"Ungrounding" one's club

You take your stance and ground your club.  Then you decide you are going to do something different.  You walk away and grab another club.  As you approach your ball for the 2nd time, if moves.  Does the fact that you grounded your club 10 seconds ago, in the absence of another obvious cause, mean you moved the ball?

If you ground the club, then lift it up and then the ball moves, I believe you are considered to have moved the ball even if your club was not grounded at the moment the ball moved (absent another explanation for the movement).  So how long or what actions must occur after one grounds the club to consider that one has not grounded the club?  Or is it that once one grounds the club, it doesn't matter how much time passes or what one does, you grounded your club so any unexplained movement is deemed to have been caused by you?

Rule 18-2b  seems quite clear:

The only way I know of to "unaddress" the ball is on the green, by marking and lifting it.  When not on the green I can't think of a way to change that status.

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As Fourputt says.  Once addressed, the ball remains addressed unless marked and lifted under a Rule.

And if, heaven forbid, you don't believe him, take a look at Decisions 18-2b/7 and 18-2b/8

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-18,d18-2b-7

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-18,d18-2b-8

Fourputt is (of course) correct - the only way to un-address the ball is to mark and lift it under a Rule. This could happen through the green in several ways.

You address a ball and then realize it may not be yours so you invoke 12-2; you suspect the ball may be damaged, invoke 5-3; address the ball when there is interference under 24 or 25 with the intention of playing it then change your mind and choose to take relief.

I'm sure there are more examples.

This did not actually happen to me but I could imagine the scenario where you ground the club, then decide you need a different club and walk back to your bag or cart.  Some time elapses and you are walking back to your ball and it moves.

In fact this morning I was on a steep bank in front of a bunker.  I was just standing about 5 feet from the ball watching another player hit his shot.  I noticed the ball just slightly turn.  At that point, I became concerned it was going to start rolling and end up in the bunker.  I briefly thought about hitting before the other player marked his ball.  Then the ball really did start to roll but got hung up on another tuft of grass after about 3-4 feet.  I quickly took a stance, did not ground the club, and hit it in case it decided to start rolling again.

I think we all have seen a ball on a slope start to roll again because the weight of the ball eventually bends a few grass blades and gravity takes over.

I guess the moral of the story is when on a steep slope don't ground your club but if you do, you may as well hit it and not wait to possibly let gravity do you in.

Here's an answer closely related to your situation. I know he gave a link to this but the link took me to the main page of decisions for Rule 18. This will just save you the time.

18-2b/7

Ball Moves After Player Addresses It and Then Steps Away

That's odd.  The hyperlink I gave for this and the following Decision worked fine when I checked it (and still does)  by taking you to the specific decision.  I wonder what the problem is?

It took/takes me directly to the decisions.

me too

Might be my browser, computer and my "paranoid" security settings.

What is your browser? I'm using Chrome.

Firefox. It just took me to the main decisions page for rule 18 top of the page.

Worked ok in Firefox for me.

Now don't get even more paranoid, but I think they are out to get you.

Then again, electronic devices and I don't get along that well. Fortunately, they are shielding them better now.