Rules question · Rule 9.3 · Hard
Wind moves my ball after address: is there a penalty?
Your ball lies on the fairway. You have just addressed it when a gust of wind blows it half a yard away. What is the ruling?
Answer
No penalty, you play it from its new spot
If natural forces such as wind move your ball, there is no penalty and you play it from where it now lies. Whether you had addressed it no longer matters. The old Rule that treated you as the cause once you had addressed the ball was withdrawn in 2016. You only replace it on the putting green, if the ball had already been marked and replaced there.