Most golfers know that a player is responsible for the actions of his caddie, including times when the caddie does things that go against the rules. Rules of golf. It’s a team thing (Rule 10.3) as amateur Segundo Oliva Pinto painfully learned when he was bounced in the third round of the 2020 US Amateur after his caddy accidentally slipped sand into a bunker with his hand.
But what happens when someone else helps you during the trick? For example, what happens if you see someone pick up your ball out of the rough to identify it, and when the ball is replaced, the lie is improved? Or what happens if you ask someone to move a piece of trash next to your ball and the ball moves accordingly? Another common situation is where a spectator picks up a ball during a tournament and when the ball is returned to where it originally stopped, this is done in a way that gives the player an advantage. This kind of thing happened to Nelly Korda at the 2022 Amudi Evian Championship.
The rules are very clear when it comes to cases where another person’s actions break a rule for you. No matter who the person is, the key is to know if you are aware of the rules violation before continuing to play.
Rule 1.3c covers this topic: “A penalty applies when another person takes an action that would break the rules if taken by the player or shopping cart, and that person does so at the player’s request or acting with the player’s authority.
“Or the player sees another person about to perform an action regarding the player’s ball or equipment which he or she knows would break the rules if caught by the player or shopping cart, and takes no reasonable steps to oppose or prevent it from occurring. »
In short, if you see someone about to do something to your ball or clubs that would be a violation of the rules for you if you did it, and you do nothing, it’s as if you had committed the penalty. So when you see someone about to wedge your ball into the fairway, you better stop them.
