# Golf: If an Animal Steals Your Ball (or otherwise interferes with your shot) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 5, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857 "2012-10-05T22:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/1 "2012-10-05T22:54:40Z")
> **[Dog picks up Paul Casey’s golf ball at the Dunhill Links Championship](https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/golf-devil-ball-golf/dog-picks-paul-casey-golf-ball-dunhill-links-171459777--golf.html)** > > Paul Casey's golf game has been in the doghouse this year. With only five made cuts in 17 events, 2012 has been a forgettable one for the Englishman. And on Friday at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, his season took … Continue reading → Looks like a dog grabbed Paul Casey’s ball and ran off with it. The article doesn’t mention how this is handled in play-- does he get a free drop where it was when the dog grabbed it? Is he SOL; does he have to take a penalty stroke and replay the shot? What if, say, an alligator was close enough to the ball that playing the shot would risk the player’s health? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/2 "2012-10-05T23:21:51Z")
[Rule 18-1](http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Rule-18/) > [@](#): > > If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced. a.k.a [“the seagull clause”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uXZ3_A2nGs) (youtube link) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/3 "2012-10-05T23:24:38Z")
We had a caribou rule when I lived in Alaska. If the ball fell in a caribou track, you got a free drop. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/4 "2012-10-05T23:35:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > What if, say, an alligator was close enough to the ball that playing the shot would risk the player’s health? Golf is all about rules. Of course there are rules about that! > [@](#): > > Alligators and fire ants are considered dangerous under the Rules of Golf. Rattlesnakes and bees fall under the same heading. If your ball lands near any of these creatures, you are entitled to a free drop on the nearest spot that is no closer to the hole and out of danger. You do not have to retrieve your original ball – drop another and stay safe From [here](http://lindamillergolf.blogspot.com/2011/05/ask-linda-305-dangerous-animals.html). ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/5 "2012-10-06T03:11:02Z")
Why oh why didn’t anyone tell Chubbs about that rule?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/6 "2012-10-06T12:00:46Z")
This thread reminds me of a brilliant Wodehouse golf story (well, they all are, but this one is my favourite - can’t remember the title though!) about two golfers who agree to settle who gets to ask a lady for her hand in marriage by playing a golf “hole” with the first tee at the golf course as the start and a hotel in the town some miles away as the hole. Sample dialogue: “What are you playing?” “1,173. We got into a casual dog.” “A casual dog?” “Yes, it picked up my ball in its mouth after I played my 576th and ran almost back to the forest.” No doubt that rule was different in Wodehouse’s day! ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/7 "2012-10-06T14:52:09Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Golf is all about rules. Of course there are rules about that [dangerous animals]! > > From [here](http://lindamillergolf.blogspot.com/2011/05/ask-linda-305-dangerous-animals.html). From that link: > [@](#): > > The USGA does not consider geese to be dangerous, as they are neither poisonous nor life-threatening. So you only get relief if the animal is poisonous or life-threatening. How are you at identifying which snakes are venemous and which are not? And are fire ants really poisonouse or life-threatening, given that the USGA does allow a free drop away from them? We once played where there was an alligator sunbathing on the tee. I suppose that means you have to take a free drop in the rough near the tee. Tough to hit a driver from there. ---
**Author:** ![JLRogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@JLRogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JLRogers)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/8 "2012-10-10T12:10:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Alligators and fire ants are considered dangerous under the Rules of Golf. Rattlesnakes and bees fall under the same heading. If your ball lands near any of these creatures, you are entitled to a free drop on the nearest spot that is no closer to the hole and out of danger. You do not have to retrieve your original ball – drop another and stay safe This in a sport that requires its players to haul around a bag of _clubs_? Golf players must be a bunch of wimps if they can’t handle a rattlesnake or alligator! 😛 Bees and fire ants might be slightly more problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/9 "2012-10-10T13:23:07Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Golf is all about rules. Of course there are rules about that! [QFT](http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/wartime-golf-rules.html). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golf-if-an-animal-steals-your-ball-or-otherwise-interferes-with-your-shot/636857/10 "2012-10-10T13:27:26Z")
Shouldn’t the assistant groundskeeper be in charge of removing problem animals, by any means necessary?