2008 #2 What if Wind Moves Your Ball?

The Scene:
Your drive lands on the green on hole #2. Your ball is way back in the left corner on a hill which runs off the green. You walk back to your ball, mark, lift and clean it. And then you replace the ball.

The ball stays there, at rest, while you view your line from both sides of the flag. Then your ball begins to move, slowly at first, then faster, and faster, rolling down the hill and off the green while you are yelling, “Stop! Stop you dumb ball!”

What would you do?

A. You know there is no penalty. You didn’t cause the ball to move. You hadn’t even addressed the ball yet. So you replace the ball on the green and then putt.
B. You play your ball as it lies.

B is correct.
You didn’t cause your ball to move. There is no penalty. But you must play it from where it lies. (Don’t replace it.) If you replace it you will be playing from a wrong place and penalized for that.
Open your Rules of Golf book to Rule 20-3d. You will see:

If a ball when placed comes to rest on the spot on which it is placed, and it subsequently moves, there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies, unless the provisions of any other Rule apply.

If the ball had rolled into the hole you’d have had a hole-in-one. So this rule sometimes helps and sometimes hurts.

REMEMBER: If your ball moves because of wind or gravity or the great unknown, don’t replace the ball. Play it from where it lies.