Is my golf ball out of bounds?

July 25th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

Golf Nut, a friend and I are having a disagreement over whether a certain shot should be out of bounds. If a player slices his golf ball over an out of bounds area of the golf course and during the flight the ball curves back into the fairway, is the ball still in play or is it OB due to crossing the OB line? Also if a player hits his ball OB and it hits a tree and comes back into play, is that ball OB or still in play? Thanks for your help





Well according to Decision 27/20 under the rules of golf, both shots are in play and should not be considered out of bounds. This decision involved a shot flying over an out of bounds area and then landing in bounds. Very much like what you described. And the decision was that the ball was in play
I think that you also have to look to another part of the rules for clarification. Part of the answer comes from the definition of “out of bounds” according to the rules of golf. The definition of out of bounds is: A ball is out of bounds when all of it lies out of bounds. So from these two both of your situation results in the golf ball being in play.
Now, one thing that you need to check in these types of situations is the local rules. If the out of bounds area actually divided the course in a certain place and the ball landed on the other side in bounds (this was the case in the rules decision), a local rule could deem the ball out of bounds. This would override the rules of golf in this situation if there was a local rule.
Hope that this helps and good golfing to you!




There Are 7 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by null on 26 July 2007:

    all that matters is where the ball comes to rest. plain and simple.

  2. Comment by Bob on 4 August 2007:

    Our local rule states that the parking lot as defined by the asphalt is out of bounds. In the club championship today a players ball came to rest approximately 14″ on the grass “thru the green” from the edge of the parking lot. However the player was looking for relief since his swing was impeded by the fenders of cars both front of him and back of him. Any help? A competitor suggested that his ball was OB since the cars are an extension of the parking lot?

  3. Comment by Glenn on 26 May 2008:

    Can you tell me what happens when a tee shot goes over the out of bounds area, lands in play, hits a rock in play then comes to rest out of bounds? Is the next shot played from:
    (a) the tee
    (b) the point where it first crossed the out of bounds area
    (c) the point where it went out of play after hitting the rock.
    See diagram at http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~crewcut/dogleg.gif

  4. Comment by Len on 8 June 2009:

    A friend and I can’t agree. A ball is hit out of bounds and is immediately thrown back into play by a passing walker. Is the ball in play or is the ball deemed OB, as it actually landed in the OB area?

  5. Comment by Richard Graziano on 13 April 2010:

    if my ball is on the OB line. Is the ball OB or not

  6. Comment by scott on 24 May 2010:

    this is a issue at present at my club. A road seperates the 11th and the 4th. In one of the responses here, it was stated that a local rule over rides the rules of golf, this is not true. The R&A has the rules of local rules and if the local rule that your club wants to put in place does not comply with the R&A’s local rules, then you must apply for the ammendment of a rule to be excepted by the R&A.
    At present, the “local rule” in my club is that you can’t play your ball if you tee of the 11th and the ball goes accross the road and lands in the other side of the road. As much as this makes logical sense , it is against the rules of golf as the ball has landed in play and is not “in” out of bounds. So if the club wants this rule to be in effect, the rules of R&A state that they have to have the ammendment approved by the R&A. If it hasn’t been approved than it is not a rule that can be enforced. On the contrary, anyone who hits a ball over the road and stated that it is out of bounds and puts another ball on the tee and hits it,is actually playing the wrong ball and should be penalised a 2 strokes. If the person who hit it, didn’t want to play it, they would have to deem it unplayable, retreive it and play that ball again. You can not play another ball if you have one in play. It may sound complicated but by the letter of the rules,thats how I see it.

  7. Comment by donny ks goh on 15 August 2010:

    is the ball touches the line, ob or not?

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