Hi forum,

I was playing a friendly game at my local course when I did a nice drive onto the fairway.
As I was walking towards my ball for my second shot, a large black bird flew down, picked up my ball in its beak and flew off.

Obviously I was astonished and very humoured in what I just witnessed.

As I was halfway towards my ball when it happened I couldn't re-take my tee shot.

What are the normal rules in this situation?

Does it count as a lost ball with a penalty? Because it was just a friendly game, I threw another ball in the general area where my ball was, without taking a penalty and continued my game.


Thanks

If you saw it, you can drop your ball as close as possible to where the bird took it, no penalty.

Did you consider following the bird, and playing it as it lay?

If you catch the bird, you can use it to test your proper grip pressure.

hail2theredskins wrote:

If you catch the bird, you can use it to test your proper grip pressure.

ROFLMAO!!!!

A bird crapped on my friends head one time. I asked him "Do you want me to go get some toilet paper?" He said " No, that bird is probably miles from here by now".

hail2theredskins wrote:

If you catch the bird, you can use it to test your proper grip pressure.

Dammit i was so close to getting to that one first

imasmrtazz wrote:

If you saw it, you can drop your ball as close as possible to where the bird took it, no penalty.

Yes that's correct. The bird (squirrels, groundhogs, etc) are considered "outside agencies" Under Rule 18-1 you may replace the ball where it lie without penalty. This is under the circumstance that you KNOW the ball has been moved by said bird. In this case you saw it so it's a fact.

If you did NOT see for a fact that it was taken by a bird or other animal, you should proceed under rule 27-1. Stroke and distance; ball out of bounds; ball not found within 5 minutes. Since it's not certainty that it was moved by an outside agency, you have to re-peg at the tee (or wherever you hit your last shot from ) and take a one stroke penalty.