Accidental Movement of the Ball
ByMissyJones•@missyjonjones
January29,2017
The“AccidentalMovementoftheBall”ontheputtinggreenlocalruleisin
effectthisweekatthePuresilkBahamasLPGAClassicinNassau,Bahamas.
Theprofessionaltours,theUSGAandtheNCAAhaveadoptedthisfortheir
competitionsasofJanuary1,2017.Mostrecreationalleaguesandclubs
shouldfollowsuitandgetitintoeffectattheirfacilities.It’snotintheRules
andmustbepublicallyadoptedtobeineffect.
Thelocalrulereadsasfollows:
Rules18-2,18-3and20-1aremodifiedasfollows:
Whenaplayer’sballliesontheputtinggreen,thereisnopenaltyiftheball
orball-markerisaccidentallymovedbytheplayer,hispartner,his
opponent,oranyoftheircaddiesorequipment.
Themovedballorball-markermustbereplacedasprovidedinRules18-2,
18-3and20-1.
ThisLocalRuleappliesonlywhentheplayer’sballorball-markerliesonthe
puttinggreenandanymovementisaccidental.
Note:Ifitisdeterminedthataplayer’sballontheputtinggreenwasmoved
asaresultofwind,waterorsomeothernaturalcausesuchastheeffectsof
gravity,theballmustbeplayedasitliesfromitsnewlocation.Aballmarkermovedinsuchcircumstancesisreplaced.”
WeallsawthedramaunfoldatOakmontwithDustinJohnsonattheU.S.
OpenlastyearbutIwanttoemphasizethatthisisnotakneejerkreaction
tothatseriesofevents.TheRulehadproblemsandwasbeinglookedatfar
beforeanyofthathappenedanditbecameobviousinaverypublicway.
Thelocalruleisastepintherightdirectionanditgetsplayersoffthehook
especiallyiftheycallinanofficial.Weknowtheplayerwon'tgetapenalty,
butthequestionwillbe-doestheplayerputtheballbackandplayordo
theyplayitfromthenewplace?Aplayercanstillgetatwostrokepenalty
forplayingfromthewrongplace.
Thebasictenetofgolfis“ifyoumoveyourball,youneedtoputitback.”So
ifaplayerACCIDENTLYmovesherballonthegreenwearegoingtoputit
back.Shekicksit,dropsherballorballmarkeronit,itmovesaftersheputs
putternexttoitorsomeotheractionnearit–weputitbackwithno
penalty.
Thetimeswhenweplayfromthenewpositioniswhenwind,wateror
gravityobviouslymovesit.BrittanyLincicomejusthadthisprecisething
happenonhole17.Shehadsetherclubneartheball,liftedhercluband
herballmoved.Onacalmday,onafairlyflatgreenwecouldarguethat
shehaddoneenough“stuff”nearherballtohaveaccidentlymovedit.
Underthelocalrule,wewouldhaveputitbackwithnopenalty,butinthis
caseitwasobviousthereallygustywindsmadeitmove.Sheplayeditfrom
it’snewpositionwithnopenalty.
Wehadanincidentouthereyesterdaywhereaplayerjustplaingoofedand
pickedupherballwithoutmarkingit.Thenewlocalruledoesn’tapplyhere
eventhoughitseemslikethatmightbeaccidental.TherewasINTENTto
pickupthatball.Theplayergotaonestrokepenaltyandreplacedit.And
alsorememberthatallofthisonlyappliesontheputtinggreen.
Thisisagoodadditionallocalruleatourdisposalanditwillbeinteresting
toseehowitisappliedindifferentconditionsthisyear.