unmarked ball

[spidey]

Gary,

My opponent and I walk up to our drives and discover that we are both playing the exact same ball. We can easily tell which is which because we are on different sides of the fairway. Mine is embedded through the green, and I mark, lift, clean and prepare to place it. May I put a mark on it so that we can tell them apart for the remainder of the hole?

spidey

[Gary Hill]

Yes. If you have lifted your ball under authority of a Rule, you would be allowed to put an identification mark on it while lifted.

However, in your specific case, I have not been provided with enough information to determine whether you actually have the authority to lift it.

You stated your ball was on the side of the fairway and was embedded "through the green". You did not say whether your ball was actually on the fairway. "Through the green" is a defined term under the Rules and is the whole area of the course except the teeing ground and putting green of the hole being played and all hazards on the course.

BTW-The defined term "through the green" is often incorrectly used to describe a ball that has rolled across and off the back of the green. (Other incorrect terms include trap for bunker, flag for flagstick, and medal play for stroke play).

An embedded ball may be lifted, cleaned, and dropped without penalty only if it is embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any CLOSELY-MOWN AREA through the green. Closely-mown area means any area of the course cut to fairway height or less. What this means is that you do not get embedded ball relief off the fairway. This fact is made even more confusing by a permanent local rule allowing PGA, LPGA, Senior, Buy.com, and Canadian Tour players free relief for a ball embedded ANYWHERE through the green. The European Tour grants no such exception.

Note: The embedded ball Rule requires dropping the ball not placing the ball.