I don't think I have ever hit the wrong ball in the 20 years or so I've played golf but I did this weekend at a member-guest I was playing in. It was a 3 day deal where you play 3 different formats and the last day is total score for both teammates. One of the guys we were playing with and I hit balls that cut the left corner of the fairway and basically landed where we couldn't see them. I walk up to the first ball look down at it -- it's got mud all over it and is a titleist 4 with a red dot on the part I can see. "This one's mine". The other ball was about 5-7 yards in front of this one. We wait a min. to hit then I proceed to hit just short of the green.. competitor goes up and hits the ball that was in front.. again just short of the green. I walk up and chip my ball about 4 ft. away (keep in mind there is still mud all over the ball) and clean it off finding the mistake at the same time my competitor does. We both hit the wrong ball from the fairway. We both take the loooonnnggg walk back drop a ball take a 2 stroke penalty and ultimately a double for me. Naturally we asked the head pro and got the clarification that we had done the right thing. (we couldnt be penalized twice even though we both hit the wrong ball ultimately two times) I really felt worse that they had to take a penalty too but in reality he should of taken a better look at the ball he hit before he hit it and it would only be me taking the penalty. I shoot 5 over (76) for the day and we tie for fifth place which means a whopping 50 bucks in pro shop credit. If I shoot 3 over we are in 4th place with considerably more credit.. What a horrible, horrible feeling. I did a good job of shaking it off and keeping the round together but damn that was the stuff nightmares are made of.

Any of you guys have horror stories from tournaments? DQ's? ... that would truly be the worst.

Yeah i did in a tournament and in a match for $$'s (twice). Once it was the same ball in a local county amateur I knew hit the ball twenty five yards up but my playing competitor found one in the heavy rough same make model... should have marked it and Idenified it..

Got up to my ball and guess what : i said this is not my ball and said well that's two shot i don't need (TRIPPLE)!! made the cut but that bothered me for the whole weekend..!!

Not stupid but competive golf will do that!!.

I played in a 4-some 2-man match play this weekend out at Tilden Park GC and I had my ball hit by the wrong person 5 different times. Albeit they were not from my group but rather from the group coming up the hole back at us who thought their ball that they hit way right was my ball that I hit down the left hand side.

We just stood in the tee box, watch them drive over, get out and whack my ball down their fairway without them even checking to see if it was their ball.

It would be easy for them to see that is is not their ball as I play a Bridgestone (don't see many people playing them) marked up with orange and blue marks. Go Gators!

As Confucius said: Always identify your ball.

It wasn't a tourney, but about 2 months ago I was playing with these 2 Japanesse guys up at Angeles National. We're on a long par 5 and I pound my second shot and think it's pin high just left of the green. I wasn't paying attention when one of the others hit his, but then I see them looking towards a creek that runs down the side of the hole just beyond a long sand trap. Well I go up towards where I think my ball is and then see they're still looking. I'm on my way and see a ball in the trap, take a look and, crap, it's a Srixon ZUR-C #3, mine. I could have sworn I hit it further and left of the green but it's old and scuffed so I clearly ID it as mine. After a bit the guy drops, hit's, and starts heading toward the green. I hit on and start walking toward the green and there just left of the green is another ball. #@$&!, I take a look and sure enough it's a Srixon ZUR-C #3, old and scuffed. I took my penilties and let him go back and drop in the sand. I could never understand what ball he was playing when I aasked because he didn't speak very good English.

It was by far the stupidest thing I've ever done to myself on or off the golf course. It happened to me a couple months ago. Just walked up to my ball in the ajoining fairway, and hit it. I didn't even bother to look at the ball to see if it was mine. End of story...I ended up figuring it wasn't mine, and then hit my original, playing out the hole. Missed Junior World in San Diego by a shot.

Three years ago in our Member Guest, we're walking to our balls and discover two balls in the same area. One guy had a caddie. The caddie looks down in a sand trap and tells his player that it is his ball. The other ball is five yards short of the bunker, in the fairway so hits first. Both players hit on the green and then discover that they had hit each others ball. The guy hitting from the fairway is penalized and the guy that hit from the bunker is not because that penalty doesn't count if hitting from a hazard.

You can make a case that it all happened because the caddie gave these guys the wrong information, but neither one of them bothered to check the ball they were getting ready to hit. I was sure glad my ball wasn't involved but it hung a cloud over the rest of everyone's round. Needles to say, I check the ball every time now.....

That drives me nuts when that happens. Especially when you are in a game with a lot of bets going, playing well for 6 holes, then some idiot disrupts your flow.

It's almost as bad as when you play an early Monday morning round, wait for the guy mowing the fairways, to get clear, stripe a new ProV1X down the middle, and then watch the mower guy shred your ball into pieces.

I'm too analretentive to hit the wrong ball. My ball is the best ball, and to hit someone else's ball is to hit a subpar ball. I ain't doing it. LOL!

did it in the scratch team championships!!
Me and some guy had exactly the same ball with the red dot in the same place on the same fairway.
I hit what i assumed to be mine but then later found out mine was 30 yards further up and the ball i hit was a guys who had just spanked one way right of a adjacent hole.

Well on the plus side my 2 shot penalty didnt matter as we didnt win anyway : /

Yes. Just this past Saturday. My brother and I were playing through a group of jr. kids that were walking. I hit my tee shot, when up and found the ball (pro v1x #3) and smoked a perfect low, running 5 iron up onto the green about 20 feet past the pin (par 5). Then we went over and found my brothers ball which was on the same line as mine just a tad farther and in some shadows such that it wasn't really visible from the tee or from where I had just hit my 2nd shot. Low and behold, another pro v1x #3 was there. Looking back, the jr kids were making there way up to their tee shots and sure enough one of them was playing the same ball as me. His was the ball I had pured onto the green. Being in a hurry and not really caring to explain the situation to him, I just informed him that his ball was up in the shadows... hahaa. BTW, I sank the 20 footer for eagle. Lol. Or double, however you wanna look at it.

A few holes later the jr kids were nearby on an adjacent fairway. I asked the kid what he made on that hole... birdie was the answer.