Rules Review
Rules of Golf Review: I was looking for my ball and broke several branches of a bush trying to locate it. Is that a penalty?
From weed-whacking to shrub-shredding, here's what is allowed when conducting a search
Julio Aguilar
You've hit your ball into the rough, fescue, gorse, anywhere but the fairway and are anxious to go see just where it wound up. Can't blame you; there's only three minutes of search time before the ball is considered lost (Rule 18.2).
That said, some golfers don’t even bother to look, presuming they’ll be better off taking the stroke-and-distance penalty and replaying from where they just hit. That has happened several times on the pro tours in recent years but remember you can’t refuse to go look at a ball found by a “good Samaritan” just because you don’t want to play from the spot where the ball is resting (just ask Shane Lowry about that). One tour pro actually ended up being disqualified at the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship for refusing to identify a ball as his own that was found during a search.
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Usually, though, finding a potentially lost ball is hugely important—especially in matches that are coming down to the last few holes. Knowing that the clock is literally ticking, you might encounter an opponent who searches for his or her ball in a "vigorous" way.
The Rules of Golf does offer some latitude in what you can do while searching. Things such as removing loose impediments, sweeping away sand and bending branches are perfectly fine. Even breaking a branch is OK if it happened in the course of taking "reasonable actions" in an attempt to find the ball (Rule 7.1).
But what does "reasonable actions" mean? The rule makers clarify this by saying the following:
Examples of actions that are unlikely to be considered reasonable as part of a fair search, and will result in a two-stroke penalty or loss of hole in match play if there is an improvement to conditions affecting the stroke, include:
- Taking an action to flatten areas of grass beyond what is reasonably necessary to walk through or search for the ball in the area where the ball is thought to lie
- Purposely removing any growing thing from the ground
- Breaking a tree branch to allow easier access to the ball when it could have been reached without doing so
Sam Greenwood
What that means is, you (or your opponent) better not start ripping things apart just for the sake of making the search quicker. There's a good chance those actions will be considered improving the conditions for the ensuing stroke. But if you reach into a hedge and accidentally break a branch while trying to spot or grab what could be your ball, there's no penalty.
Also, you should know that there is no penalty if a ball is accidentally moved during a search (Rule 7.4). And if you can't identify it as it lies, you're allowed to pick it up and examine it. Just remember to mark the spot before doing so (Rule 7.3), and only clean the portion of the ball necessary to determine if it's yours.