All sorts of things can happen in golf, and the Rules must cover the most bizarre scenarios.
The situation in this headline is something that you might not think possible to happen. But it has done. In fact, I’ve witnessed it happen and I very much doubt it’s the only time in golf’s history it has occurred.
As the ball was coming towards the end of its flight, a bird took off from the lake on that left side. It flew straight into the path of my pal’s ball and was struck.
I’m not sure what type of bird it was but it was clearly a hardy sort as it didn’t seem remotely perturbed. It carried on, only a little ruffled. My friend’s ball however did not get off so lightly. It was deflected, possibly caught by a wing stroke, and headed left – straight into the lake. We saw the agonising splash.
It was bad luck as it looked like he’d be putting for birdie. “Surely I get to play that again!” He pleaded, after we’d all had a bit of a laugh at the unusual incident.
You might think so. But no. Unfortunately for him that’s not what the Rules of golf say.
OK, his ball had accidentally hit an animal… tick…
Now, reading on, Rule 11.1b(1) tells you what to do if you’ve hit an animal with a shot from anywhere except the putting green.
It says that you must play the ball as it lies. In some cases, the bird strike might have sent my pal’s ball closer to the hole and that would have been a good break. In this instance, the break was not good and his ball ended in a penalty area.
This was a red penalty area, so my friend had four options. Number 1, he could try to play it. That wasn’t really on though. He would have needed scuba gear to get to it.
He had then, three options left, all under penalty of one stroke. Firstly, he could play again from the tee under stroke and distance – playing three from…
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