Dislodged leaf

[MashieNiblick]

Yes, the wording does leave it open to interpretation but that is intentional. It allows common sense to be applied which is actually a good thing. There are other examples - eg provisional ball if ....."ball may be lost outside a water hazard" etc

In nearly all cases it will be obvious if the position is improved and any honest assessment of the situation would agree if it was a penalty or not. If there's doubt then players usually penalised themselves anyway. To answer the original question, as already stated, the area of your swing includes the follow through.....everyone would always prefer not to be hitting something on the follow through so if I knock a single big leaf off with my practice swing giving me a free swing then I have improved the area of my swing and would be penalised. If I knock one of a bunch of 10 off I probably wouldn't. If I knock one of 2 off??? then probably a penalty. Just down to your own honesty really....like nearly all the rules. The question to ask yourself is "have I now got a materially better situation than before?".

Good points but I think it's that "probably" that is the issue. Most other Rules are much clearer on whether something is or isn't a penalty. And given the same circumstances will everybody give the same answer to the last question? Would some people be harsher or more lenient than others? Tricky one.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

There is no problem in knocking down leaves etc with any part of your swing when you are making a stroke. The question is about practice swings where it could improve the area of your swing and be a breach of Rule 13-2. And the wording is quite clearly improving the area of your swing, so that includes the follow through.

OK - didn't read it in context of practice - yes I know it says practice in first line of OP

 

[Fyldewhite]

Good points but I think it's that "probably" that is the issue. Most other Rules are much clearer on whether something is or isn't a penalty. And given the same circumstances will everybody give the same answer to the last question? Would some people be harsher or more lenient than others? Tricky one.

You are quite right, it certainly could be an issue but it's a fairly common situation in the rules to have to simply do the right thing which is often subjective. How often do we all drop "as nearly as possible" to where the last shot was played for example? and what "exactly" does that mean? Does the dropped ball have to land in the divot your first shot made? an inch away? a foot away? 5 yards away giving you a straight shot to the green? Don't think it's explained anywhere but we all interpret it fairly (ie no advantage gained) and just get on with it which is what's required here and it should be obvious in both examples if someone is out of order.