Troublemakers
Seagulls. If you live in Brighton, you’ve probably been a victim of their appalling behaviour. They go through rubbish bins, they relieve themselves on innocent bystanders, they wake you up at 5am with their endless squawking and they steal your chips. This week, one decided to target golfers by stealing my partner’s ball on the 2nd fairway. I was amused, but she wasn’t, and no amount of running around flapping her arms convinced the bird to drop it.
It’s not just seagulls, of course: once, it was a dog that ran onto the course, snatched my ball and ran away with it. Great. And a couple of years ago, a swan came sniffing around our bags and took great interest in my ball. I was glad he moved on after a short while, because he was MASSIVE and I wasn’t about to take him on.
So what to do in this situation? Apply rule 18-1, of course!
Rule 18-1
If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.