"Hanging" Lie

[Gary Hill]

As I started my backswing, my club contacted another branch which pulled the branch where my ball was lodged back with it.

Lets pretend your ball was at the end of a long branch up against a building.

You pull the branch horizontally 5 feet backwards so that the ball is no longer up against the building.

The ball remains in the same "crotch" of the branch that is was originally.

Would you say you have "moved" the ball? Of course.

The direction of the movement is immaterial. It is irrelevant whether or not the ball fell to the ground.

As you have admitted, your backswing moved a branch which caused the ball to move. Ding! Penalty.

[LobWedge]

Lets pretend your ball was at the end of a long branch up against a building.

You pull the branch horizontally 5 feet backwards so that the ball is no longer up against the building.

The ball remains in the same "crotch" of the branch that is was originally.

Would you say you have "moved" the ball? Of course.

The direction of the movement is immaterial. It is irrelevant whether or not the ball fell to the ground.

As you have admitted, your backswing moved a branch which caused the ball to move. Ding! Penalty.

Gary,

With respect to Rule 18, which is the one in question here, doesn't your statement contradict the principal outlined in Decision 18/3?

18/3 Ball in Fork of Tree Moves in Relation to Ground But Not in Relation to Fork


Q. A ball rests in the fork of a branch of a tree. The player climbs the tree to play his next stroke. The branch bends under his weight. Although the ball has moved relative to the ground, it has not moved relative to the fork. Is the ball deemed to have moved?

A. The ball is deemed not to have moved since it did not move in relation to the fork of the tree in which it was lodged.

[spidey]

The direction of the movement is immaterial. It is irrelevant whether or not the ball fell to the ground.

As you have admitted, your backswing moved a branch which caused the ball to move. Ding! Penalty.

Move or Moved
A ball is deemed to have “moved’’ if it leaves its position and comes to rest in any other place.

Therefore, a ball that leaves its position and comes to rest back in the exact same place has not moved.

So, BC, if you caused the ball to move and it was in any other place other than the exact same place it was before the stroke was attempted, then it was deemed to have been moved. I suppose there is the slimmest possibility that the ball was in the exact same place (horizontally and vertically) as when you started the stroke, but I think you said it was not.