I was playing to day. I would like some help or correction on this ruling.

A buddy hit his drive and it hit he cartpath, then bounced it to an cart of the greens person. The ball stayed in the cart until the he reach the green and then fell to the ground. what rulimg would you use?

RULING #1-
The other two guy stated the the ball has to be play for were it hit the ground last. None of use took notice of were the ball hit exactly.

Ruling #2
An other foursome stated that the ball need to be played by the trajectory of the shot and detemine were the ball would had come to rest and play it from there. If the ball bounced were would it have gone? out of bounds was to the right and that was the direction the drive was going or could the ball had bounce and come to rest of the markers?

Ruling #3- Greens Keeper ruling
Play the ball a unplayable and rehit under rule 39?-??. Rehit with out penilty.

Ruling #4- My Ruling.
Play the ball were it came to rest. The reason for this the ball never came to rest with the ground until the cart stopped.

What would you say? How would you rule this?

My ruling cost me the December 1 Christmas tournament by 1 stroke. but the we won the foursome total score.

I would have played the ball "as it lies".

We had an incident earlier this year when a local was out walking his labrador dog and the dog picked up my golfers ball and ran with it! It probably got about 50-60 yards forward then dropped the ball. All the golfers playing partners agreed that the ball was to be played as it lay. Fortunate that the dog went in the correct direction.

I'll have a look in the rules book when I get home at the weekend, especially concentrating on Rule 13-1 which says, "the ball must be played as it lies, except as otherwise provided in the Rules".

I did not get this ruling from the top of my head but from the R&A Rules website amongst their FAQs.

Cheers, John<br><br>Post edited by: Boynie, at: 2007/12/13 21:27

I've had a look at the Rules of Golf book provided by the R&amp;A and have found a &quot;Definition&quot; that interprets your situation. I quote extensively:

Rule 19.1 By Outside Agency

If a ball in motion is accidentally deflected or stopped by any outside agency, it is a rub of the green, no penalty is incurred and the ball shall be played as it lies except:

a. If a ball in motion after a stroke other than on the putting green comes to rest in or on any moving or animate outside agency, the player shall, through the green or in a hazard, drop the ball, or on the putting green place the ball, as near as possible to the spot where the outside agency was when the ball came to rest in or on it.

Penalty for Breach of Rule:

Match Play - Loss of hole.

Stroke Play - Two strokes.

So in plain golfers language the rule states, that the ball is to be played from where it originally entered or landed in the greenkeepers cart and not where it finished up. The penalty is loss of the hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play.

I hope this makes it all a bit clearer. Cheers, Boynie.

This applies to the situation where that PGA pro (can't remember who) had a ball at rest on the green. A large bird swooped down and picked it ball up and flew off. The bird then dropped the ball in the greenside lake.