Marking your golf ball: the mark on the ball and the coin on the green

"Mark your ball" can mean two entirely different things on a golf course: the identifying mark you draw on the ball so you can recognise it, and the coin you place on the green to fix the ball's position before lifting it. One prevents lost balls and penalties, the other is mandatory.

In short: put your own recognisable mark on every ball before the round, and on the green always place a marker before lifting the ball. Forget the latter and it costs a penalty stroke.

Part 1: the identifying mark

The rules say a player should put an identifying mark on the ball. It is a strong recommendation rather than a hard duty, but the consequences of skipping it are hard: a found ball you cannot identify as yours is lost, with stroke and distance to follow, and playing someone else's ball by mistake is a wrong ball, which brings the general penalty. Brand and number alone are not enough, because the popular models fill every bag.

How to mark: dots with a permanent marker in a personal pattern, a stamp, or a line around the ball. The line has a double use, since it may legally serve as an aiming aid when putting. Mark your whole supply at home rather than hastily on the first tee. And for a provisional ball, use a different number or a distinct mark and announce it; otherwise you may later find two balls and be unable to tell which is the original.

To identify a ball on the course you may lift it: mark the spot first, clean it only as far as needed to recognise it, and replace it exactly. Skipping the marking costs one penalty stroke.

Part 2: marking on the green

On the green you may always lift your ball, for instance to clean it. But you must mark its position first. Lifting without marking costs one penalty stroke, and the reverse holds too: making a stroke while your ball-marker is still lying beside the ball also costs one. The sequence is everything: marker down, ball up, later ball back, marker away, then putt.

Any small artificial object works as a marker: a coin, a plastic marker, a tee. Flat is better, because a flat marker does not disturb a fellow player's line.

Moving your marker aside: if it sits in someone's putting line, pick a fixed point in the distance, measure one or two putter-head lengths sideways towards it, and place the marker there. Afterwards, measure exactly the same distance back. The classic blunder is forgetting to move it back and putting from the wrong place, which brings the general penalty, two strokes in stroke play. A trick that works: hold your putter upside down for as long as the marker is displaced; the odd feeling reminds you.

Off the green, the ball is played as it lies. The exceptions: when a rule allows lifting, or when winter rules permit placing on closely mown grass. Even then, mark first.

Frequently asked questions

Is a mark on the ball mandatory? Formally a strong recommendation, practically indispensable.

May the line on the ball serve as a putting aid? Yes, that is allowed and widely used.

What if the wind moves my marker? Accidental movement is replaced without penalty on the original spot, estimated as accurately as possible if unknown.

Does a leaf or twig count as a marker? No, a marker must be an artificial object.

At Zalm Golf, these habits are simply part of the Handicap 54 course, taught on the green where they belong.