Rules Column: Mike Peluso

There are now changes to identifying your ball

For this month’s article we’re going to examine Rule 12 (Searching for and Identifying Ball). Rule 12 underwent a major facelift in the 2012 revision to The Rules of Golf.

Prior to 2012, the Rules as to when you could and couldn’t accidentally move the ball while searching for it were extremely convoluted. Although the following article might seem a bit convoluted in itself, suffice it to say that Rule 12 has been simplified.

The first thing that Rule 12 tells us is that you are not necessarily entitled to see your ball while making a stroke at it. For example, let’s say your ball is in an area with several low-lying plants and vegetation. You search for your ball and you see it under the leaf of a plant that’s growing and rooted in the ground, i.e., it’s not a loose impediment and can’t just be picked up and tossed aside. But when you go to address the ball from your normal stance position, the leaf completely hides your view of the ball. In this circumstance, you may not move or break that leaf in order to see your ball when at address.

One of the driving forces behind the changes to Rule 12 is the growing presence of links-style courses with an abundance of sand. I’m not necessarily talking about bunkers, but sand where traditionally there used to be rough. Chambers Bay is a perfect example. In a gesture of fairness and common sense, the USGA felt that it would be unfair to penalize someone who was probing with their club, hands, feet or otherwise in searching for a ball that he felt was buried in the sand. Therefore, if you are probing for your ball in sand anywhere on the course, including bunkers and water hazards, there is no penalty if you move your ball if you locate it. You merely need to recover all but a small part of the ball with sand prior to making your stroke at it.

Conversely, if your ball is covered with anything else – leaves, twigs, or other loose impediments – and you move your ball while searching for it anywhere on the course, including bunkers and water hazards, you are penalized one stroke and the ball must be replaced. But there is a way out of this:

You can carefully remove those leaves and twigs if you think your ball is covered by them, but you still have to be careful not to move your ball, or else you’re penalized. In a hazard, if you find your ball, you need to replace those leaves and twigs. But here’s a twist: While you’re penalized a stroke if you move your ball removing those leaves and twigs, you’re not penalized if you move your ball when you replace those leaves and twigs as required by the Rule. Although on the surface this may seem illogical, it actually makes perfect sense. There’s nothing in the Rules that require you to move those leaves to find your ball, but, in a hazard, the Rules do require you to replace them if you find your ball hidden underneath. The Rules aren’t going to penalize you for following a procedure that they require, as long as you’re attempting to do it correctly.

In a water hazard, Rule 12 doesn’t penalize you if you’re probing for your ball in water and move it. Again, it’s just some logic here. The Rules will allow you to probe for your ball in water, and by the very nature of water, the ball will very likely move. But be careful here. This only applies if you are actually probing for the ball with your hand or a club. If you jump into the water and the splash and ripples cause the ball to move, you’re penalized one stroke.

Finally, if you’re looking for your ball in an Abnormal Ground Condition such as Ground Under Repair and you move your ball. There is no penalty and you can either replace it or proceed directly with taking free relief as allowed from Abnormal Ground Conditions. This also applies to obstructions of any sort.

The second part of Rule 12 outlines the procedure for correctly lifting your ball for identification if you can’t identify it because the marks or brand or number are not visible as the ball lies. It’s a simple four-part process:

1. Announce your intention to your fellow-competitor or marker in stroke play or your opponent in match play that you intend to lift a ball to identify it as yours;

2. Mark and lift the ball and give your opponent, fellow-competitor or marker the opportunity to observe the lifting and marking. They don’t have to observe it, but they must be given the opportunity to observe it;

3. You may not clean the ball except to the extent necessary to identify it, i.e., if it’s covered with mud, and;

4. Replace the ball at the spot from which you lifted it.

If you fail to comply with 1, 2 or 3 above, or any combination of the three, you incur a one-stroke penalty. If you fail to replace the ball on its original spot and play it, you incur a total penalty of two strokes, whether or not you comply with 1, 2 and/or 3 above.