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In golf, players cannot use their club to roll the ball around when lifting, cleaning, and placing it. This method is against the rules and can result in penalties.
What do the rules say about placing your ball by rolling it with a club?Getty Images
The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, weâve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? Heâs got all the answers.
During a tournament with lift, clean and place in effect, a competitor kept placing his ball using the âhockey methodâ â i.e., rolling the ball around with his club until it was sitting ideally. I told him this was wrong but couldnât cite specifics, and heâs still doing it months later. Whatâs the rule, and whatâs the penalty? âGary, via email
Gary, did you consider just pulling the guyâs golf shirt over his head and pummeling him? (Hockey humor!)
Your competitor is living in the past. Prior to 2019, his method wouldnât have been an issue, but since then when the Rules require you to place a ball they require you to use the procedures for replacing. That means you need to set the ball down by hand (emphasis ours) and let it go â see Definition of Replace and Rule 14.2.
It would cost one penalty stroke each time for getting the ball on the right spot but in the wrong way. The Model Local Rule for âLift, Clean and Place,â a.k.a. âPreferred Lies,â is E-3, and it specifies when placing you use the procedures for replacing just as we see in the rest of the Rule book. There is no mention of two minutes in the penalty box.
Collin Morikawa (USA) plays a shot from the first cut of rough at the 17th hole during the second round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday 2025 on May 30, 2025 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
For more placement guidance from our guru, read on âŠ
When you can take relief from near the putting surface, do you place the ball or drop from knee height? More generally, on what occasions do you place rather than drop? âJesse Trapp, via email
Jesse, remember the old advice you learned in school in case of fire, âstop, drop and rollâ? This really has nothing to do with that â it just popped into our head.
Anyway, other than Preferred Lies (Model Local Rule E-3), you would place a ball when taking free relief for interference by an abnormal course condition when the ball was originally on the putting green â even if the nearest point of complete relief is off the putting green (see Rule 16.1d).
You would also end up placing, per Rule 14.3d, if two drops in the correct relief area in the general area roll outside that relief area. Drop, drop and place!
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Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he wonât throw the book at you.
The post Rules Guy: When playing lift, clean and place, can you use your club to roll the ball around? appeared first on Golf.
Players must lift, clean, and place the ball without using their club to roll it around; doing so violates the rules.
Using a club to roll the ball is against the rules and can lead to penalties during a tournament.
Yes, improperly placing a golf ball can result in penalties, depending on the specific circumstances and rules violated.
No, players must position the ball without using their club to manipulate its placement.
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