Golfers now safe from penalty if 'ball moving' not discernable to 'naked eye'

Golf's two governing bodies, R and A and USGA, have reportedly decided not to penalise players from January 1, 2014, under the Rules of Golf if their ball moves and it was not obvious to the naked eye.

After an 18-month review of the role being played by the game's 'armchair police', TV evidence will no longer be the sole tool used to punish players when a ball is moved inadvertently as the two bodies feel that it is unfair that players can be made to look like culprits by technology when they themselves may not necessarily agree.

According to The Scotsman, the move came on the back of a retrospective penalty being introduced instead of instant disqualification for unwittingly signing for a wrong score, a decision taken following an incident involving Padraig Harrington in Abu Dhabi in 2011.

The R and A and USGA said in a joint statement that although enhanced technological evidence may show that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another place, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time, which they have named the 'naked-eye approach'.

The report mentioned that Tiger Woods was hit with two penalty strokes in the second round of the BMW Championship during this year's FedEx Cup Play-Offs for moving a twig near his ball, which was later showed on TV to be moving.