Basic golf rules: What if my ball moves on the green?

Maybe you got a bit nervous. Perhaps a sharp gust of wind sent your ball shooting off down a slope. But don’t worry. If your ball moves on a putting surface, this PGA Play guide will show you what to do…

My ball moved on the green. Help!

Firstly, don’t panic. The rules look at two situations when a ball, or ball-marker, moves on a green – when it happens accidentally and when it’s caused by ‘natural forces’.

It was an accident. What now?

If you, your opponent in match play, or another player in stroke play, accidentally move your ball (or ball marker) on the green there is no penalty.

So if you twitched with your putter and hit the ball when you didn’t mean to, or sliced across it during a practice stroke, you don’t need to add a shot to your scorecard.

You just replace the ball on its original spot or use a ball-marker to mark that spot.

I can’t remember where the spot was?

Don’t worry. Just use your best guess.

What on earth are natural forces?

It isn’t something out of Star Wars. It’s nature in action, so it can be wind or water that moves your ball – or even the effects of gravity if it happens for no apparent reason.

So if my ball moves because of wind, or slope, I can just pick it up and replace it on its original spot?

Not so fast. When a ball is moved on a green by natural forces, what happens next depends on whether you had already lifted and replaced the ball on the green.

If you had then you replace the ball on the spot it moved from (or estimate if you don’t exactly know where that is).

But if the ball had not already been lifted and replaced you must play it from its new spot.

What if I get any of this wrong?

It’s a two-shot penalty in stroke play. In match play, you lose the hole.