Rules of Golf Review: I hit into a group and I think one of them threw my ball into the water. What do I do now?
Where you play your next shot from depends on a few variables
Stan Badz
It can't be emphasized enough that you should never intentionally hit into a group in front of you, but it does happen from time to time—even on the PGA Tour. John Daly famously hit into tour pro Jeff Roth's group twice at the 1994 NEC World Series of Golf and then got into a fight with Roth's father after the round.
Not a good look, but as you probably know, Daly's had more than his share of wincing moments over the years.
There's hitting into a group on purpose and then there's more common happenstances. Sometimes it occurs because the golfer hits a shot longer than expected, and sometimes it happens because it's a blind shot and the golfer didn't realize the course ahead wasn't clear. If you do it, you'll likely encounter some unhappy golfers. Apologies usually do the trick to deescalate things, but you might wonder what happens when one of those golfers takes your ball or hits it back at you or throws it away.
There are a few things to understand about how to proceed when that happens. The first is that a golfer is considered an outside influence by the Rules of Golf and under Rule 9.6, if he or she happens to do something to move your ball from the spot where it came to rest, you can replace it on that spot with no penalty. If you're not sure where that spot is, you can estimate it based on all available evidence.
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Now, the second thing to remember: It has to be known or virtually certain that another golfer moved your ball or it's considered lost and you have to take a stroke-and-distance penalty under Rule 18.2. If you're not absolutely sure, virtually certain means it's 95 percent likely that the event occured.
The third thing is that the procedure for what to do changes if your ball was deliberately deflected while in motion. A scenario where this might happen is when your ball rolls up onto a group on the green and one of the golfers in that group kicks it off the green (perhaps in a pond bordering the hole).
If it's known or virtually certain that happened, under Rule 11.2 you have to take relief and you do so by estimating the spot where you think the ball would have come to rest. You're supposed to drop in a relief area if that ball would have stopped off the green or place the ball if it would have stopped on the putting green. If your ball likely would have gone out-of-bounds, you unfortunately have to take stroke-and-distance relief.
To recap, if your ball at rest is moved by an outside influence and you're at least 95 percent sure that's what happened to it, put that ball (or a replacement) on that spot and play on with no penalty. If it's deflected while in motion, estimate where the ball would have come to rest and either drop it (off the green) or place it (on the green) and play on with no penalty.
Oh, and maybe buy a round of drinks for that group you hit into. Not a terrible idea.