Dirty Golf

The dos and don’ts of cleaning and lifting your ball

Dear North Shore Golf,
I admittedly do not know the rules of golf as well as I probably should. But I’m pretty sure I can tell when a guy is manipulating a rule to work in his favor.
My friend and I were playing a stroke play match. On the 10th tee, his ball skidded through some mud and bounced into the fairway. When we got to his ball, there was mud all over one side of it. He said he was allowed to “lift” his ball in order to identify if it was his or not. That sounded OK to me, but I asked him if he was going to be able to wipe the mud off the ball after he lifted it. He said, “Of course not,” which is what I was hoping he’d say.
But in one of the bigger snake moves I’ve ever seen, when he put his ball back down on the fairway, he conveniently positioned the ball so the mud was on the opposite side where the clubface wouldn’t hit it. I was outraged! I told him that there was no way he should be able to do that. He said something about some new rule that allowed you to position the ball however you wanted after lifting to identify.
Sounds crazy to me. Was he just making this up?
R.C. Groveland, Mass

North Shore Golf called on Chuck Frithsen, the Head Golf Professional at Golf Country in Middleton, to settle this controversy:

Dear R.C.,

Even though this may sound like a manipulation of the rules, according to a 2002 entry in the Decisions on the Rules of Golf, your friend was in compliance with the rules.

It is OK to lift a ball in order to identify it (Rule 12-2), as long as the ball is replaced on the spot from which it was lifted and it is not cleaned. You are allowed to clean the ball only to the point where your logo or mark can be identified. Decision 21/5 states that it is also legal to reposition the ball so the mud or anything else attached to the ball is pointing away from the clubface.

However, the player is not allowed to rotate the ball in a way that the mud would act as a tee. That would be a breach of Rule 20-3a.

There are two other instances when a player is allowed to lift a ball, but not clean it. The first is in order to determine if a ball is unfit for play (Rule 5-3). The other one is when it is assisting or interfering with the play of another player’s ball, stance, swing or line of play (Rule 22).

Whenever you are lifting a ball that is not allowed to be cleaned, be sure to announce your intention to your opponent or fellow competitor. Mark the ball properly before lifting it and do so in clear view. Be sure you lift the ball with just your thumb and forefinger. Hold the ball in plain view until it is replaced. The penalty for cleaning a ball when not allowed by rule is one stroke.

So kudos to your friend for knowing the rules and using them to his advantage!