This week, Club Golf Academy will address what happens when your ball moves, either by accident, the fault of your playing partner, or Mother nature. For example, what would happen if a fox ran onto the green, scooped up your ball off of the green, and ran away with it, sort of like this:
Rule 18
Rule 18 covers scenarios where a ball at rest is moved.
18-1: By outside agency
“If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.” Note: It must be known or virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball. In the absence of such knowledge or certainty, the player must play the ball as it lies or, if the ball is not found, proceed under Rule 27-1 (penalty of stroke and distance).
18-2a: Except as permitted by the Rules, when a player’s ball is in play, if the player or his partner
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Lifts or moves the ball
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Touches it purposely (except with a club in the act of addressing the ball), or
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Causes the ball to move, or
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The equipment of the player or his partner causes the ball to move
That player incurs a penalty of one stroke. If the ball is moved, it must be replaced, unless the movement of the ball occurs after the player has begun the stroke or the backward movement of the club for the stroke and the stroke is made.
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Under the Rules there is no penalty if a player accidentally causes his ball to move in the following circumstances:
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In searching for a ball covered by sand, in the replacement of loose impediments moved in a hazard while finding or identifying a ball, in probing for a ball lying in water in a water hazard or in searching for a ball in an obstruction or an abnormal ground condition - Rule 12-1.
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In repairing a hole plug or ball mark - Rule 16-1c
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In measuring - Rule 18-6
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In lifting a ball under a Rule - Rule 20-1
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In placing or replacing a ball under a Rule - Rule 20-3a
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In removing a loose impediment on the putting green - Rule 23-1
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In removing movable obstructions - Rule 24-1
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18-2b: Ball moving after address
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If a player’s ball in play moves after he has addressed it (other than as a result of a stroke), the player is deemed to have moved the ball and incurs a penalty of one stroke. The ball must be replaced, unless the movement of the ball occurs after the player has begun the stroke or the backward movement of the club for the stroke and the stroke is made.
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Exception: If it is known or virtually certain that the player did not cause his ball to move, such as when wind blows a ball that was at rest on the green, Rule 18-2b does not apply.
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18-4: Fellow-competitor or equipment in stroke play
"If a fellow competitor or his equipment moves the player’s ball, touches it, or causes it to move, there is no penalty. If the ball is moved, it must be replaced.”
18-5: By another ball
This rule creates the provision that if a ball in play and at rest is moved by another ball in motion after a stroke, the moved ball must be replaced and the ball that was in motion should be played from where it came to rest.
Note: some parts of the rules were shortened or modified because caddies are not allowed in NCCGA tournaments
Be sure to send your Rules questions to Club Golf Academy via nick@nccga.org. We are here to help you learn the rules and make golf a better game.
**Written by Nicholas Heyrman, National Collegiate Club Golf Association Director of Tournament Operations.
