Ball in Deep Rough Moved

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

My ball is sitting just off the fairway in uncut deep 4-6”, long and lush rough. It is sitting down and is slightly obscured by some long grass.

I judge that if I rest my club anywhere near the ball there is a good chance it would move and so I address ball without grounding my club and a bit away from the ball. As I take my club away to make my stroke I have to take my club to back through long grass. As I do this the grass on which my ball is resting is disturbed as my club head moves back through grass well behind the ball and as a result my ball moves slightly. It was not at all obvious to me that the grass on which my ball was resting was ‘connected’ in some or any way to the grass I took my club back through. I continued my swing and hit the ball.

Now clearly my ball only moved as a consequence of grass being disturbed as I was taking my club away, but I honestly don‘t know what else I could have done as I had kept my club as far away from the ball as I could in an address that had a reasonable chance of enabling me to hit my ball with any degree of certainty.

I fear a general penalty was in order but felt pretty miffed about it (and more so since my ball was only a foot from the almost non-existant first out rough) but I shrugged as thems the rules. Was I right.

 

[Colin L]

Firstly check what to do if your ball moves during your backswing. You'll find 9.1b deals explicitly with that and will also find a reference to follow to determine whether there is a penalty. Read through that and give deciding for yourself a try - as you would have to do on the course. Would you assess a penalty or not?

I'm not trying to be coy about giving an answer but am interested in whether the words are adequate to the purpose of allowing the player to decide.

 

[salfordlad]

The answer is in 9.1b. The decision required is whether you caused the ball to move by your action of backswinging through the grass. If there is KVC it was your actions that set off the chain reaction (IMO it sounds like the answer is yes) then you get the one stroke penalty under 9.4b, otherwise no penalty. In either situation, the stroke counts and ball must be played as lies.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Yes…9.1b bullet point 3 applies, and then referring to 9.4b, none of the conditions of Exception 4 apply.

My only thought on 9.1b and then 9.2b is that it was not at all obvious to me that the ball might move as a result of my backswing given I made best endeavours to address the ball away from it to avoid depressing grass behind it - which I guessed would cause it to move. So was it KOVC that my action caused it to move…I suppose so ?

Anyway. I was almost 100% certain of my penalty - just felt a bit miffed given my best endeavours, and wondered if indeed any exception applied. Outside influence or Natural Force of 9.2b perhaps…??

note…I’ve been trying to imagine a scenario where I could deliberately do something that would cause my ball to move after I start backswing to make my shot easier. What happened to me didn’t make the shot easier as ball could still have been moving when I hit it - or indeed moved to a quite different place and I would have mishit it or missed it completely.

Though the truth is that I can imagine a very similar scenario to mine where what I did and what happened would have the ball move with great certainty to a much clearer or less risky lie, and the player would know that, and hence the rule and no exception for me.

 

[rulefan]

I’ve been trying to imagine a scenario where I could deliberately do something that would cause my ball to move after I start backswing to make my shot easier.

9.4b says very specifically, you can't.