Pulling out of a swing.

[williamalex1]

Asking for a friend, a players ball is close to a tree, on his actual back swinng he catches a few leaves and decides to bail out , the ball didn'move and didn't hit ground or tree.
What;a the ruling and rule number. TIA

 

[rulefan]

Stroke​

The forward movement of the club made to strike the ball.

But a stroke has not been made if the player:

• Decides during the downswing not to strike the ball and avoids doing so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball.

 

[williamalex1]

Stroke​

The forward movement of the club made to strike the ball.

But a stroke has not been made if the player:

• Decides during the downswing not to strike the ball and avoids doing so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball.

Does the hitting leaves on the back swing have any bearing at all ? do you have a rule number please.

 

[cliveb]

But a stroke has not been made if the player:

• Decides during the downswing not to strike the ball and avoids doing so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball.

I think there's a famous example of Tiger deliberately missing the ball when distracted by the shadow of a bird.

But no club golfer is going to persuade anyone that he deliberately pulled out of his downswing and hasn't had an air shot.

 

[Steven Rules]

See the definition of Stroke and also the first bullet point of Clarification Stroke/1.

In relation to 'catching a few leaves', this would only be relevant if it improved the conditions affecting the stroke (Rule 8.1) and it is impossible in an online forum to assess whether that has happened.

 

[salfordlad]

Does the hitting leaves on the back swing have any bearing at all ? do you have a rule number please.

The OP raises two questions to be resolved:
a) Was it a stroke? Comments have already dealt with that.
b) Were the conditions affecting the stroke improved? 8.1 is the rule to be considered, was the area of intended swing improved? There used to be some specific guidance on this, it was removed in the interest of shortening the rule book but the principle is unchanged. The current book examples are in 8.1a/1, the old material was in D13-2/0.5 and looked like this:

Unlikely to create potential advantage (so no penalty) - player accidentally knocks down several leaves from a tree in his area of
intended swing with a practice swing, but there are still so many leaves
or branches remaining that the area of intended swing has not been
materially affected.
Likely to create potential advantage (so penalty) - accidentally knocks down a single leaf from a tree in his area of intended
swing with a practice swing, but, as this was one of very few leaves that
might either interfere with his swing or fall and thereby distract him, the
area of intended swing has been materially affected.

 

[jim8flog]

Stroke​

The forward movement of the club made to strike the ball.

But a stroke has not been made if the player:

• Decides during the downswing not to strike the ball and avoids doing so by deliberately stopping the clubhead before it reaches the ball or, if unable to stop, by deliberately missing the ball.

Kevin Na is very good at that one.

Sometimes use it myself if my brain works fast enough.