2008 #15 Can Partner Replace Ball?

THE SCENE:
You are playing 4-ball (best ball of the twosome) on hole #1 of the Charger. Mary sliced her drive into the bunker on the right. You slice your drive, too, but as you hold your breath it lands short of the bunker. As you drive up to it you see that it is almost buried in deep rough. So, you pull out your Rescue club and swing. The rough grabs your club and the ball bounces into the bunker. But you can see it now and it is not your ball. You murmur an expletive. “I’m sorry,” you say as you pick up the ball. You know that you can’t replace it so you hold it out to the ball’s owner.

But she is taking a practice swing, so her partner takes the ball and says, “I’ll take care of it. I know where it was.” And she places the ball exactly where it was before you hit it. Then the ball’s owner takes her stance and hits it.

You can’t believe what you are seeing. You got penalized for this last week and you know the rule. You pull out your Rules of Golf book and show it to the ball’s owner. “You see, right there under rule 15-3 it says the owner must replace the ball. You are penalized one stroke.”

What should the owner do?
A.  She says, “It was my partner! She can always place or replace my ball.”
B.  The owner reads the rule and agrees to take a penalty of 1 stroke.

A is correct.

Look at the following decicion:

20-3a/0.5  Whether Player Himself Must Place or Replace Ball
Q.  Rule 20-3a states: “A ball to be placed under the Rules must be placed by the player or his partner. If a ball is to be replaced, the player, his partner or the person who lifted or moved it must place it on the spot from which it was lifted or moved.” On the other hand, other Rules, e.g., Rule 12-2, state that the player must place or replace the ball. Does Rule 20-3a override other Rules which imply that the player himself must place or replace the ball?



A. Yes



In other words, even when the rule specifically says that the player, herself, must place or replace the ball, it is still permisable for the player’s partner or the person who lifted the ball to do the replacing.



REMEMBER: If you must place or replace a ball, your partner can do it for you.