Moving ball..

[Maverick]

I'm sure you guys all heard about the Tom Pernice incident, his ball moved after he addressed it. I know according to the rules of golf that's a penalty but I just think that this is one of the rules, the other being accidently signing the wrong scorecard, that should be done away with.

I've had, on numerous occasions, after I mark, clean, replace, remove the mark and then address that the ball may move. Usually I think this happens because of the grass on the green settling..but just seems like a bad rule.

[iacas]

I disagree on both counts that they're bad rules.

If you think your ball might move, don't sole the club. Thus, you haven't addressed the ball and you can't be given a penalty.

There are lots of times where causing the ball to move could be advantageous to the player, so this penalty prevents the player from influencing that movement by touching the ground.

[gripitandripit]

I think that Pernice accidently tapped the ball with his putter while addressing it, but it didn't change positions, just settled back to its original spot. There was no penalty for that.

[Maverick]

I disagree on both counts that they're bad rules.

I see the reason but I've seen numerous times when the ball might roll backward a bit sometimes..from maybe the ball settling in..I guess I should just pause a few seconds before I sole/ground my putter.

[iacas]

I see the reason but I've seen numerous times when the ball might roll backward a bit sometimes..from maybe the ball settling in..I guess I should just pause a few seconds before I sole/ground my putter.

Or take a little more care in placing it on the green after you've cleaned it... yeah.