FORE LEFT!
Anyone that’s played golf before knows that every shot doesn’t go exactly as planned. Even the best golfers in the world occasionally hit a shot off line, sometimes ending up in hazard areas of the course, or worse, the dreaded out-of-bounds.
But not every person who plays the frustrating game of golf can say that they’ve had their golf ball snatched up by a curious critter à la Caddyshack. The person in this story hit their tee shot into a wooded area left of the fairway, and when they went to look for it, they found it… in the hands of a squirrel.
Shane Bacon, a golf announcer and writer, posted this hilarious picture to his social media with the caption:
“A buddy just sent me this – hit it left on a par-4 and came up to find his ball being closely monitored by an interested observer. Not sure the ruling here.”
That golfer may have started the hole with that being his golf ball, but once the squirrel had it tightly grasped between its paws, it was no longer the man’s golf ball. There was definitely a non-mutual transfer of property, because it doesn’t look like that bushy-tailed rodent was dropping that dimpled sphere anytime soon.
Social media loved the picture of the squirrel firmly holding the golf ball with both hands, and replied with a flurry of memes about the incident:
My precious pic.twitter.com/wmY69ObgKz
— Friendly Banter (@friendlybanter_) April 18, 2024
Blind squirrel can see after all!
— radaratlas2 (@radaratlas2) April 18, 2024
[The squirrel] pic.twitter.com/T6jVxH3RWu
— Sean T. Leahy (@seantleahy) April 18, 2024
This validates every time I’ve said “I think a squirrel took it.”
— steegs (@Steegsy) April 18, 2024
Play is as it lies (RIP squirrel)
— Keegs (@keegs_f) April 18, 2024
And you’re probably wondering what the ruling would actually be if a squirrel picked up a golf ball while it was in play. Well, lucky for you, one X user (formerly Twitter) explained how that situation should play out in accordance to the rulebook:
According to rule 5.31, you may retrieve the ball, but you must replace it with an acorn in it’s original position (in the hands of the squirrel in this case)
— Kenny Bottoms (@urfavoriteging1) April 18, 2024
With all of the weird rules in golf, that honestly could be buried deep within the golf handbook and actually be enforceable. I’d look further into it, but now all I can think about are my past shots I’ve hit into the trees that I never could find…
