What is the golf rule if your golf ball rolls before you putt?
Golf Nut, if you are standing over a putt and you suddenly feel the wind pick up and step back, what happens if the golf ball then rolls forward at that point? Is there a penalty stroke?
I haven’t seen a golf ruling on this particular situation, but here is how I interpret the rules of golf on this situation.
First, a golfer is considered to have “addressed” the golf ball when he has taken his stance and has also grounded his club. According to rule 18-2b—if a golfer’s ball in play moves after he has addressed it, then he is deemed to have moved the ball and incurs a penalty of one stroke.
The golf ball must be replaced to where it was originally. I know that this seems unfair, but that is the way that I read the rules. Wind is not considered an outside agency. The only question mark might be if you had grounded the club before you stepped away. I couldn’t find anything one way or the other specific on this, so I would have to say that if you had grounded the golf club (putter) , then the rule was in effect.
Keep asking these questions about the rules of golf and let’s help all the amateur golfers out there to know this game we love even better. Thanks!
Just a comment on the answer to the question about ball moving on the putting green. If you are deemed to have moved the ball then that must be considered a stroke so then why replace it? If you hit the ball off the tee with a driver then you are deemed to have moved the ball slso.
Posted by: Dave Hall at April 27, 2007 06:14 AMThis happened to a golf partner of mine a couple of years ago. After driving his ball down the left side of the fairway towards an oak tree, he walked to his ball. Coming up towards him from the adjacent fairway was a player looking for his ball which he had pulled right onto our fairway. There were two balls in the rough, one either side of the oak tree. They were both playing the same ball, a titleist 3,so they could not tell which ball was theirs. What is the ruling here?
Posted by: Dave Hall at April 27, 2007 06:22 AMMy foursome usually likes to play the tees that are around 6100 yards for 18 holes. But sometimes we play at a course where there is a 220 yard par three or maybe a 190 yard forced carry off the tee, and one member can't make that green in one shot or can't hit his driver far enough to make the forced carry. However, he keeps up with us because although not long, he is accurate and has a good short game. Is it acceptable for the foursome to agree to play from a closer set of tees just for that hole? More generally, can a foursome agree to play some holes from the white tees and some from the gold?
Posted by: jim at June 24, 2008 03:14 PM
