You hit your ball out of heather but two balls appear. Is a penalty incurred? Women & Golf’s rules expert Sheila Waltham explains all.

By Sheila Waltham

Another competitor identifies her ball in the heather at the back of the green and takes a shot. Following her swing, two balls landed on the green.  She’s clearly made contact with two balls - her own ball and another which she hadn’t previously seen. Does she incur a penalty for playing a wrong ball?

This is not an uncommon scenario when playing from the rough ie hitting one ball and two balls emerge.

There is no penalty and she must continue to play the original ball from where it lies. She has made a stroke at her ball in play and in doing so she has made contact with a movable obstruction.

A stroke is the forward movement of the club made to strike the ball, there is also a clarification which requires that the player is intending to strike the ball. So the player has made a legitimate stroke at her ball in play.

The “surprise” second ball is an abandoned wrong ball which is also classed as a movable obstruction. If she had been aware that it was there, she could have removed it without penalty. (Rule 15.2a)

About the author

Sheila Waltham

Sheila Waltham has been a qualified rules official for over 15 years and joined the England Golf Tournament Panel of Referees in 2019. A keen golfer since 1995, Sheila’s interest in the Rules was born out of the realisation that a lot of the information she received as a novice golfer was incorrect. So, she took matters into her own hands!

Become a whizz on the rules and check out our previous Ask the Ref features, like this one: Where should you leave a bunker rake?