Rule 11: Your Ball Hits Something Along the Way: Now What?
What this is about
Rule 11 covers your ball in motion accidentally hitting something or someone. It also states you may never deliberately influence a ball in motion.
What you need to do
Usually there's no penalty and you play your ball from its new spot. There are three exceptions:
- Your putt hits another ball at rest on the green: two penalty strokes in stroke play. You play your own ball where it lies.
- Your ball comes to rest on a person, animal, or moving object: off the green, you drop within one club-length of the point directly below where it came to rest, not nearer the hole and in the same area of the course. On the green, you place it back at that point.
- Your ball, played from the green, accidentally hits a person, animal, or loose object on the green: your stroke doesn't count and you play again from the same spot. This doesn't apply if it hits you or the person holding the flagstick. If you don't replay it, the stroke counts and you get two penalty strokes.
Common mistake
Thinking you always get a penalty if your ball hits someone. With an accident, there's usually no penalty.
Example
Your shot toward the green hits your fellow player's bag and deflects into the bunker. No penalty: you simply play on from the bunker.
Practise this rule with real exam questions in the free app.
11.1 Ball in motion accidentally hits person or outside influence
11.1a No penalty for a player
If your ball in motion accidentally hits someone (including you), equipment, an animal, or another outside influence, there's no penalty and you play the ball as it lies. Exception in stroke play: if you play from the green and hit another ball that was at rest on the green, with both balls on the green before the stroke, you get two penalty strokes. You play your ball as it lies, and the ball you hit is replaced.
11.1b Where you must play the ball from
Usually you just play the ball as it lies. There are two exceptions. If your ball comes to rest on or in a person, an animal, or a moving outside influence, you drop it, off the green, within one club-length of the point right below where it came to rest, not nearer the hole and in the same part of the course. On the green, you place it at that point. And if a ball you played from the green accidentally hits a person, an animal, or a movable obstruction on the green, the stroke doesn't count and you replay it without penalty.
11.2 Ball in motion intentionally deflected or stopped by a person
11.2a When Rule 11.2 applies
This rule applies when it's known or virtually certain that someone deliberately deflected or stopped a ball in motion. It doesn't matter whether that was you, your opponent, or someone else.
11.2b Where the ball must be played
If a ball is deliberately deflected or stopped, an estimate is made of where the ball would have come to rest if it hadn't been deflected or stopped, and the ball is placed or dropped at that estimated spot.
11.3 Deliberately moving objects or altering conditions to influence a ball in motion
If you deliberately move an object or change the conditions to influence a ball that's already been played, you get the general penalty.
Practice questions about Rule 11
You play a stroke and the ball bounces back from a tree and hits you. What is the penalty?
Answer: No penalty, play the ball as it lies
If your ball accidentally hits you, your caddie, or your equipment, there's no penalty. You play the ball as it comes to rest.
Your ball hits an overhead power line. What do you do?
Answer: Check the local rules, often the stroke must be replayed
If the course has adopted the local rule for overhead power lines, a stroke where your ball hits the cable doesn't count: you replay without penalty from the previous spot. The poles themselves are immovable obstructions with free relief (Rule 16.1). So check the local rules.
What's the penalty if your ball played from the green hits another ball on the green in stroke play?
Answer: Two penalty strokes for the player who played the stroke
If you putt from the green and hit another ball lying on the green, you get 2 penalty strokes in stroke play. You replace the ball that was hit.
What do you do if your ball, played from the putting green, accidentally hits another ball at rest on the putting green during stroke play?
Answer: In stroke play: 2 penalty strokes, the ball that was hit goes back to its spot and you play your own ball as it lies.
In stroke play you get 2 penalty strokes if your ball, played from the putting green, hits another ball at rest on the putting green (exception under Rule 11.1a). You then play your own ball as it lies (Rule 11.1b); the ball that was hit is replaced.