Well this is a sticky situation.
“A while ago in damp conditions I played a shot trying to dig my ball out from next to a tree trunk,” our emailer begins.
“I couldn’t see where my ball had gone, but when I looked down it was stuck to my clubface by a lump of mud.
“Can you tell me how I should have proceeded?”
How do we get out of this one then? What happens when you’ve taken a shot but the ball is still wedged to the club?
Illustration of a golf ball stuck to the clubface in mud | Source: AI
Clubface rules: What happens when the ball is stuck on the clubface?
Here’s the bad news. You’ve still had a shot. The ball might not have gone anywhere but you started a downswing with the intention of hitting it.
The definition of stroke isn’t really bothered about what happens to the ball, so you’re not getting a completely free pass.
But you’re not going to pick up a penalty as well, and no-one’s expecting you to then try and launch the ball off the clubface lacrosse-style.
If this ever happens to you, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s mud, or a clod of earth that is the adhesive, you just drop the ball in a one club-length relief area.
Yes, you can clean the ball first and the spot where you drop is the estimated point right underneath where it first became attached to the clubface.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of these clubface rules? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
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Main image | Source: AI
