Rule 9: The Ball at Rest: What to Do If It Moves
What this is about
Rule 9 covers your ball at rest moving before you make a stroke. Who or what caused it to move determines what you need to do.
What you need to do
- Wind, water, or an unknown cause: play the ball from its new spot, with no penalty. Exception: if your ball was on the green and you had already lifted and replaced it there, you put it back.
- You, your partner, or your caddie: replace the ball and take one penalty stroke. No penalty while searching, on the green, or while lifting, dropping, or replacing the ball under a rule.
- Another player, an animal, or another outside influence: replace the ball, with no penalty.
- Unsure of the cause? Only give yourself a penalty if it's known or virtually certain that you caused it. Otherwise, assume natural forces.
Common mistake
Thinking you can always replace the ball if it moves. If the wind blew it away, you actually play it from its new spot.
Example
Just before your stroke, a bottle rolls off your fellow player's trolley and bumps your ball, which shifts as a result. That's an outside influence: you replace the ball, with no penalty.
Practise this rule with real exam questions in the free app.
9.1 Playing the ball as it lies
9.1a Playing the ball from where it has come to rest
You play a ball in play from the spot where it has come to rest, unless a Rule requires or allows you to play from somewhere else. Playing from a wrong place carries the general penalty (Rule 14.7).
9.1b Your ball moves during the backswing or the stroke
If your ball moves after you've started your backswing or stroke and you complete that stroke, the stroke counts. You don't replace the ball, whatever caused the movement, and you play on from where it now lies. Whether you get a penalty is decided by Rule 9.4b.
9.2 Determining Whether the Ball Has Moved and What Caused the Movement
9.2a Determining if the ball has moved
Your ball has moved only if it's known or virtually certain that it has left its spot and come to rest somewhere else, visible to the naked eye. If that's not certain, it's treated as not having moved, and you play it as it lies.
9.2b Determining what caused the ball to move
If your ball has moved, you determine who or what caused it: you, your opponent (in match play), an outside influence (animal, spectator, another ball), or natural forces (wind, water, gravity). Only if it's known or virtually certain that you, your opponent, or an outside influence was the cause does that cause apply. If not, natural forces are considered the cause.
9.3 Ball moved by natural forces
If natural forces such as wind, water, or gravity move your ball at rest, there's no penalty and you play it from its new spot. Exception: if you had already marked, lifted, and replaced your ball on the green, you put it back on the old spot (Rule 13.1d).
9.4 Ball Lifted or Moved by the Player
9.4a When a lifted or moved ball must be replaced
If you lift your ball at rest or cause it to move, other than by making a stroke, you replace it on its original spot.
9.4b Penalty for lifting, deliberately touching, or causing your ball to move
If you lift your ball at rest, deliberately touch it, or cause it to move while no rule allows it: one penalty stroke. No penalty if a rule allows you to lift or drop the ball, if you accidentally move it while searching (Rule 7.4) or on the green (Rule 13.1d), or if it accidentally moves while you're applying a rule, such as marking, replacing, measuring, or taking relief.
9.5 Ball Lifted or Moved by an Opponent in Match Play
9.5a When a lifted or moved ball must be replaced
If your opponent lifts your ball at rest, or causes it to move, other than by making a stroke, the ball must be replaced.
9.5b Penalty for the opponent
If your opponent lifts your ball, deliberately touches it, or causes it to move without a rule allowing it, they get one penalty stroke. No penalty if they concede your stroke or lift your ball at your request, if they mark and lift your ball on the green believing it's their own, or in the same cases as the exceptions in Rule 9.4b.
9.6 Ball lifted or moved by an outside influence
If it's known or virtually certain that an outside influence, such as an animal, a spectator, or a fellow player, lifted or moved your ball, there's no penalty. Replace the ball on its original spot; if you don't know it exactly, estimate it. This applies even if the ball itself hasn't been found.
9.7 Ball-marker lifted or moved
9.7a The ball or ball-marker must be replaced
If the ball-marker showing your ball's spot is lifted or moved, by anyone, you replace your ball or your marker on the original spot.
9.7b Penalty for lifting or moving a ball-marker
If you, or in match play your opponent, lift your ball-marker or cause it to move while your ball is lifted and not yet replaced: one penalty stroke. The exceptions in Rule 9.4b and 9.5b also apply here.