The most important thing for players to remember when their ball is moved by wind, casual water or some other element (earthquake!) is that there is no penalty and they must play the ball from where it comes to rest. Neither wind nor water is an outside agency. An easy, but irreverent way to remember this, is that if a player moves their ball it has to be replaced and they incur a penalty of one stroke; whereas if “God” moves their ball it has to be played from where it comes to rest and there is no penalty. If the player mistakenly replaces their ball where it was before it was moved by wind they incur a penalty of two strokes for playing from the wrong place.
Other relevant points to mention on this subject;
- If a player had replaced their ball at their ball-marker when the wind moved it, they must still play their ball from where it rolls to, even though the ball-marker is still in place (Decision 20-4/1).
- Under Rule 20-4, a ball is in play when it is replaced, whether or not the object used to mark its position has been removed. However, when a ball-marker marking the position of a lifted ball is moved by the wind, the ball-marker must be replaced without penalty (Decision 20-1/10.5).
- If an object being moved by the wind moves a ball at rest (e.g. a paper bag), the object is an outside agency. So, Rule 18-1 applies and the ball must be replaced without penalty (Decision 18-1/6).