9 Ball Played as It Lies; Ball at Rest Lifted or Moved

[backwoodsman]

I think the sentence is quite clear - the language is quite precise. However, folk being folk, people will always build in their own ambiguity into anything.. But I don't see why the word "deliberately" is in there at all (in relation to touching your ball). Because I can't see any difference between a ball touched "deliberately" and one touched "accidentally. Given that in neither case does the ball move (else its covered by the "moved" clause) then what's the difference. Either forbid "touching" or allow it, but there's no need in my mind to differentiate.

 

[Orikoru]

I think the sentence is quite clear - the language is quite precise. However, folk being folk, people will always build in their own ambiguity into anything.. But I don't see why the word "deliberately" is in there at all (in relation to touching your ball). Because I can't see any difference between a ball touched "deliberately" and one touched "accidentally. Given that in neither case does the ball move (else its covered by the "moved" clause) then what's the difference. Either forbid "touching" or allow it, but there's no need in my mind to differentiate.

I think because if you touch the ball by accident it's no penalty. But if you touch it deliberately and it doesn't move, that still is a penalty. It does seem needlessly complicated though.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

My old mantra.

If
Then
Else

Wot - no ElseIfs?

Ah - whatever happened to Fortran...(F4 was my first language at uni - I don't really count my 1970 schoolboy dip into Algol)

END 99 (see also millenium bug )

 

[RulesGuy]

Well I don't agree. If I was on the course and looked up that rule, I would come away from it thinking you had to deliberately move the ball for it to be a penalty.

It reminds me of the handball law in football, if you actually read it that's also full of little ambiguous phrases that could be interpreted two ways as well. That's why there's always so much confusion and they have to keep rewriting it, as they have done for this season.

If you wanted it to be absolutely 100% clear with no ambiguity, you'd have to write it like this:

"If the player;
1. lifts his or her ball
2. deliberately touches his or her ball at rest
3. causes his or her ball to move
-the player gets one penalty stroke."

Much clearer the way you have wrote it. I read this rule a few times in January to confirm that I could no longer rest my club against the ball at address. It certainly is not one of those things that leaps out of the page. Eats shoots and leaves

 

[rulefan]

Wot - no ElseIfs?

Ah - whatever happened to Fortran...(F4 was my first language at uni - I don't really count my 1970 schoolboy dip into Algol)

END 99 (see also millenium bug )

Started with plug board m/cs. Then COBOL (IBM 705). Changed to IBM 1401. Machine code, SPS, Autocode, FARGO, RPG. Then IBM 360 PL1 and a bit of Fortran