identifying mark on his ball (R1.2.2)

through the green a player may (provided he follows the proper procedure) without penalty lift a ball he believes to be his for the purpose of identifying it and may clean it but only to the extent necessary to identify it.(R12.2)

a on the green he may move, lift and clean it in any event

if a player cannot identify his ball within 5 minutes it is deemed lost. See the Lost Ball rule for relevant rules and procedures.

Exception

the identification procedure without peanlty is not permitted if the ball is in a hazard - see Searching for the ball in a hazard for rules and procedure. It is recommended that if there is doubt as to the identifcation of a player's ball in a hazard he should attempt to play it as it lies as there is no penalty if it turns out to be the wrong ball.

Penalty

for breach of procdures (i) - (iv) - 1 stroke but for also failing to replace the ball the initial penalty is disregarded and there is a total penalty of loss of hole/2 strokes (R20.2a) (R25)

Procedures

wehn lifting a ball to identify irta player must:

(i) announce his intention of so doing

(ii) Mark it

(iii) give his opponent or fellow competitor opportunity to observe the lifting and replacement

(iv) lift it and cleanit to the extent permitted

(v) replace it

identify

ball lodge in a tree- player identified it with binoculars but could not reach it - it is not a lost ball but an unplayable ball (D27.14).
but if is visible but not identifiable it is deemed lost *D27/15)
if it cannot be identified because of mud - lift and clean it to dentify (D1.4/6)
player with a ball identical to that of his fellow competitor lifted it and changed to another ball to avoid confusion - loss of hole/2 stroke peanalty plus 1 stroke for illegal lifting (D15/6.5)
players playing identical balls hit both into the rough - could not decide which is which - as neither could identify his bott b oth are lost balls (D27/10)
but if a spectator could point out which belonged to whom the balls are not deemed lost (D27/12)

mark

player who rotated the ball for the purpose of identifying it was penalized 1 stroke when he did not first mark it (D12.1/2)
player who rotated the ball in a water hazard for the purpose of identifying it was penalized 2 stroke for moving it (D12.2/3).

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