You Make The Call
You address the ball on the tee and accidentally knock it off the tee, and everyone watching thinks they are in a choir and they all sing in unison ONE. Then on the fairway you address the ball and when you ground your club the ball seems to move along with the soft grass but it does not move away from its original spot. Then on the green, you are about to address your putt and the wind moves the ball. Which one of these events is a penalty? (answer is below)


Joe,
At the recent Masters, they showed a replay of the telecast from 1960, during which Arnold Palmer left the pin in for a long putt, and his putt hit the pin. Why was that not a penalty?
Florence

Hello Florence,
By today’s rules that would have been a penalty, but at that time it was not a penalty for a putt to strike the pin. This is an example of how rules have changed over time despite those purists who say the rules are sacred (genuflect) and cannot be changed. I do not know why that rule was changed, I think they should have left it the same because it slows the game down when you have to wait for someone to walk up there and pull or tend the pin. I seriously doubt that there is any advantage gained by deliberately using the pin as a backstop because sometimes a putt might have fallen but the pin kept it out. There will always be debate about that, but I prefer rules that speed up the game. Then you have the jerks who would call a penalty on you if you tend the pin improperly. From a sportsmanship standpoint, I do not think the game needs that sort of nonsense.
Joe

Answer to You Make The Call (above)
No penalty for any of them. On the tee box you have not yet put the ball in play. On the fairway it is a penalty only if the ball moves away from its original spot, and on the green it is only a penalty if you have already grounded your club.

Jody, my Evil Twin, what do you think of these rulings?
Answer: Sometimes the rules do not allow for common sense. Common sense would dictate that if no advantage was gained by an accidental infraction, there would be no point in calling a penalty. And don’t feed me that line that says a rule is a rule, that is a brainless explanation. Let the scores be determined by shotmaking, not by bookworm technicalities.