7.2 How to identify a ball

A player’s ball at rest may be identified in any one of these ways:

• By the player or anyone else seeing a ball come to rest in circumstances where it is known to be the player’s ball.

• By seeing the player’s identifying mark on the ball (see Rule 6.3a).

• By finding a ball with the same brand, model, number and condition as the player’s ball in an area where the player’s ball is expected to be (but this does not apply if an identical ball is in the same area and there is no way to know which one is the player’s ball).

If a player’s provisional ball cannot be distinguished from his or her original ball, see Rule 18.3c(2).

7.3 Lifting a ball to identify it

If a ball might be a player’s ball but cannot be identified as it lies: The player may lift the ball to identify it (including by rotating it), but:

The spot of the ball must first be marked, and the ball must not be cleaned more than needed to identify it (except on the putting green) (see Rule 14.1).

If the lifted ball is the player’s ball or another player’s ball, it must be replaced on its original spot (see Rule 14.2).

If the player lifts his or her ball under this Rule when not reasonably necessary to identify it (except on the putting green where the player may lift under Rule 13.1b), fails to mark the spot of the ball before lifting it or cleans it when not allowed, the player gets one penalty stroke.