Mud on your ball? Here’s what the rules say about removing it

There was no joy in Mudville, aka Quail Hollow, after Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Championship, where two of the game’s top players griped about the gunky lies they’d drawn in the fairways on a course that had been hammered by heavy rain.

Both World. No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and World. No. 3 Xander Schauffele blamed mud on their golf balls for errant shots they’d struck and questioned the PGA of America’s decision not to play lift, clean and place.

“When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion, maybe the ball today should have been played up,” Scheffler said. 

“But,” he added, “I don’t make the rules.”

In a tournament, of course, he has to follow them.

But what about the golf that most of us play? In casual rounds, do we get any leeway? Or do we have to play mud balls, too? 

The short answer is, it depends.

The slightly longer answer begins under Rules 8 and 9, and the gist is this: Unless special decisions have been taken, you’ve got to play it as it lies. No lifting. No cleaning. No complaining. (That third part is not an official rule, but it’s a good one to abide by). 

But just as the PGA of America has the power to permit lift, clean and place in its biggest event, your course has the right to enact what is known as a Model Local Rule allowing for the same. Though this rule is generally designed to be used for balls in the fairway, the course (much like a tournament committee) can decide to allow lifting and cleaning in the rough and elsewhere in the “general area,” meaning everywhere but bunkers, penalty areas and greens. (On greens, of course, you can always lift and clean your ball).

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Are there any other instances when you can clean mud off your ball? Glad you asked.

If a ball is so fully caked in mud that you can’t be sure it’s yours, you can clean it to identify it (note: the rules are clear that you can only clean a ball for identification purposes if it’s absolutely, positively necessary). You can also clean your ball if you’re taking free relief from, say, casual water, or an immovable obstruction like a cart path or a utility box. 

Whenever you lift and clean your ball, you must mark it first, just as you do on a green, and replace it in its original location.

Those are the rules. But there’s also this reality: A lot of us play loosey-goosey golf. Sometimes, we make up our own rules. So, what happens, for instance, your out with friends on a soggy day and you decide to play lift, clean and place. You haven’t consulted with the course or a committee. You have simply gone rogue and adopted a rule for your group that day. That’s fine for your match. But what about your handicap? Can you post your score?

The short answer is that you can. The slightly longer is that in the spirit of integrity and honesty, you shouldn’t make a habit of this. Handicaps exist for a reason, and the governing bodies would not want you taking advantage of preferred-lie latitude to artificially deflate you index. Like the players you compete against in friendly matches – not to mention those you come up against in tournaments, should you choose to play them – you should want a handicap that is reflective of your ability. As should everyone else.