Recently at The Players Championship I was amazed with how far they had taken the Stadium Course in an effort to make the event on par with the majors such as the U.S. Open. In doing so the course not only played more difficult, but the greens became a serious concern when the winds started gusting at 40+ mph because of the fear that the ball may not remain at rest. There were two notable situations that occurred at Sawgrass where a gust of wind moved a player’s ball and each resulted in a very different ruling; the first occurred when Boo Weekly’s ball moved as he stood over a putt on the 8th hole, and the second was Nick Thomson’s unlikely birdie on the famous 17th hole after the wind took his ball from thirty feet away to a much more manageable five feet.
If you were watching The Players Championship and happened to catch either of these occurrences you may have had some questions such as, “If my ball is at rest and is subsequently moved by the wind, am I penalized?” And, “Should I play my ball from its new location, or do I need to replace it?” The answer to both of these questions is, “it depends.” Rule 18-2b of the Rules of Golf covers ball at rest moved by the player, his partner, or either of their caddies after the player has addressed the ball. This Rule tells us that after a player has addressed his ball if it subsequently moves the player incurs a penalty of one stroke and the ball must be replaced, if the ball is not replaced the player incurs a total of a two stroke penalty. What does this mean? If we look back at the definitions we find that a player has addressed his ball “when he has taken his stance and has also grounded his club, except that in a hazard a player has addressed the ball when he has taken his stance.”
In Boo Weekly’s case he had already gone through his pre-shot routine and had addressed the ball when a gust of wind suddenly moved his ball. Rule 18-2b tells us that Boo incurred a one stroke penalty for causing his ball to move – even though Boo did not do anything to physically move his ball he is deemed to have moved the ball because he had already addressed it. He then was required to replace the ball back to its original position.
In the second situation, Nick Thomson hit his tee shot on the 17th hole to about thirty feet and while he was preparing to mark his ball a gust of wind started it rolling towards the hole. As it got over a slight ridge the ball gained momentum and ended up five feet away from the hole. In this scenario Nick had not addressed the ball, and because wind and water are not considered outside agencies (see Rule 18-1 for Ball at Rest moved by an outside agency), he was required to play the ball where it came to rest after the wind had moved it. In Thomson’s situation it may not seem fair that he had an average tee shot turn into an easy birdie, but remember that the gust could have moved him further from the hole and he would have had to live with that as well.
Anytime you talk about your ball at rest being moved it is important to review the definition of ball moved. Under the Rules of Golf we are told that a player’s ball has moved when it leaves its position and comes to rest in any other place. Often times on a windy day when you are over a putt you will notice that your ball is oscillating – this is okay. The Rules of Golf tell us that the ball needs to do more than simply oscillate: it needs to physically move into a new position. Have you ever noticed how some of the greatest players never ground their putters? You can’t be penalized for the wind moving your ball if you never “address” your ball.
Although most greens are not as slick as what we saw at The Players Championship, we do experience a great deal of wind in Colorado so it is important to be aware of how you should handle this situation. Know the Rules and perhaps your score won’t get blown away when your ball does!
