wrong ball mayhem

[edtaa]

In a four ball match today one of our opponents - let's call him Jim - played a shot to the green on the 16th. I then played a shot to the green. My partner then went to his ball only to discover that it was, in fact, my ball. He then dropped a ball near to where I had played. On reaching the green, one of our opponents was in the bunker after 5 shots so he picked up with his partner, Jim, not far from the flag. We then discovered that the ball that I had played was not my partner's. It was Jim's. We then found that Jim had played my partner's ball for his second shot. Therefore, we claimed the hole as Jim had played a wrong ball and his partner had picked up. Our opponents reluctantly accepted this and that concluded the match as we were then up 3 and 2. We played on and as we walked towards our third shots on the 17th our opponents challenged the outcome on the 16th on the basis that my partner had dropped his ball in the wrong place. He had dropped on the spot that I had played from which was nearer the hole than where Jim had played from. My reply was that since we were now playing the 17th and had shook hands on the match there was nothing to be done. Is that correct?

Looking back to the 16th, should my partner have been penalised for having played from the wrong place even though the opposition had agreed to the drop that he took?

In hindsight, we might have agreed to half the 16th. I then birdied 17 so we would have won the match anyway. It was a team match and our team would have won overall even had we lost the last two holes to finish all square. So it is all somewhat academic but I'd like to know the answer to the two key questions raised by this oddball sequence of events.

 

[Colin L]

Sounds like fun. If a player plays a wrong ball in match play, he loses the hole the moment he hits it. In a four ball match, he is out of the hole but his partner can continue.

When Jim hit your partner’s ball he played a wrong ball and was out of the hole. When you played Jim’s ball you were also out of the hole. That left your partner and Jim’s partner still in contention. Your partner was permitted to substitute a ball for the one wrongly played but he played it from a wrong place which is a loss of hole penalty and so he too was out the hole......... leaving Jim’s partner as the sole player with a ball in play. The hole was won by your opponents, but you are right that it was too late to make a claim halfway through the next hole and the result has to stand in your favour.

 

[Beezerk]

I need another glass of wine to digest that one 😅

 

[edtaa]

That's what they all said when we discussed it with our team mates at lunch! Well, those who were sober enough to follow the discussion.

 

[backwoodsman]

All I was thinking was, does no-one look at, or check, a ball before they hit it ?? Seems to me the party was just smacking any ball they happened across?

 

[oltimer]

have you tried Bowls ?

 

[Lazkir]

All I was thinking was, does no-one look at, or check, a ball before they hit it ?? Seems to me the party was just smacking any ball they happened across?

Normally yes, was in a singles match the other day and I hit my ball down the right of the fairway and my FC hit his down the left. The fairway runs downhill so we couldn't see where the balls finish.
I went to the ball on the right, he went to the ball on the left. I went first and hit to the right of the green, he then checked 'his' ball only to find it was mine. So I lost the hole

Truly bizarre, we couldn't figure out for the life of us how the balls ended up where they did, they were both pretty straight drives that were no where near hitting anything.

Stuff happens.

 

[Fyldewhite]

"Mayhem" just about sums it up!!

 

[Crazyface]

Hey look it raining outside!

 

[irip]

That is the funniest thing i have read for ages, was it a scene for carry on golfing?

 

[srixon 1]

Sounds like a right balls-up

Always mark your ball in a specific way, and always check it before you whack it. Even if you have hit it in the middle of the fairway. Like you said, stuff happens.

 

[turkish]

That is the funniest thing i have read for ages, was it a scene for carry on golfing?

Haha me too utter shambles

 

[Green Man]

I always mark my ball with enough marks so that I can identify it however it is lying. I'm also into the habit of checking its my ball before each and every time I hit it.

I can't understand why everyone who is playing in a comp doesn't do this. Surely everyone who is playing in a comp should do this.

 

[duncan mackie]

I always mark my ball with enough marks so that I can identify it however it is lying. I'm also into the habit of checking its my ball before each and every time I hit it.

I can't understand why everyone who is playing in a comp doesn't do this. Surely everyone who is playing in a comp should do this.

Everyone does, until they don't.

It happens to everyone at some point. Normally it's someone else's 'fault', but of course it never is. Someone switching balls to the same make, model and number you were playing from a wildly different one and then hitting your ball so that you walk up to the other, already presuming it's yours and only giving it a cursory glance before joining him in a penalty...