Dear Linda,
In a recent tournament a fellow competitor marked his ball,
lifted and replaced it on the putting green. He then moved away to view the
line of putt at which point a gust of wind moved his ball further from the
hole. He wasn't happy with the situation and wanted to move it back, as the
ball-marker was still in place so he could accurately replace it.
I explained to him that under the rules, he was required to
play the ball from it's new position and it was unfortunate this was further
from the hole. After quite a heated argument, he asked me to show him in the
rule book where it says he must play it from its new position.
I showed him the section in the definition of a “Ball in
Play” which states: “A ball that has been marked but not lifted remains in play.
A ball that has been marked, lifted and replaced is back in play whether or not
the ball-marker has been removed.”
I then explained that as his ball was considered to be in
play, if it had been moved by an outside agency (Rule 18-1) he must replace the
ball back to it's original position, but as wind (and water) are not outside
agencies, this does not apply.
Despite what I thought was a thorough and convincing
explanation on my part, he still could not accept it and the rest of the fellow
competitors were not convinced either.
Assuming I am correct in my interpretation of the rules, is
there any way of making what seems to be a very simple situation easier to
understand, rather than having to go through the convoluted process as I did
without much success?
Regards,
Gary Venning
Dear Lou,
What a great job of explaining you did! I couldn't have done
it any better. You might want to print the following "Frequently Asked
Question" from the USGA website (usga.org) and carry it in your bag. Here is the link
for this FAQ:
https://www.usga.org/RulesFAQ/rules_answer.asp?FAQidx=163&Rule=18
Rules FAQ
Rule
Ball in Play Moved by Wind or Gravity
Q.
A player
replaces his ball on the putting green and the ball is at rest. Without
addressing the ball the player steps away to read his putt.
The ball
moves either due to the wind or the slope of the putting green. How should the
player proceed?
A.
The player
must play his ball from the new position without penalty.
If the ball
was moved into the hole then the player is deemed to have holed out with his
previous stroke (Decision 20-3d/1).
Note: It is
not relevant whether the player had removed his ball-marker before the ball was
moved by the wind or gravity as the player's ball was in play when it was
replaced (Rule 20-4).
