TheRULES
Cleaning
Clarity
The Rules of Golf provide direction on when
it’s permissible to clean your golf ball
by GENE WESTMORELAND
8
at rest might be yours, but
you are unable to identify
it without lifting, such as a
ball buried in deep rough,
you may lift the ball to
check it for identification
purposes. In this case, you
may only clean it to the
extent necessary to identify
it as your ball.
Finally, if your ball assists
or interferes with the play
of another ball ‘through the
green or in a hazard’ you
may be asked to lift it—and
must comply. However,
when lifting your ball you
are not permitted to clean
it before it is replaced which
may call for a two-finger “ice-tong” kind of
grip on the ball to ensure that you do not
inadvertently clean it.
The reasoning behind denying, or
limiting, your ability to clean a ball when
lifted under these circumstances is logical.
You should not gain any advantage just
because you’re asked to move your ball,
because you elect to check for identification
purposes or to see if it’s damaged.
Importantly, under situations in which
you are permitted to lift your ball—for
identification, to check for damage or because
it will assist or interfere with another player’s
ball—it must be replaced to the same place
and condition. For example, if your ball was
buried in the rough or you had a ‘fried egg’
lie in a bunker, the ball must be replaced in
that same situation.
Questions often arise as to whether
a ball can be cleaned if you are playing
“winter rules,” and that decision is left to the
Committee in charge of the competition,
the Golf or Green Committee at your
club or the staff at your public course.
V IRGINIA G OLFER | J ANUARY/F EBRUARY 2015
08_VSGA_JanFeb14.Final.indd 8
The Rules only allow golfers to pick up a ball
and wipe a substance off it, such as mud, under
certain circumstances.
The use of “winter rules” is discouraged,
but when necessary the details should be
spelled out. The U.S. Golf Association has
a recommended Local Rule for those who
find the use of “winter rules” necessary, and
their recommendation includes permission
to clean the ball while improving your lie.
The Committee could also allow a ball to
be cleaned if they felt that conditions might
interfere with proper playing of the game,
including mud and extreme wetness. But
lacking this type of Local Rule, you are not
permitted to clean your ball simply because
it is dirty or has some mud adhering to it.
A senior member of the Metropolitan Golf
Association staff for more than 30 years
and a member of the USGA Championship
Committee, Gene Westmoreland is author
of the book A Game For Life: Golf’s Rules
and Rewards.
JOHN MUMMERT/USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES
A
golf towel, slightly moistened,
may have become as indispensable as a yardage book and
an umbrella to today’s wellprepared golfer.
I t ’s a s a f e b e t m o s t
golfers know that when their ball comes to
rest on the putting green they are always
permitted to mark, lift and clean their ball.
Truth be told, out of habit, most of us go
through the process even when our ball is
already squeaky clean.
Confusion can creep in and questions can
arise as to whether golfers can clean their
ball under other situations. Under the Rules
of Golf, Rule 21, which deals exclusively with
“Cleaning the Ball,” is pretty specific. A ball
on the putting green may be cleaned when
lifted. Elsewhere, a ball may be cleaned
when lifted except if it has been lifted:
a. To determine if it is unfit for play;
b. For identification;
c. Because it is interfering or assisting
with play.
When you lift your ball to take relief
from ground under repair, an immovable
obstruction (like a cart path) or casual
water, you are permitted to clean your ball.
You can also wash and dry it before putting
your ball back into play after retrieving it
from a water hazard, whenever you elect to
declare it unplayable, or if you happen to
hit it out of bounds.
Under the Rules, you are permitted to
examine your ball at any time, as long as
you notify your opponent and give him or
her a chance to watch you lift and replace
your ball in order to determine whether
it has become “unfit for play” (Rule 5-3).
While [