Remember Question of Sport? Coleman, Hughes, Beaumont – it was required viewing for this young whippersnapper.
Great days indeed. The bit I yearned for each week was the remarkable ‘what happened next?’ round. Some of those wacky escapades just didn’t seem possible. And I’m not sure I ever got one right.
But when this email dropped in my basket, I suddenly got warm and fuzzy feelings for my childhood. So get ready to ask, what happens next?
“You’re putting on the green from 20 feet away and, as the ball is rolling right at the centre of the cup, a ball hit from the next group runs up on the green and strikes the rolling ball about two feet from the cup.
“It sends your ball off the green about 25 feet away. What happens now?”
Golf ball in motion rules: What happens next?
No one needs to look silly on a TV programme today. While this incident might sound extraordinary, you can work out the answer if you employ some common sense.
If you are putting on the green and your ball your is knocked off its path by a rogue invader, you are not expected to mooch off the green and play it as it lies.
An outside influence can be defined as “another ball in motion” and there is a clarification to Rule 11.1b that sets out what to do in this very situation.
“If a player’s ball in motion played from the putting green accidentally hits another ball in motion on the putting green, the player must replay the stroke”.
So you might be aggrieved your ball has been deflected from going in the hole, and may well be having strong words with the group that hit into you, at least you can put it back and try again.
What about the player who hit the offending shot? Turn to Rule 11.1b, which says if a player’s ball in motion – hit from anywhere except the green – accidentally hits an outside influence “the ball must normally be played as it lies”.
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The only exceptions to this would be if it came to rest on a person, animal, or “on a moving outside influence”. There, you must take a drop.
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 golf ball in motion rules? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
