Rules question: Striking at a mushroom

[Ignorant]

Happened last summer. An elderly man (let’s name him Ollie) with slightly poor eyesight was searching his ball in heavy ruff. At last he believes he has found it, addresses it and strikes at it. However, the object he stroke was not a ball but a white, spherical mushroom.

What is the outcome of this? Is Ollie subject to a penalty? Does the stroke at the mushroom count?

[TigerWoodz]

Lmao ,is this for real or what...?..i think ollie is subject to a friggin eye test,lol..

[Sherpat]

I think he'll have a penalty added to his spore.

[stebed]

Too many magic mushrooms I think.

[Ignorant]

This episode actually took place, so it is not fictuous.

[Ignorant]

I think he'll have a penalty added to his spore.

Why? Based on which Rule? How many penalties?

[TigerWoodz]

Why? Based on which Rule? How many penalties?

He's joking, SPORE instead of score , MUSHROOM..!!!

[sean_miller]

Golfing with Ollie would be interesting - he sounds like a fungi.

[Fourputt]

Happened last summer. An elderly man (let’s name him Ollie) with slightly poor eyesight was searching his ball in heavy ruff. At last he believes he has found it, addresses it and strikes at it. However, the object he stroke was not a ball but a white, spherical mushroom.

Of course not. The definition of a stroke says nothing about mushrooms. "A "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball".

Despite his intention, he was not swinging at the ball. It was not a wrong ball, it was not a substituted ball, it was a mushroom. His intent was to strike the object he was looking at, but that object was not the ball in play. Calling that a stroke because his impaired vision caused him to swing at a mushroom by mistake would be ludicrous. That goes well beyond the intent of the definition. The reason the word "intention" is in the definition is to ensure that a whiff is counted as a stroke, but there must be an actual ball present for that to have meaning.

[srjorion]

Nice one Sherpat!

[TigerWoodz]

I dont mean to thread hyjack but i have a question,i played a shot the other day ,i was close to some over hanging tree's,i did a few practice swings keeping my backswing short as not to hit the branches above me ,but when i went to play the shot i played a fuller swing and my backswing hit the branches above and as i came through on my downswing i completely missed the ball and chuncked nothing but a divot,i counted that as a stroke as i was trying to hit the ball,is this correct...???

[DocWu1948]

i counted that as a stroke as i was trying to hit the ball,is this correct...???

Yes. It counts.

[DocWu1948]

Section II. Definitions. A stroke is the forward motion of the club with the intention of striking at and moving the ball ....

That's one, Ollie.

Edit: Now I think this fits with the wrong ball rule. two stroke penalty. The whiff doesn't count.

[ilikefishes]

Of course not. The definition of a stroke says nothing about mushrooms. "A "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball".

Very well said, if he had intended to play the mushroom throughout the round and announced on the first tee that he was playing a Fungi instead of a Maxfli, then there might be a case.

[plugged]

How far did it carry?

[Ignorant]

Of course not. The definition of a stroke says nothing about mushrooms. "A "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball".

I am not buying that so let us enlarge the concept a bit.

Your ball lands in a bunker and when arriving at the scene you see something white poking from the sand. It is barely visible but it matches perfectly with the trajectory of your ball and there is no doubt in your mind that it is your ball buried in the sand. So you hit it just to discover that it is a piece of a white plastic bottle. So, you did not make a stroke at your own ball, nor did you strike any other ball. You did make a stroke by definition, though. What's the ruling?

[James_Black]

I am not buying that so let us enlarge the concept a bit.

you tested the sand in the bunker, so there's a penalty.

[zeg]

I am not buying that so let us enlarge the concept a bit.

Your example is no different with regard to whether there was a stroke. As Fourputt said, you hit what you intended to hit. It was not a ball. Therefore you did not swing at a ball with intent to strike it, so there was no stroke. A stroke is a stroke at a ball, nothing else.

In this case, as James Black points out, you tested the condition, so you receive a penalty. But there was no stroke involved.