practicing on the course/ playing wrong ball??

[hovis]

So last week i was playing in a comp at a friends course. My pp hit his tee shot right in a strip of rough separating the course with the range. Whilst looking for his ball another pp with wedge in hand was hitting range balls one handed (flicking) them back onto the range (10 feet) it was clear he was doing this to make it easier to find our pp's ball by getting rid of the range balls.

My question is, does this incur a penalty for making an intentional stike on the wrong ball?? Just curious

 

[doublebogey7]

So last week i was playing in a comp at a friends course. My pp hit his tee shot right in a strip of rough separating the course with the range. Whilst looking for his ball another pp with wedge in hand was hitting range balls one handed (flicking) them back onto the range (10 feet) it was clear he was doing this to make it easier to find our pp's ball by getting rid of the range balls.

My question is, does this incur a penalty for making an intentional stike on the wrong ball?? Just curious

No, Decision 7-2/5.

 

[hovis]

No, Decision 7-2/5.

Thanks. So the way i interpret that is if you hit it casually your ok but if you stand there and fire one back onto the practice ground you're in trouble?

 

[duncan mackie]

Thanks. So the way i interpret that is if you hit it casually your ok but if you stand there and fire one back onto the practice ground you're in trouble?

Pretty much.

How casual is casual and what constitutes firing one back are all things a committee would take into account in making any ruling required. Basically if you are making what looks similar to your normal stroke you are practicing and the only possible exceptions relate to courtesy acts. Effectively the onus is on the player to persuade a committee that he was not practicing!

 

[Doon frae Troon]

On the first hole of a scratch league match [many moons ago] our opponents tried to claim the hole when my partner backhanded a ball back to the practice ground.
After that it was a very quiet intense match which we won comfortably.