Striking a fellow player has got to be a golfer’s worst nightmare. Those balls can do a lot of damage. I hope you’ve all got insurance.
But aside from all the penalties that can accrue off the course, are you going to get sanctioned on it too.
George Bankes got in touch on social media with this poser: “A player was taking a while to hit his shot and one of the fourball started to walk forward. When he was about 25 yards away, the player took his shot and it veered into the guy walking – hitting hard. Are there any penalties for hitting your opponent with a ball?”
Golfer hit by ball: Is there any penalty?
Ouch. I’ve been struck at close range by a howitzer and I can tell you it’s no fun. But if the player was upset at decking a fellow golfer, at least they didn’t have the knockout blow of a penalty to deal with too.
Rule 11.1a says: “If a player’s ball in motion accidentally hits any person or outside influence, there is no penalty to any player.
“This is true even if the ball hits the player, the opponent, or any other player or any of their caddies or equipment.”
The player has to play the ball as it lies, except in two situations.
The first is when a ball played from anywhere except the putting green comes to rest on a person, animal, or moving outside influence. In that case, the player has to take relief.
The other exception is when a ball played from a putting green accidentally hits a person, animal, or movable obstruction on the green – and that includes another ball in motion. Then the stroke doesn’t count and has to be played again.
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.
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