A Golf ruling?

[The_Bear]

While playing in our Senior & junior pairs comp, one of the junior players was having a practise stroke on the green before making a putt stroke when he hit the ball by accident? ops! now Does the ball get replaced without a penalty as the ball had not been addressed or is it a penalty shot? If its a penalty shot, WHY? shouldn't it just be counted as a stroke?

[rembrandt]

I'm not sure about the ruling on the green but I saw Arnie Palmer once bump his ball off the tee and he laughed about it and replaced it on the tee and went on with no penalty. Don't know about on the green however with an unintentional hit. Have to confront the rule book on that one!

[SubPar]

It happened to Davis Love III not long ago and he did not apply the rule correctly... cost him big time.

You are penalized for moving the ball and you have to replace the ball as nearly as possible to where it was originally, then putt out. Love thought he should play the ball where it came to rest after the accidentally hit it. He got zapped with an additional penalty for playing the ball from the wrong spot.

You could find the actual number of stokes by looking the specific rules up. I don't know the number of strokes at stake from memory.

[SubPar]

I'm not sure about the ruling on the green but I saw Arnie Palmer once bump his ball off the tee and he laughed about it and replaced it on the tee and went on with no penalty. Don't know about on the green however with an unintentional hit. Have to confront the rule book on that one!

Off the tee is different. On the tee the ball is not in play till you take a swing at it, so if it falls off the peg before you take a swipe at it, there is no penalty.

[The_Bear]

So why is it a penalty for accidently hitting the ball and not counted as a stroke? We did look quickly in the rules book but couldnt find the answer!

[SubPar]

So why is it a penalty for accidently hitting the ball and not counted as a stroke? We did look quickly in the rules book but couldnt find the answer!

A stroke is defined as a willful movement of the club toward the ball with the intention of striking it. You are not allowed to move a ball, whether by stepping on it, removing a stick from near it or accidentally hitting it with a club. Moving the ball results in a penalty unless you are moving it as allowed under the rules... like a free drop from casual water, or marking it and moving it at the request of another player, and so on.

Stroke (from Definitions ) A “stroke’’ is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball, but if a player checks his downswing voluntarily before the clubhead reaches the ball he has not made a stroke.