While playing a round of golf at with a group of friends 3 in the 4some landed in the greenside bunker of the hole, the configuration of the bunker made all 3 balls fall within approx 6" of each other, what would be the ruling on that? as far as who can hit first, how do we mark the other balls balls so as not to hit them while play our own shots??

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bausman51 wrote:

]While playing a round of golf at with a group of friends 3 in the 4some landed in the greenside bunker of the hole, the configuration of the bunker made all 3 balls fall within approx 6" of each other, what would be the ruling on that? as far as who can hit first, how do we mark the other balls balls so as not to hit them while play our own shots??[

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The player furthest away plays first. The other two, if their balls interfere with the swing or stance, mark their balls. I would suggest laying a tee down and then mentally mark the spot so if the tee moves you have a pretty good idea of where to replace your ball. Sticking the tee into the sand vertically might be considered "testing" although I don't think there has been a ruling on that.

The players who marked must "recreate" the original lie of their ball if it is altered by the play of the other player. This would include recreating a footprint if your ball was in a footprint (talk about bad luck!).

Decision 13-4/0.5 says

[]Examples of actions that would not constitute testing the condition of the hazard include the following:

· marking the position of the ball with a tee or otherwise when proceeding under a Rule.[]