Ball moving at address

[Roops]

So if you ball is in the rough, and as you address it the weight of the club pushes the grass down and the ball moves when doing so, is this a penalty ? There was a close up at the weekend of Gonzo addressing the ball and it was clearly moving as he was letting the club rest in the rough. Rule 18-2 seems to imply that at address it is ok, and it seems to be ok if you are on your back swing, but it's not 100% clear.

 

[Slab]

Never saw it but the key as I understand it is whether the ball moved (changed position) or oscillated (didn't change its position)

No penalty for the latter, one shot pen & re-position ball for the former

So its allowed to move as many would use the term move in general conversation but its not allowed to move as the term move is defined in golf

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I had such a situation at the weekend. Ball in heather. Addressed it very carefully for fear of moving it. After I had started my backswing the ball moved a little - not a lottle - a little. I don't think I touched anything that might affect the ball as I started my backswing that caused it to move - certainly I don't think I did - and it didn't move immediately I started to move the clubhead away from the ball. I did hit heather (couldn't really not) as I took the club away but no idea whether hitting that heather was the reason the ball moved - it seemed unlikely. . So I just kept going and hit my shot - but felt that I should probably have called a penalty against myself. I didn't.

 

[duncan mackie]

Rule 18-2 seems to imply that at address it is ok, and it seems to be ok if you are on your back swing, but it's not 100% clear.

not sure which part of 18-2 you are looking at...

if you cause the ball to move then it's a 1 shot penalty, ball to be replaced. the only difference with the ball moving as you start your back swing is that there is no additional penalty for striking a moving ball; which is the bit that may confuse.

as to whether the ball moved in a particular situation - I would have to see it.

 

[Colin L]

So if you ball is in the rough, and as you address it the weight of the club pushes the grass down and the ball moves when doing so, is this a penalty ? There was a close up at the weekend of Gonzo addressing the ball and it was clearly moving as he was letting the club rest in the rough. Rule 18-2 seems to imply that at address it is ok, and it seems to be ok if you are on your back swing, but it's not 100% clear.[/QUOTE]

Whoah!! That's a misunderstanding of 18-2 which is pretty clear. If the ball moves after you have addressed the ball (ie put your club on the ground immediately behind or in front of it) you are deemed to have caused it to move (unless there is clearly another cause, like a gust of wind) and there is a one stroke penalty. You might be thinking of the bit of 18-2a(i) which prohibits your touching the ball purposely except with a club when addressing the ball. You can touch it but it's still a penalty if you move it. And it's not ok for the ball to move during your backswing. That's still a penalty stroke - the difference being that before you start your backswing you must replace the moved ball but if you have started your swing you carry on. But that's an exception to the requirement to replace the ball, not an exemption from the penalty.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

With my situation. The ball didn't move as I carefully grounded my club behind the ball. I am guessing that the act of moving my club off the grass/heather as I started my backswing will have caused the grass upon which my club sat to rise up even ever so slightly (as it was clearly then not compressed by the weight of my club on it - albeit I tried not to compress the grass too much for fear of moving the ball) - and this upward movement of the grass contributed to the ball subsequently moving. Either that or the stuff I brushed on the way back caused the movement in some way.

Feels to me that my immediate thought of 'damn - the bl**dy ball has moved' is probably correct and penalty it is. Just my tough luck. BTW the ball was not moving when I hit it.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

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