As your majestically struck, pearly white, five-dollar projectile hurtles through the air, and you feel like belting out your best Idina Menzel impression from Wicked, golfers alike will marvel at the sight and mutter to themselves, as you may, nothing but divine intervention shall ruin this moment.
And then, bang, something we can’t always explain takes place and the outcome is unclear. This often leads to as simple a question as; do I need to put the ball back because it moved though I will contend to the day I die I did not cause this ball to move?
There are actually a few instances, within the Rules of Golf, where natural forces affect an outcome which incurs a penalty, or brings with it a disadvantage. Can you believe it? Isn’t this stuff hard enough already? I thought it might be fun this time to dance around a few spots where that gust of gravity wreaks havoc with your perfectly peaceful afternoon.
Let’s begin by defining natural forces in the ROG - The effects of nature such as wind, water or when something happens for no apparent reason because of the effects of gravity.
The ultimate test of golf ball vs. gravity is often highlighted when that pesky ball just won’t do what it’s supposed to do, and that’s drop into the hole for a much-needed birdie. Instead, it hangs on the edge, overhanging the hole, taunting you with a hurry up and hit me attitude as you leisurely stroll up to it, hoping it will disappear. Well, it’s somewhat common knowledge you are allowed 10 seconds, when you reasonably reach the hole, to wait to see if it takes the plunge. After that, if it remains, your ball is at rest, and you must tap it in. Unless, of course, it delivers the ultimate insult and falls at 11 seconds or beyond. So, what’s the ruling? PENALTY! “But I didn’t do anything,” you cry. Rule 13.3a states if the ball falls into the hole after the waiting time has elapsed, the player has holed out with the previous stroke but gets one penalty stroke added to the hole score. It’s the same result on the card as if tapped in but feels more like you’re the coyote holding the anvil just beyond the cliff’s edge.
In another instance, strange forces are afoot where the lie of the ball is concerned. We know we can move loose impediments, even large ones, anywhere in the world in the vicinity of the ball or line of play, as long as one does not cause the ball to move while doing so. But now our pop-in buddy, natural forces, blows hard enough to break a branch off a tree that comes crashing down around the ball, which does not move, and creates a large bump of raised turf right behind the ball, exactly where I intend to make sweet impact. These gusts are killing me! Now we are talking about conditions affecting the stroke altered by the combination of natural forces and an outside influence, and Clarification 8.1d(2)/1 gives us…restoration is not allowed when a branch falls from a tree and alters the lie, area of stance or swing, without causing the ball to move. Seriously?
Often thrown around these days is the phrase of known or virtually certain, to ascertain what and whether something happened to the golf ball. It is the standard, taking all available information, which leaves so little doubt that the event in question happened. Well, here’s a question; are you sure that you are sure? Are you sure that you want to be unsure? As sure as Spinal Tap once quipped, “I know, for I told me so!”
This is where we are going to share a little tidbit to turn the tables on those natural forces and not let them get away with the master plan to ruin our day.
Your ball has wonderfully perched itself upon a rather sloped green following the best approach you have hit all day. You trundle up to the green and move right up near the ball and decide, instead of marking it immediately, to quickly address the ball and just check out the line and feel. Moments later, just as you reach into your pocket for a ball-marker, gravity takes its hefty toll and the ball, ever so slightly, begins to roll away, and picks up speed, finally exiting the green, and heads 30 yards down the fairway into an expertly filled, sandy divot. This is when you, the player, must ask yourself, “What exactly caused this ball to move?” Now we are always expected to play in the spirit of the game, but regarding known or virtually certain, players may often be worried about admitting they caused their ball to move; usually because it may incur some penalty, especially when an esteemed Rules official rolls up to take stock of the situation. During this line of questioning, one must determine what caused this ball to move, and if we are not certain it is one of these three things: the player, the opponent, or an outside influence, the ball is treated as having been moved by natural forces, 9.2b(2). And since we did not initially mark the ball on the putting green, 9.3 applies without exception and the ball moved by natural forces must be played from its new spot with no penalty other than a bad break and even worse lie.
But in a fortuitous turn of events, you are positive that when meddling around the ball, your actions accidentally caused the ball to move, and there is again no penalty up here on the putting green, no matter how it happens, 9.4b Exception 3 and 13.1d. Phew! “I knew I told me so.” You can now retrieve the ball from down the fairway and replace it on the original spot on the putting green or place a ball-marker to mark the spot, and natural forces can jog on and bug somebody else.
So, if you already felt that this game was out of your hands and the wind in the trees is looking for an excuse to get you every time you tee it up, you still must recognize the gravity of outcomes, known or unknown, impossible to defy.