Spectator marking player's ball on the green

[jo_bus]

I was a spectator at a junior tournament (stroke play) where caddies were not allowed. As his son's group was playing a hole, one father would stand out of the way up near the green. As the group hit their approach shots onto the green, this father would mark each player's ball if it came to rest on the green. The father didn't seem to be trying to overtly distract any of the players....he'd keep a reasonable distance from the green and as a ball came to rest on the green, he'd hurry onto the green and mark the ball and get back out of the way.

 

It was a local junior tournament so there were no ropes cordoning off the gallery. One of the other parents asked him to stop but he said it wasn't against the rules and continued marking the group's balls as they came to rest on the green.

 

I can't find anything in the rules that addresses having a ball marked by a spectator. The closest thing I could come up with is one could argue the father would be considered an outside agency - supporting the father's assertion.

 

I can't believe there isn't a rule or ruling that addresses this but I can't seem to find it. Do any of you know how this situation should be ruled?

[schlyer]

Thats weird behavior. Did he ever state a reason for doing this?

As a competitor I'd have told him to stop touching my ball since I can't tell whether he is marking it correctly.

[OpusX20]

[quote name='jo_bus' date='14 March 2010 - 04:34 PM' timestamp='1268602495' post='2315534']
I was a spectator at a junior tournament (stroke play) where caddies were not allowed. As his son's group was playing a hole, one father would stand out of the way up near the green. As the group hit their approach shots onto the green, this father would mark each player's ball if it came to rest on the green. The father didn't seem to be trying to overtly distract any of the players....he'd keep a reasonable distance from the green and as a ball came to rest on the green, he'd hurry onto the green and mark the ball and get back out of the way.

It was a local junior tournament so there were no ropes cordoning off the gallery. One of the other parents asked him to stop but he said it wasn't against the rules and continued marking the group's balls as they came to rest on the green.

I can't find anything in the rules that addresses having a ball marked by a spectator. The closest thing I could come up with is one could argue the father would be considered an outside agency - supporting the father's assertion.

I can't believe there isn't a rule or ruling that addresses this but I can't seem to find it. Do any of you know how this situation should be ruled?
[/quote]

Strange behavior. There are a couple of areas in the Rules that would suggest that the father is acting inappropriately, at best. The first thing that comes to mind is Rule 20-1. It says,[size="2"] [i]"A ball to be lifted under the Rules [/size][size="2"]may be lifted by the player, his partner [/i][/size][size="2"][i]or another person authorised by the player. In any such case, the player is responsible for any breach of the Rules[/size][/i][size="2"][i]."[/i] I doubt that he was given authorization by the other players in his kids group, so it is clearly a violation. Secondly, if he got "authorization" from his kid to mark his ball on each hole, I would suggest that the father has now become a caddie, which obviously violates the rules of the competition. Sounds like a DQ to me.[/size]

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Sounds like a fetish to me...and not a healthy one either. Dear Ol' Dad needs to dance with what he brung, and leave others alone.

As mentioned, as a player, he'd only get to do that once with mine.

[BIRD]

lol he wouldnt do that to my ball a 2nd time . . that dude has issues

[evanrfid]

Someone should have kicked his a**.

[shorrrno]

man, that is really wierd. and i am surprised none of the other players did anything about it. even if it was my dada i wouldnt want it on my ball

[station2station]

As the parent of a golfer who has gone thru the ranks of junior golf, the parent was out of place.

I've seen parents rake bunkers to speed up play when players get put on the clock - but I believe parent involvement is worse in golf than it is in ice hockey. It's bad and this dad needs to step off.

The marking of the ball can only be done if authorized...which obviously he was not.

Wow.

[KevCarter]

Tough situation. It wasn't authorized, but who do you penalize, his son? He was probably almost embarrassed to tears. IMO, this is a situation where the parent should be removed from the course by the coaches or rules committee, not a penalty situation.

Kevin

[bermuda]

What if the dad dropped one of the balls and it rolled into a pond, or dropped it on a cart path and scuffed it, or got the balls mixed up? Would a player have to take a penalty because the dad gave him the wrong Titleist 2 and he putted it?

Why would anyone do that? It makes no sense.

[grabthepin]

This is a bit like advice from a spectator - action must be taken by the player to attempt to stop the spectator, otherwise he is accepting the advice.

So here the player should immediately request the father to replace his ball and not to touch it again to be immune from any penalty the father might subsequently incur, such as the father replacing the ball incorrectly or a different ball altogether. Authorization to mark is implied if nothing is said to stop it.

As Kevin said, this is a crowd control issue just like heckling or cameras. They would be promptly escorted from the course in a pro event.