Touching and Rotating Half-Buried Ball in Rough for identification purposes Rule 12-2/2
Q. A ball is half buried in the rough. Having announced her intention in advance to her opponent, marker or fellow-competitor, the player for the purposes of identification touches the ball and rotates it. By so doing she identifies the ball as hers. Is there a penalty?
A. Yes, for touching the ball other than as provided for in Rules (Rule 18-2a) Under Rules 12-2 and 20-1 a ball may be lifted (or touched & rotated) for identification purposes after its position has been MARKED.
If the player had MARKED the position before rotating it, there would be no penalty, assuming the rotating did not result in the ball being cleaned beyond the extent necessary to identify it.
So ladies please make sure you put a MARKER down before touching and rotating or else its a 1stroke penalty.
