A little help from a beetle

My buddy and I played a new course the other day with rather fast greens.  On one hole my buddy hit a decent shot onto the green about six feet from the hole.  When we got up to the green a beetle was apparently trying to get under his ball and instead was pushing it rather quickly (for a beetle!) towards the hole.  We sat there a second and watched it til we realized he wasn't stopping and then flicked him out of the way.  Not knowing where the ball originally started, but knowing it was around a foot closer to the hole than when we first spotted him, we just let him putt from the spot where we stopped the beetle.  We're not being picky or anything, but we were discussing what would be the proper ruling on this and what would normally be done?

It depends on whether the ball was at rest when the beetle started moving it.

18-1 If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency , there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.

19-1 If a player’s ball in motion is accidentally deflected or stopped by any outside agency , it is a rub of the green , there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies, except:

b. If a player’s ball in motion after a stroke on the putting green is deflected or stopped by, or comes to rest in or on, any moving or animate outside agency , except a worm, insect or the like, the stroke is canceled. The ball must be replaced and replayed.

Note: If a player’s ball in motion has been deliberately deflected or stopped by an outside agency:

(a) after a stroke from anywhere other than on the putting green , the spot where the ball would have come to rest must be estimated. If that spot is:

(iii) on the putting green , the ball must be placed on that spot.

I would have captured the beetle, taught it to roll the ball into the hole from anywhere on the green, and taken it with me on every round of golf.  That's a well trained specimen.

Thanks Rulesman!  I'm going to let him know about those rules.

And yeah, I dunno if I wanted to capture him or not.  He was helping the wrong person! But it was definitely a sight to see!