What do you do?

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hors limite

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Played today in a regional seniors event. Threeball stableford. After two holes player 1 {is even par} hits his drive into the low sun and we all lose sight of it. He thinks it's skyed a bit and left. We find two balls on the right and continue to look for the " sky and left" with no luck. The fairway slopes left to right so we have a look in the semi on the right hand side. After a few seconds he finds his ball quite a bit further forward than a skyer would usually go. We all play up and are short of the green but close together. I notice immediately that both my fellow players are playing distinctively logoed brand new identical balls - the ball the guy on even par declared on the first tee.

It seems to me that the skyed ball was mistakenly played by player 2. BUT where on earth did this identical ball played by "even par" magically appear from? I express my surprise and we agree a penalty for playing a wrong ball for Player2 which is accepted. "Even par " plays dumb and can't understand any of it. He keeps on pleading coincidence and his marker Player2 records a 5 .

What do you do?
 
hors limite said:
Played today in a regional seniors event. Threeball stableford. After two holes player 1 {is even par} hits his drive into the low sun and we all lose sight of it. He thinks it's skyed a bit and left. We find two balls on the right and continue to look for the " sky and left" with no luck. The fairway slopes left to right so we have a look in the semi on the right hand side. After a few seconds he finds his ball quite a bit further forward than a skyer would usually go. We all play up and are short of the green but close together. I notice immediately that both my fellow players are playing distinctively logoed brand new identical balls - the ball the guy on even par declared on the first tee.It seems to me that the skyed ball was mistakenly played by player 2. BUT where on earth did this identical ball played by "even par" magically appear from? I express my surprise and we agree a penalty for playing a wrong ball for Player2 which is accepted. "Even par " plays dumb and can't understand any of it. He keeps on pleading coincidence and his marker Player2 records a 5 .What do you do?
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If neither player can confirm that a ball is definitely theirs then they are both lost and it's back to the tee. If you play a wrong ball and don't correct it then it's a Dq
 
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So basically the player appears to have dropped a ball ?

Was there any refs around ?

What did the guy who played the wrong ball think ?

How can an identical ball appear on the course ?
 
Spuddy said:
If neither player can confirm that a ball is definitely theirs then they are both lost and it's back to the tee. Otherwise it's a 2 shot penalty for both for playing the wrong ball.
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I think the bigger issue is the appearance of an "identical" ball
 
Was the branding unique or a local club logo? If the 2nd player confirmed that identical ball was not his, and the logo was unique the chances of a coincidence is highly unlikely?
 
The balls were very distinctive, Titleist 1's, brand new and bearing a company logo. The marker opted for a " quiet life". I was totally convinced that " even par" had dropped a second ball in the rough.
 
hors limite said:
The balls were very distinctive, Titleist 1's, brand new and bearing a company logo. The marker opted for a " quiet life". I was totally convinced that " even par" had dropped a second ball in the rough.
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Avoid conflict - agree the 2 balls were identical? Ask politely exactly how the player could identify the ball he played as his ball in play given that it was entirely reasonable that the other one was his tee shot. Suggest that as he would be playing 5 from the tee he blobs the hole rather than returning to the tee.

Put another way, putting an identical ball into play when he doesn't know where he hit the first carries a risk!
 
Perhaps I am being astonishingly thick, but I thought you said the logo ball "even par" holed out with was the ball he declared on the tee? If so, I'm confused as to how it has magically appeared from anywhere!

All of this could of course be avoided if players marked their ball. Relying on a logo simply isn't enough. We've all been given balls on corporate days or similar which have a logo on - you still need to differentiate one from the other. A Sharpie pen doesn't cost the earth.

I remember a playing partner once hitting into a bush on our 14th. I couldn't recall what he had declared on the 1st tee, and on finding one unplayable asked what he was playing. "What have you found?" he asked. I again asked what he was playing and he came over and had a look. "I think that's mine" he says. I think you can guess the rest. I insisted on him going back to the tee to play another. He had a right old strop but was clearly trying it on.

Mark your balls and all this is avoided.
 
Billysboots said:
Perhaps I am being astonishingly thick, but I thought you said the logo ball "even par" holed out with was the ball he declared on the tee? If so, I'm confused as to how it has magically appeared from anywhere!

All of this could of course be avoided if players marked their ball. Relying on a logo simply isn't enough. We've all been given balls on corporate days or similar which have a logo on - you still need to differentiate one from the other. A Sharpie pen doesn't cost the earth.

I remember a playing partner once hitting into a bush on our 14th. I couldn't recall what he had declared on the 1st tee, and on finding one unplayable asked what he was playing. "What have you found?" he asked. I again asked what he was playing and he came over and had a look. "I think that's mine" he says. I think you can guess the rest. I insisted on him going back to the tee to play another. He had a right old strop but was clearly trying it on.

Mark your balls and all this is avoided.
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The third player in the group played a wrong ball that just so happens to be idenitcal to the ball played by the guy who skyed his drive. Its either a massive coincidence or else he actually played the skyed ball and the skyer dropped another ball while claiming it was his original drive.
 
So did the skied ball get a good run/bounce off a sprinkler head? And the guy said he thought he'd skied it left, not that he had skied it left. Seriously, I can't see how either ball could be identified. I'd be strongly suggesting to both guys that they blob the hole and mark the ball up properly before the next tee.
 
Either I or a lot of others are misreading this.

I'm taking it not that the two guys are playing identical balls, but one guy has put another identical ball into play illegally and has been found out as his first was found.
 
Region3 said:
Either I or a lot of others are misreading this.

I'm taking it not that the two guys are playing identical balls, but one guy has put another identical ball into play illegally and has been found out as his first was found.
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I'm reading it as the 2nd player accidentally played the first players ball. The first player, unable to find his ball, "dropped" an identical ball into the rough and played that instead...
 
bluewolf said:
I'm reading it as the 2nd player accidentally played the first players ball. The first player, unable to find his ball, "dropped" an identical ball into the rough and played that instead...
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That's how I'm reading it too - basically he cheated
 
bluewolf said:
I'm reading it as the 2nd player accidentally played the first players ball. The first player, unable to find his ball, "dropped" an identical ball into the rough and played that instead...
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Yes. Explained better than I did.

I think some are reading it that both players we're playing identical/similar balls and was a genuine mistake.
 
If I am reading it right from the OP, none of the other 2 players had played their ball before 'even par' found his, so how come no one appeared to identify their own ball before playing their second shots?
 
bluewolf said:
I'm reading it as the 2nd player accidentally played the first players ball. The first player, unable to find his ball, "dropped" an identical ball into the rough and played that instead...
Click to expand...

Now I see! Thanks for that - I felt like I was on The Krypton Factor for a while there.
 
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