ball under ground

[NoBack]

Gary

Funny thing happened at Emerald Links yesterday, and need ruling.

Fellow competitor found my ball in the rough (actually just inside tree line) for me and when I played the shot, a second ball was hit as well. My ball goes flying across the fairway into the other trees and the second ball which was completely embeded into the ground went forward about 10 feet. Neither one of us had seen the ball in the ground. What do you do???

Thanks in advance

[Gary Hill]

No harm, no foul, carry on.

You have properly played a stroke at your ball.
Incidental to that was the contact with the concealed abandoned ball.
An abandoned ball is a movable obstruction.
Your situation would have been no different had you dislodged a bottle cap.
Your ball is played as it lies with no penalty.

[Kilroy]

If he had seen the abandoned ball, could he have marked his ball and removed the abandoned one? I know you can only move twigs etc if you don't touch the ball, but what about this case?

[Gary Hill]

Leaves, twigs, etc. (natural objects) are loose impediments.
If your ball moves while removing a loose impediment, you are subject to penalty.

Abandoned balls, bottle tops, cigarette butts, etc. (man-made objects) are movable obstructions.
Since man-made objects are not "part of the course" (in theory), you are not penalized if you ball moves in the process of removal.

If the ball lies in or on the movable obstruction, the ball may be lifted, without penalty, and the obstruction removed.
The ball would be dropped after the removal, not replaced (except on the putting green).
The ball does not have to be marked if it is not going to be replaced.