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Picture this: A golfer is playing a practice round on a course when he just chipped a ball at the edge of the penalty area.
Knowing it was a practice run, he didn’t push any further and slammed a second ball into the middle of the fairway. With the new ball play, he chooses not to look for the first shot on the tee.
The next day, on the actual tournament round, the golfer takes the same loose swing on that hole again, where his ball finds the same penalty area, at roughly the same spot.
This time he ventures to search for his ball and finds it two Almost identically marked balls. Both are his, but he has no way of definitively determining which is which.
This may sound far-fetched, but it’s actually a scenario that recent Tour winner Nick Hardy and his coach from the University of Illinois, Mike Small, are preparing for.
Check out this video below where Hardy explains why his ball is different on the training tours than the competitive ones.
In the video, Hardy explains that Small will be required to mark balls differently in a tournament than in a tournament, so “you won’t put yourself in danger of playing the wrong ball during a tournament.”
“This is the workout ball,” Hardy said, showing his Pro V1x. “I kind of took out an X from ‘Titleist’ in the black a little bit, so I know if I lose it doesn’t really matter and I’m not in any danger of playing the wrong ball.
“I mark [my tournament ball] With an orange point,” Hardy added, showing a different ball, “I always have because I went to Illinois and that’s our color.” I feel like it’s a very smart thing to do.”
Not only can Hardy be in danger of playing the wrong ball without his knowledge, but if he finds both balls and they are marked in the same way, in accordance with Rule 7.2 and Clarification 18.2a(1)/3, his ball will be considered lost because he will not be able to identify it in within three minutes. Then he has to go back, drop and re-hit the previous shot under penalty and space.
And if Hardy finds the ball from the day before, plays it, and then keeps walking only to discover his actual ball? He will be subject to Rule 6.3c(1) and a two-stroke penalty if he plays the wrong ball.
But because of his clever marking hack, he should have no problem marking the ball.
Having the balls with two different marks is also useful when you are playing the timer. With two balls in play, the unique markings will ensure there is no confusion.
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