A common occurence on golf courses all over the world is for any player in the vicinity of a potentially lost ball to join in the search. It’s one of the things that makes this sport great. Even opponents usually will make some effort to help locate a ball before the three-minute search period expires. When time’s up, the ball is considered lost under Rule 18.2.
Lucky for you and that one you pumped into the rough between the second and third holes, a guy playing in the opposite direction found your ball buried in deep rough. He picked it up, called out the brand of ball and its number (to which you gave a thumb’s up), and then he proceded to drop the ball near the spot where he picked it up. You saw the whole thing and now you’re benefitting from his “gesture,” because your ball clearly is in a better position.
Can you play it as it lies? After all, you had nothing to do with the action. Furthermore, you’ve seen spectators on TV mistakenly pick up a tour pro’s ball and drop it, perhaps in a better situation than it previously was in.
Before you get the answer, just know that we understand if you just swung away from your new lie propped up in the rough. But if you want to know the rule, you are commiting a penalty if you witness someone about to improve the conditions affecting your next stroke and “do not take reasonable steps to try to stop it” from happening (Rule 1.3c). If you hit that next shot, it’s either a two-stroke penalty or loss of hole in match play.
If you can’t stop that person from improving your lie, the right thing to do would be to ask where and in what lie the ball was found, and then try to recreate that lie after getting the information (Rule 9.6). You replace the ball on its original spot, you don’t drop it. That other golfer is considered an outside influence since he or she is not part of your side in a match or an opponent. If that golfer isn’t exactly sure where or how he or she found it, you have to estimate that lie (Rule 14.2)
The main thing here is to remember that “a player is responsible when another person’s action breaches a rule with respect to the player if it is done at the player’s request or if the player sees the action and allows it.”
If you want to play the what-if game and wonder what would happen if a person picked up your ball, improved its lie and you played it without knowing it came to rest in a different lie or spot, the answer is there is no penalty (assuming no one told you what had happened prior to hitting).
MORE GOLF DIGEST RULES REVIEWS
What do I do if my ball just hit another ball on the green?
What happens if my three-minute search for a lost ball gets interrupted?
I hit myself with my own ball. Is that a penalty anymore?
What exactly is an embedded ball?
Touching the green to see if it’s wet: Penalty or no?
I hit a horrible shot. I’m way better off if I don’t find it. Can I just declare it lost?
Does a ball have to be unplayable to declare it unplayable?
I accidentally hit my ball with a practice stroke … does it count?
I’m on the green. My opponent is not. Who’s away?
I bent my putter and it actually works better. Can I still use it?
Somebody just picked up my golf ball! Now what?
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
