A few weeks ago, I received a FaceTime from my brother. He was playing golf with three of our high school buddies. It was the last thing I needed at the time, as I was in full dad mode, power-washing my deck. I reluctantly answered.
“You’re not going to believe this,” my brother said, with my buddy Mark in frame. (If you knew Mark, your brain would have went to the same place mine did—Oh no, he proposed to some girl he just met.)
Thankfully that was not the case. My brother Jack informed me that after our other buddy Will had hit his tee shot to about four feet on the par-3 eighth hole at Fiddler’s Elbow’s Forest Course in Bedminster, N.J., Mark went next. His approach landed close to the hole, too. It then spun and hit Will’s ball, knocking it into the hole.
They were calling to inform me of this absurd happening, but also to ask if this was a hole-in-one. Now, I’m no rules expert, but I do write for Golf Digest, so they figured I’d be able to make the call. I had never heard of such a situation before, though my brain immediately went to the 2016 Masters when Louis Oosthuizen’s tee shot on the 16th hole hit another ball on the green before rolling in for an ace.
After some congratulations, we hung up and then proceeded accordingly. Mark made his birdie putt, Will penciled in a 1. Have a day, boys!
But as I power-washed every last scrape of dirt off my deck, I began thinking. And thinking. If you notice, there is a very key difference between what happened with Oosthuizen and what happened with Mark and Will. Oosthuizen’s ball hit the ball of J.B. Holmes’ and then went in. That is very much a hole-in-one.
But in the case of Mark and Will, Mark’s ball hit Will’s, but Mark’s ball did not go in—Will’s did. This felt off to me, and while I found plenty of language in the Rules of Golf regarding this situation when it happens on an approach or chip around the green, I could not find any language for it happening from the tee box on a par 3. Had it been an approach or chip, the ruling is simple—Will would have to replace his ball to its original spot. Mark’s ball would be played as it lies, and they both would proceed with their next shot.
I reached out to the USGA and they confirmed the bad news. Will’s ball did have to be replaced, without penalty, under Rule 9.5 in match play or Rule 9.6 in stroke play. Mark plays his ball as it lies, also without penalty, under Rule 11.1.
Unfortunately, no hole-in-one for Will (he has one already, so all good). While they did proceed as if he had made one, this was not a real competition, so no retroactive rules need to be applied. As a consolation, it’s a fascinating story to tell for the rest of their lives, and it turned into some solid content for GolfDigest.com. So they got that going for them.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
