A bird hit my club when taking a shot – does it count?
We’re used to animals trying to make off with our balls, but what happens if one collides with you as we’re making a stroke? Our Rules expert has the answer
Here’s something you don’t see on the course every day. It’s probably the most unusual golf stroke enquiry I’ve ever received.
Mike Bramham emailed me with a weird and wonderful query that quickly got my attention. He wrote: “A bird flew into my playing partner’s club as he was making a stroke. It put him off and he mishit it completely.
“There’s plenty of guidance on balls influenced by outside agencies but not the club in motion. I presume that the rule is that it’s rub of the green and you play the ball as it lies.
“For completeness, the bird, a tiny goldcrest, was only stunned and made a full recovery.”
Golf stroke: What do the rules say when an animal hits your club?
This isn’t the kind of birdie anyone has in mind. Good to hear the little tyke escaped in one piece, even if a scorecard did not.
That’s because a stroke has been made. If this happens to you, you’ll have to play the ball from wherever your encounter with a winged menace sent it.
The definition of a golf stroke states it is “the forward movement of the club made to strike the ball”.
A clarification to this – titled Determining If A Stroke Was Made – also says “if a player starts the downswing with a club intending to strike the ball, his or her action counts as a stroke when: The clubhead is deflected or stopped by an outside influence (such as the branch of a tree) whether or not the ball is struck.”
Take a peek at the definition of outside influence and you’ll find “any animal” is classed as such.
So once a player goes ahead and makes a stroke, the ball is in play – regardless of whether it was a tiny bird or a 30-pound Canada goose that got in the way.
If you can stop the swing, it can be a different matter. If the bird hits on the backswing, for example, you can stop, reset and go again.
You can also decide “during the downswing not to strike the ball and avoids doing so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball”.
If you can manage that, you also won’t have made a stroke.
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 about this rule on the golf stroke? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
