I've been wondering about ball markers, i seem to lose quite a few and end up using things in my pocket such as a pound coin and on one occasion a guitar pick. Am I allowed to use what I want? Are there any restriction on size etc? I can't find any information on this topic.

Cheers.

Im sorry this has posted twice

there's no restrictions on size, but the marker has to be round. so anyhting that is a circle is fine...you can use a hockey puck if you want

Nothing within the rules says a marker must be round.

The rules only say this:

The position of a ball to be lifted should be marked by placing a ball-marker, a small coin or other similar object immediately behind the ball.

Using a guitar pick would be fine, as I believe it is sufficiently similar to a ball marker or coin. A tee (used on the green) is more suspect, but has not been ruled as being unacceptable by the USGA which only has this to say in their Q&A:

20-1/17 Tee Marking Position of Player's Ball Deflects Opponent's Ball
Q. In a match, B used a wooden tee to mark the position of his ball. A's ball was deflected by the tee. What is the ruling?
A. The tee was not B's equipment — see Definition of "Equipment." There is no penalty. A must play his ball as it lies.
A should have requested B to move the tee one or more clubhead-lengths to the side or to mark the position of his ball with a ball-marker, a small coin or other similar object — see Note under Rule

I do know of a case many years ago of a member of this board being penalized in a Canadian tour event for marking his ball with a tee.

while i wouldn't recommend carrying an anvil around in your pocket to mark your spot,
use whatever tickles you

Dinner plates work great if u ever lose your mark on the green.

Not true! Some guy on the west coast is getting rich selling these..........

i get crap all the time for using my Odyssey poker chip...

one day the one guy in our foursome thought he'd be funny and marked his ball with a frisbee... it actually was pretty funny cause i wasn't expecting it, and walked up to the green and was like WTF...?

LOL

haha oh yea, i guess i was wrong, i've always been told it has to be round though

i used to use a guitar pick as a marker since i always have one on me. that was until i played on a real windy day lol. bad idea to say the least. i'm a fan of the ball mark repair tool w/ the magnetic marker. since it's connected to the tool itself makes it easy to get in and out of your pocket.

anyway, you can use anything, even a golf club as your marker. saw a segment on the golf channel about this. as long as you put the ball in the same place it's fine.

Anything small or precise irregardless of shape will do fine as a ball marker:

A small stone, a tee, a pitch marker repairer, the toe of a putter, a coin, a flower (not too clever on a windy day, though)

Bigger objects like the frisbee or the flat side of the putter is not precise enough and can not be used.

You should be able to use anything, because if a player hits your mark they obviously did not mean to hit the putt that direction, which means it was not going in the hole.

Using a thumb pick would be judged rude I think

I used to play with a guy that marked his ball with some kind of a fancy blue pearl something or other. It was about the size of a quarter but was rounded over the top so that it must have been 3/8" thick at the center. I once offered him an old football helmet that was in my closet in the case that he ever lost his favorite ball marker. He didn't take the hint.

dave