My ball EXPLODED after a shot – what do the Rules say?

Steve Carroll

Have your dreams of a good shot fallen into pieces? Our expert reveals what happens when your ball splits following a stroke

Golf balls are wondrously durable. I’m old enough, and was bad enough, to remember carving my way through all number of balatas back in the day.

And some of you will surely have had the odd rubber band poking out of the cover of a freshly sliced sphere.

Great days, not.

Today’s balls, infused with all kinds of polymers, may feel indestructible – my record is getting through eight consecutive rounds with the same one – but sometimes they meet a clubface and strange things happen.

This is probably why Pete Scrafton emailed to ask: “When you hit your ball onto the green it splits, and you have two portions of the original ball on the green, do I replace the ball on the fairway, on its original spot and retake the shot, or do I replace a ball on the green? If replacing the ball on the green, where do I replace the new ball to putt?”

That’s a lot of questions, Pete, but the Rules of Golf provide a very straightforward answer…

Split golf balls: Golf ball breaks into pieces while playing hole

Rule 4.2b covers this extremely simply. If your ball breaks into pieces after a stroke, “there is no penalty and the stroke does not count”.

You must play another ball from where that stroke was made. If you don’t, you’ll get the general penalty – two strokes or loss of hole in match play.

This applies when the ball breaks. If you think it has become cut, or cracked, while you’re playing the hole then another rule applies.

It’s 4.2c. You can mark and lift your ball to look – don’t clean the ball! – and can substitute another ball under Rule 4.2c (2) “only if it can be clearly seen that the original ball is cut or cracked and this damage happened during the ball being played”.

You replace it on its original spot.

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 split golf balls rule? Let me know on X.

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About the author

Steve Carroll

A journalist for more than 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’d like to tell you he floats around 10. The reality is more like 13.

Steve plays at Sandburn Hall, in York, and is a country member at Close House in Newcastle. He has served on various club committees during his time in the game, and is the current Rules Secretary at Sandburn.

Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NCTJ exams at Darlington College of Technology. He began his career working on weekly papers in Newcastle, before joining the York Press in 2001. After five years as a news reporter, he joined the sports desk – specialising in horse racing and snooker – and was Digital Sports Editor when he joined National Club Golfer in 2016.

What’s in Steve’s bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; Caley 01T irons 4-PW; TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, Odyssey 2Ball Microhinge putter.

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