Let's pretend we are playing down the 8th fairway and over the hill about 70 meters out from the green, when we notice there is a golf ball sitting just off the fairway in the rough. It looks like a Titleist Pro V1 in pretty good "nick", but it is marked with 3 red dots. What do we do. Although there is no Rule concerning picking up of stray balls on a course, etiquette and common sense would preclude all players from adopting this practice unless they were absolutely sure the ball was actually lost. Care must be taken that there are no other players within the vicinity, including players from behind or on other fairways, who may have hit their ball to that point. We may have all, from time to time, picked up a lost ball, however it is a bad habit to adopt. Under no circumstances should a ball, which you believe to be lost, be picked up during a competition. If you feel you must pick up a ball on the course, which is not yours, you must first ascertain that it does not belong to anybody else within the area and that it is actually lost. Put yourself in the position of the player coming over the hill and not being able to find his / her ball in a major trophy competition. The Captain would not be happy. It it also worthy of mention that you should all mark your golf balls to avoid any confusion over which ball, belongs to which player. Rules of Golf 12.2 refers.
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BGC Men Trophy winners Conditions of Competition Policies and Practices Lady Captain's Blog Local Rules Archives
March 2024
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