My ball marked and moved without my knowledge.

[Pandaman]

Bit of a long story, but...  Four of us were playing as a team in a 'waltz', so all four of us were 'partners'.  I pitched up onto a green, and saw my ball land and stop, but couldn't judge the location or distance from the pin very well due to the shallow viewing angle I had.  I went back to my bag, replaced the wedge, pulled out my putter, walked on to the green found my ball -and 3 putted for double bogey.

While walking to the next tee one of the team mentioned that I putted from the wrong spot as another team member had marked my ball and rolled it out of the way of his putt (whilst I was at my bag, and not looking, presumably), but didn't tell me.  I just putted from where I found my ball, not thinking that a ball marker I passed, several feet nearer the hole, was where my ball should have been, I just assumed it was for one of the others.  

So, as the player that moved my ball was on the same 'team' as me I believe he was allowed to mark and move my ball without asking me first, but I would assume a penalty should have been applied, as I clearly putted from the wrong spot, although I had no reason to doubt that my ball was in the right place, and wasn't informed until after we finished the hole and cleared the green, and the 'offending' player then confirmed he moved it.

What penalty should be applied and to who?  Me for playing from the wrong spot, or the other fellow for not informing me he moved my ball and causing me to play from the wrong spot.

(Had my first putt gone in I would have made par, and scored more for the team than we actually wrote down.)

[DaveP043]

I'm not familiar with the Waltz format, but my guess is that your score would have the General Penalty added.  As you said, a teammate is allowed to mark your ball, so that part is OK.  But you played from the wrong spot, and the penalty for that is the General Penalty, 2 strokes in stroke play.  

[Pandaman]

@DaveP043  thanks.

That would be my thoughts too.

But I figured, as it was a pretty unusual occurence, it would be interesting to put it out there. 

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, Pandaman said:

@DaveP043  thanks.

That would be my thoughts too.

But I figured, as it was a pretty unusual occurence, it would be interesting to put it out there. 

Now tell me, what IS a Waltz competition?  I googled it, and came up with a couple of variations.

Edited March 10, 2020 by DaveP043

[Pandaman]

4 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Now tell me, what IS a Waltz competition?  I googled it, and came up with a couple of variations.

Sorry, forgot to add that bit...

We played as a fourball, the top score counts on the first hole, top 2 scores on 2nd and top 3 on 3rd, then start the cycle again on 4th hole.  We used Stableford point too, but not sure what the norm is.