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When is an eagle not an eagle?


GolfSpy Barbajo

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This happened last year, and it still makes me wonder.

 

Teeing off on a dogleg left Par 5 - try to cut the corner but hit a tree branch -- ball goes straight down comes to rest near the bottom of the tree -- in play, and still possible to reach the green in two. While the rest of the foursome is on the tee getting ready to hit (some long hitters in the group were waiting for the fairway to clear - no way I was going to hit 'em) -- a guy from the 17th fairway drives his cart into our fairway looking for his ball. He PICKS UP MY BALL, and drives away.

 

I drop another ball where mine had landed, blasted a hybrid to the fringe and chipped in.

 

IS THIS AN EAGLE? That's how I marked it on the scoresheet, not sure what the USGA has to say about it. Your thoughts?

 

What's in the bag:
 
Driver:  :titelist-small:TSR3; :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR Carbon
FW Wood: :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR 3-wood; :titleist-small: TSR 2+
Hybrids:  PXG Gen4 18-degree
Utility Irons: :srixon-small: ZX MkII 20* 
Irons:;  :Sub70:699/699 Pro V2 Combo; :wilson_staff_small: D9 Forged;  :macgregor-small:MT86 (coming soon!); :macgregor-small: VIP 1025 V-Foil MB/CB; 

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: RTX6 Zipcore
Putter: :cleveland-small: HB Soft Milled 10.5;  :scotty-small: Newport Special Select;  :edel-golf-1:  Willamette,  :bettinardi-small: BB8; :wilson-small: 8802; MATI Monto

Ball: :bridgestone-small: Tour B RXS; :srixon-small: Z-STAR Diamond; :wilson_staff_small: Triad

Stat Tracker/GPS Watch: :ShotScope:


 
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My guess is the ball thief would be considered an outside agency (no different than had a fox, or as I observed during my first round of the season, a Labrador retriever, run off with your ball). So long as you put your replacement ball in the same spot where you believe your original ball came to rest, then I believe your scoring is a accurate.

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http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Decision-18/

 

18-1/5

Ball Stolen by Outside Agency from Unknown Spot

 

 

Q.At a par-3 hole, part of the green and the adjoining area cannot be seen from the tee. In this unseen area are a bunker, fairway and a dry water hazard.

 

A player plays towards this obscured area and cannot tell where the ball comes to rest. When the players are near the green, they see a boy running away with a ball in his hand. The boy throws the ball back and the player identifies it as his ball.

 

The player is unable to determine from where to play his next stroke under Rule 18-1. He does not know whether the ball was on the green, on the fairway or in one of the hazards.

 

How should he proceed?

 

A.As it was impossible to know where the ball should have been replaced under Rule 18-1, the player should, in equity (Rule 1-4), drop the ball in an area which was neither the most, nor the least, favorable of the various areas where it was equally possible that the ball originally lay.

 

 

Sounds like you were in the right to drop your ball and take an eagle, assuming you didn't give yourself a favorable drop.

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Thanks -- that kinda makes sense, but you never know with the rules of golf.

 

What's in the bag:
 
Driver:  :titelist-small:TSR3; :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR Carbon
FW Wood: :wilson_staff_small: DynaPWR 3-wood; :titleist-small: TSR 2+
Hybrids:  PXG Gen4 18-degree
Utility Irons: :srixon-small: ZX MkII 20* 
Irons:;  :Sub70:699/699 Pro V2 Combo; :wilson_staff_small: D9 Forged;  :macgregor-small:MT86 (coming soon!); :macgregor-small: VIP 1025 V-Foil MB/CB; 

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: RTX6 Zipcore
Putter: :cleveland-small: HB Soft Milled 10.5;  :scotty-small: Newport Special Select;  :edel-golf-1:  Willamette,  :bettinardi-small: BB8; :wilson-small: 8802; MATI Monto

Ball: :bridgestone-small: Tour B RXS; :srixon-small: Z-STAR Diamond; :wilson_staff_small: Triad

Stat Tracker/GPS Watch: :ShotScope:


 
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The people who do this should be hung up by their toes and flogged.

 

A couple summers ago I watched a guy who had the audacity to not just steal my ProV1 in plain sight, but he replaced it with a Top Flite then refused to own up to it when I drove up and confronted him. Unreal.

 

Oh, and nice eagle. Chipping in is the best.

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The people who do this should be hung up by their toes and flogged.

 

A couple summers ago I watched a guy who had the audacity to not just steal my ProV1 in plain sight, but he replaced it with a Top Flite then refused to own up to it when I drove up and confronted him. Unreal.

 

Oh, and nice eagle. Chipping in is the best.

 

I have had this happen to me a couple of times. Last time it happened I was on number 8 hooked it into number 2 fairway (not on my course now this was when i lived in Myrtle Beach was playing Legends Moorland) I get over their and a group is in the fairway and i go "anyone see a ball out here that was a {insert premium ball here} with two blue dots on it". Lone behold someone stuck it in their pocket at least they gave it back to me instead of being an a$$hole and taking it, but it helps that his friends rated him out and told him to give my ball back.

 

I have almost seen a flight over someone stealing a ball and replacing it with a piece of crap ball before, My playing partner and I were playing for money and he had blocked his drive to the right where it was between our fairway and another fairway running the opposite direction. We both knew his ball was in place an roughly where it would be after 5 minutes of searching we only found one ball that was a 2-piece when he was hitting a TM Penta TP with 3 blue dots on it, there was a group that just walked up to the green on the other hole running the opposite direction when he asked them "did any of you pick up a TaylorMade over here with 3 blue dots and replace it with this piece of s*** ball?" One of the people in the group took offense to his accusations (probably the one that stole it) and gave him some lip back, some words got exchanged and the guy I was playing goes "You know if you did take it keep it, you are not good enough to play it anyways and will probably lose it on the next hole!" That is about when the fight broke out. Me being a nice guy that I am knowing 100% that his ball at this point had been robbed I told him to drop another ball and play without a PS, that defused the situation altogether because he would have lost the hole if he had to take a PS as I sat on the green in 2 on a par 4. It would be hard for him to make par with a PS from where he was and he knew it.

 

If it is not my ball I leave it sitting their unless I know 100% that their is no groups anywhere on the golf course that the ball could possibly belong to. If in doubt best to just leave the ball their. Know what type of ball you are playing, mark it with something that you can tell 100% for sure it is your ball and then there wouldn't be any questions about if you need to touch a different ball or not.

 

This is one of those things that I talk about when saying someone will show their true personality when playing golf :)

I was playing my home course with a gentlemen that was passing though think he was 65 years old stepping on the tips on our Par 5 number 7 which is 572yard par 5 and made birdie when I 3 putted for bogie that gave him the biggest kick man I tell you what, beating a 28 year old from the tips on that hole, it seemed to have made his day, he light up which made me happy as well that I gave him a treat. He took a picture of his ball 2 feet from the cup in 3 and mine like 60 feet away from the fairway. I know I will be his story back at his local club. He told me walking off 9 tee box that he likes to play against young guys, i smiled real big and just said 'it is a great feeling beating them isn't it'. He just smiled at me and that was all he needed to do to tell me that I was right.

 

 

Great Eagle BTW it just reminded me some of the good memories I have had from playing golf and not so great memories with ball thieves.

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Jmiller The tourist golfers are bad about that down here. I have seen it happen more than one time. I think it goes along with the general deteraition of society as a whole. To me generally golf etiquite has went to hell in a hand basket in the last few years or so or maybe i have been living in this tourist area too long. Of course golf in general has changed Generally most people that play golf are not as well educated or willing to learn the game as the folks on this forum

Driver ---- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha  Speeder 565 R flex- 5W TM V-Steel Fubuki 60r--- 7W TM V-Steel UST Pro Force Gold 65R----- 9 W TM V Steel TM MAS stiff---- Irons 2015 TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R--- GW Callaway Mack Daddy 2 52* shaft unknown junk pile refugee. SW Callaway PM Grind 56*  Modified sole grind--- KBS Tour Wedge-- LW Vokey 58* SM5 L grind--- Putter Ping B90I Broom Stick 

 

 

 G

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My guess is the ball thief would be considered an outside agency (no different than had a fox, or as I observed during my first round of the season, a Labrador retriever, run off with your ball). So long as you put your replacement ball in the same spot where you believe your original ball came to rest, then I believe your scoring is a accurate.

I agree your ruling is correct

Driver ---- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha  Speeder 565 R flex- 5W TM V-Steel Fubuki 60r--- 7W TM V-Steel UST Pro Force Gold 65R----- 9 W TM V Steel TM MAS stiff---- Irons 2015 TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R--- GW Callaway Mack Daddy 2 52* shaft unknown junk pile refugee. SW Callaway PM Grind 56*  Modified sole grind--- KBS Tour Wedge-- LW Vokey 58* SM5 L grind--- Putter Ping B90I Broom Stick 

 

 

 G

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Yes, your eagle counted, as everyone has stated.

 

A couple summers ago I watched a guy who had the audacity to not just steal my ProV1 in plain sight, but he replaced it with a Top Flite then refused to own up to it when I drove up and confronted him. Unreal.

Not to sidetrack the thread, but had a similar situation a couple years ago, playing with my dad. We were playing the 10th hole and my dad was gaming a NXT 4 with a red line. He hit one in the center of the fairway, we went up an played it to the green. When we were on the green, a couple guys drove almost up on the green in their cart screaming "hey you STOLE my ball", we stopped and the guy says "you took my ProV1 and left this garbage ass NXT". Both balls were Titleist 4's and both were marked with a red line, honest mistake on my dads part. The guy was a jerk and very aggressive, so my response was "you hooked a ball 80yds into our fairway and it was the same number and same marking as his ball, maybe you should be playing a garbage ass ball for your garbage ass swing", then I tossed the ball over his head back out into the fairway. It was the only time I've ever thought I was going to get in a fight on the golf course.

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Yes, your eagle counted, as everyone has stated.

 

 

Not to sidetrack the thread, but had a similar situation a couple years ago, playing with my dad. We were playing the 10th hole and my dad was gaming a NXT 4 with a red line. He hit one in the center of the fairway, we went up an played it to the green. When we were on the green, a couple guys drove almost up on the green in their cart screaming "hey you STOLE my ball", we stopped and the guy says "you took my ProV1 and left this garbage ass NXT". Both balls were Titleist 4's and both were marked with a red line, honest mistake on my dads part. The guy was a jerk and very aggressive, so my response was "you hooked a ball 80yds into our fairway and it was the same number and same marking as his ball, maybe you should be playing a garbage ass ball for your garbage ass swing", then I tossed the ball over his head back out into the fairway. It was the only time I've ever thought I was going to get in a fight on the golf course.

Like I said in a previous post golf etiquite has went to hell in a handbasket that is a shame those folks had to act like that when you and your dad were trying to have quality time If that had happened to me where in the incident you described where my ball was the wrong ball hit because it was marked the same I would have had a good laugh

Driver ---- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha  Speeder 565 R flex- 5W TM V-Steel Fubuki 60r--- 7W TM V-Steel UST Pro Force Gold 65R----- 9 W TM V Steel TM MAS stiff---- Irons 2015 TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R--- GW Callaway Mack Daddy 2 52* shaft unknown junk pile refugee. SW Callaway PM Grind 56*  Modified sole grind--- KBS Tour Wedge-- LW Vokey 58* SM5 L grind--- Putter Ping B90I Broom Stick 

 

 

 G

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I agree, golf has evolved from a "gentlemens game" to a "everymans game". If some takes my ball, I mark the spot and go kindly ask them if they "found" my ball. I have also started marking my balls with hot pink and I've found that guys are a lot more reluctant to pick it up.

While reading this thread I've been wondering how I would mark my ball to make it less attractive to potential thievery. I think you may be on to something here.

 

BTW, nice eagle!

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While reading this thread I've been wondering how I would mark my ball to make it less attractive to potential thievery. I think you may be on to something here.

My favorite color is orange, so I circle the number and fill it in with orange and put 6 pink dots, representing my wife, two daughters, and the three women in my family that have survived breast cancer, I also make my alignment mark in pink. I almost had a guy pick up a ball the other day and when I got to it he said "I was gonna pick it up, but I saw it was covered in pink", I was in a smart ass mood (and had just got done with a triple bogey hole) and replied "Oh, I thought maybe you didn't pick it up, because it WASN'T YOUR BALL".

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My favorite color is orange, so I circle the number and fill it in with orange and put 6 pink dots, representing my wife, two daughters, and the three women in my family that have survived breast cancer, I also make my alignment mark in pink. I almost had a guy pick up a ball the other day and when I got to it he said "I was gonna pick it up, but I saw it was covered in pink", I was in a smart ass mood (and had just got done with a triple bogey hole) and replied "Oh, I thought maybe you didn't pick it up, because it WASN'T YOUR BALL".

Very nice. I am assuming he had no reply to that.

PING i20 8.5*, TFC707D (S)
Callaway RAZR Fit 15*, neutral setting, stock shaft (S)
PING i20 20*, TFC707H (S)
Adams Pro a12 23*, Matrix Ozik Altus (S)
PING i20 5-PW, TT DG S300, 1.5* flat (purple dot)
SCOR 50*,54*,58*, Genius 12 KBS Tour (S), 1.5* flat, -1/4"
STX xForm 3, 35"
 

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My favorite color is orange, so I circle the number and fill it in with orange and put 6 pink dots, representing my wife, two daughters, and the three women in my family that have survived breast cancer, I also make my alignment mark in pink. I almost had a guy pick up a ball the other day and when I got to it he said "I was gonna pick it up, but I saw it was covered in pink", I was in a smart ass mood (and had just got done with a triple bogey hole) and replied "Oh, I thought maybe you didn't pick it up, because it WASN'T YOUR BALL".

Good answer Bones

Driver ---- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha  Speeder 565 R flex- 5W TM V-Steel Fubuki 60r--- 7W TM V-Steel UST Pro Force Gold 65R----- 9 W TM V Steel TM MAS stiff---- Irons 2015 TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R--- GW Callaway Mack Daddy 2 52* shaft unknown junk pile refugee. SW Callaway PM Grind 56*  Modified sole grind--- KBS Tour Wedge-- LW Vokey 58* SM5 L grind--- Putter Ping B90I Broom Stick 

 

 

 G

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I agree, golf has evolved from a "gentlemens game" to a "everymans game". If some takes my ball, I mark the spot and go kindly ask them if they "found" my ball. I have also started marking my balls with hot pink and I've found that guys are a lot more reluctant to pick it up.

 

I have started to put a very WIDE black line on all my balls that covers the ball's name. The other problem we have is walkers trespassing onto the course picking up balls because they are either clueless about the fact that yes, some of us DO hook/slice the damn ball 50 yd into the other fairway(s) on occasion, or they are simply stupid.

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I have started to put a very WIDE black line on all my balls that covers the ball's name. The other problem we have is walkers trespassing onto the course picking up balls because they are either clueless about the fact that yes, some of us DO hook/slice the damn ball 50 yd into the other fairway(s) on occasion, or they are simply stupid.

I mark my ball with 6 black dots around the number like my dad did except he usually played a 1 or 2 and I play a 6 or 8 there is another story to that in itself

Driver ---- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha  Speeder 565 R flex- 5W TM V-Steel Fubuki 60r--- 7W TM V-Steel UST Pro Force Gold 65R----- 9 W TM V Steel TM MAS stiff---- Irons 2015 TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R--- GW Callaway Mack Daddy 2 52* shaft unknown junk pile refugee. SW Callaway PM Grind 56*  Modified sole grind--- KBS Tour Wedge-- LW Vokey 58* SM5 L grind--- Putter Ping B90I Broom Stick 

 

 

 G

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