Changing Ball between holes

[mokey]

A Player may change balls between holes. Right?
Can the player change to a high spin-rate ball for say a par 3 hole then change to a low spin-rate ball on the next?
This is all I could find in the RCGA Rule Book.

APPENDIX I
Part C: Conditions of the Competition

If it is desired to prohibit changing brands and types of golf balls during a stipulated round, the following condition is recommended:
"Limitation on Balls Used During Round: (Note to Rule 5-1)
(i) "One Ball" Condition
During a stipulated round, the balls a player uses must be of the same brand and type as detailed by a single entry on the current List of Conforming Golf Balls

The terms "If it is desired" and "recommended" leads me to believe a player may in fact change brands and ball types unless it has been otherwise specified by the above condition?

Please help confirm

[Kilroy]

I'll take a stab at this one
I am pretty sure you can do as you are asking, but the ball you start a hole with must be played through completion of the hole, unless deemed to be damaged.

The PGA tour has that "local rule" so they cannot, but we can.

Gary?

[Gary Hill]

You are correct.

Rule 5-1 says, in part: The ball the player uses shall conform to requirements specified in Appendix III.

Rule 15-1 says, in part: A player must hole out with the ball played from the teeing ground unless a Rule permits him to substitute another ball.

So, you may play any conforming ball from the first tee and any (the same or other) conforming ball from subsequent tees. You may only substitute a ball during play of hole when a Rule permits ( eg. Rule 27-1 Ball Lost or Out of Bounds, Rule 15-3 Ball Unfit for Play, Rule 26-1 Ball in Water Hazard, etc).


Recommended for competitions involving expert players (ie. professional) only.

The Committee (whoever is in charge of the competition) may ADD a requirement to the Conditions of Competition stating that the balls used must be on the current list of conforming balls recognized by the R.C.G.A. or that all balls used by a player during the competition must be a single entry on that list.

FYI- PGA Tours players generally play a new ball every three holes.