After a drop, first ask whether the ball had come to rest.

The rule and version used here

This page applies the joint R&A and USGA 2023 Rules of Golf, effective 1 January 2023, especially Rules 9.2–9.6 and 14.2–14.5. It was checked against the digital Rules and the Additional Clarifications updated 1 July 2026.

The Rules are the international baseline, not a rule for one tour or country. A competition's Committee may still use Local Rules or Terms of the Competition that affect why relief is available or how the relief area is defined. Once a player is required to drop under Rule 14.3, the procedure explained here controls. For certain players with disabilities, Rules 25.2h, 25.3c and 25.4a modify who may drop, and Rule 25.6b gives guidance on knee height.

Use the first resting point as the dividing line

1. Check the release. Was the ball dropped by the player, straight down from knee height and without touching the player's body or equipment before it hit the ground?
2. Check the drop location. Was it dropped in the required relief area, or on the permitted line for back-on-the-line relief?
3. Watch until rest. Accidental contact after the ball first hits the ground is allowed; deliberate interference uses Rule 14.3d.
4. Locate the first rest. Inside the relief area completes that drop; outside triggers a second drop or eventual placement.
5. If it moves later, name the cause. Rule 9 recognizes natural forces, the player or caddie, an opponent in match play, or an outside influence.
6. Apply the outcome. Depending on cause and destination, play it from the new spot or replace it—do not restart the original relief procedure without a Rule requiring that.

A wobble is not always a moved ball

The Rules definition says a ball has “moved” when it leaves its original spot and comes to rest on another spot, with movement visible to the naked eye. A ball that only wobbles or oscillates and stays on, or returns to, its original spot has not moved.

Under Rule 9.2a, movement must be known or virtually certain. If the evidence only suggests that the ball might have changed spot, it is treated as not having moved and is played as it lies.

“Dropped in the right way” has three gates

Under R&A/USGA Rule 14.3b, the player must release the ball straight down from knee height, without throwing, spinning or rolling it, and it must not touch the player's body or equipment before hitting the ground. The ball must also be dropped in the relief area. For back-on-the-line relief, it is dropped on the permitted line and the point where it lands creates the relief area.

A wrong-way drop must be corrected, with no limit on attempts to achieve a correct drop. It does not count as either of the two correct drops that can lead to placement. The player may use the original ball or another ball each time when taking relief under Rule 14.3a.

An accidental bounce off a person or object is allowed

Rule 14.3c(1) says there is no penalty if a ball dropped in the right way first hits the ground and then accidentally touches any person—including the player—equipment or another outside influence before coming to rest.

The result depends on the resting place, not the accidental contact. Rest inside the relief area completes the drop; rest outside follows the second-drop and placement procedure. This differs from contact with the player's body or equipment before the ball hits the ground, which makes the drop wrong under Rule 14.3b.

A bad lie can still complete relief

Official Clarification 14.3c/1 confirms that tall grass, bushes and other growing things inside the relief area are part of it. A correctly dropped ball that stays in a bush, footprint or deep rough inside the area is in play; the quality of the lie does not earn another Rule 14.3 drop.

Clarification 14.3c/2 adds a sharper boundary: a ball may come to rest in a no play zone that forms part of the relief area, so the original drop can be complete, but the player must then take the separate relief required by the Rule governing that no play zone.

Two correct drops can lead to placement

If the first ball dropped in the right way comes to rest outside the relief area, Rule 14.3c(2) requires a second correct drop. If the second also rests outside, the player places a ball on the spot where that second drop first touched the ground.

If the ball first struck a bush, the official clarification treats the bush as “ground” for this purpose, so the player first attempts to place at that point in the bush. If the ball will not stay there after two placement attempts, Rule 14.2e requires placement at the nearest spot where it will stay, not nearer the hole and within the permitted course area. That final spot may be outside the original relief area.

Intent changes both the penalty and whether the drop counts

Rule 14.3d applies when a person deliberately touches the dropped ball after it hits the ground, or when the moving ball hits a person, equipment or another object that a player deliberately positioned or left where it might stop or deflect the ball. The player taking relief must normally drop again, the interfered-with ball does not count as one of the two drops, and a player whose action—or whose caddie's action—deliberately caused the interference gets the general penalty.

There is one narrow exception. If there was no reasonable chance that the ball would come to rest in the relief area, there is no penalty; the ball is treated as having rested outside and it does count as one of the two drops.

Rule 9 recognizes four possible causes

Once the ball is in play at rest, Rule 9.2 separates natural forces; the player or caddie; an opponent or opponent's caddie in match play; and an outside influence, which includes another player in stroke play and animals.

The player, opponent or outside influence is treated as the cause only when that is known or virtually certain from all reasonably available information. If none of those causes meets that standard, the Rules treat natural forces as the cause. The relief-area test is not repeated merely because the later movement carries the ball outside that area.

Staying in the same course area normally means play the new spot

Under Rule 9.3, wind, water or gravity moving a ball at rest normally brings no penalty and the ball is played from its new spot. A ball dropped in the general area may therefore come to rest correctly, then roll outside its relief area but remain in the general area; the player normally plays it from that new spot.

The decisive boundary is an area of the course, not the painted or measured relief area. The five defined areas are the general area, the teeing area for the hole being played, all penalty areas, all bunkers and the putting green for the hole being played.

Another course area, out of bounds or a replaced putt changes the answer

Rule 9.3 Exception 2, introduced in the 2023 edition, requires replacement if natural forces move a ball put into play by dropping, placing or replacing and it comes to rest in another area of the course or out of bounds. A dropped ball that rested in the general area and is then blown into a bunker must therefore be replaced on its original resting spot.

Rule 9.3 Exception 1 is different. If a ball on the putting green moves after it had already been lifted and replaced on the spot from which it moved, it must be replaced no matter what caused the movement, even if it stays on the putting green. That exception does not arise merely because a ball was earlier put into play by dropping; it requires the later lift-and-replace condition stated in Rule 13.1d.

Player-caused movement normally means replace plus one stroke

If it is known or virtually certain that the player or caddie caused the ball at rest to move, Rule 9.4 normally requires replacement on the original spot and gives the player one penalty stroke. If the original spot is not known, it is estimated.

There are stated exceptions. Most relevant here, Rule 9.4b Exception 5 and Clarification 14.3c(1)/1 remove the penalty when a correctly dropped ball accidentally comes to rest against the player or the player's equipment and then moves as the player moves or removes that equipment. The ball is still replaced; it is not dropped again.

Replacement is usual, but match play treats the opponent separately

If an opponent in match play causes the ball to move, Rule 9.5 normally requires replacement and gives the opponent one penalty stroke, subject to the Rule's exceptions. If a spectator, animal, another ball or another player in stroke play moves it, Rule 9.6 requires replacement without penalty to the affected player.

Both outcomes require it to be known or virtually certain that the identified person or outside influence caused the movement. Otherwise, Rule 9.2 treats the cause as natural forces and Rule 9.3 decides whether to play the new spot or replace.

Restore the ball to its original resting spot

When Rule 9 says to replace, Rule 14.2 requires the original ball to be set down by hand on its original spot, although Rule 14.2a lists limited situations in which another ball may be used. If the spot is not known, it is estimated.

If the replaced ball will not stay on that spot, try once more. If it again will not stay, place it at the nearest spot where it will remain at rest, not nearer the hole and within the course-area limits in Rule 14.2e. This is a replacement procedure, not a fresh pair of drops.

Fix a procedural mistake before making a stroke

Rule 14.5 generally allows a substitution, dropping or placement mistake to be corrected without penalty before the ball is played. If a wrong-way drop is not corrected and the ball is played from inside the relief area, Rule 14.3b(4) gives one penalty stroke. Playing it from outside the relief area, or placing when a drop was required, brings the general penalty under Rule 14.7a.

The general penalty is loss of hole in match play or two penalty strokes in stroke play. In stroke play, a serious wrong-place breach must also be corrected under Rule 14.7b before the player starts the next hole—or, on the final hole, before returning the scorecard—or the player is disqualified.

The ball stops against the player's shoe

Situation: the player drops correctly; after hitting the ground, the ball rolls against the player's shoe and stops inside the relief area.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: relief is complete with no penalty under Rule 14.3c(1). If removing the shoe causes the ball to move, replace it on that resting spot without penalty under Rule 9.4b Exception 5. The decisive facts are that contact occurred after ground contact and was accidental.

Wind moves it beyond the relief-area edge

Situation: a ball dropped in the general area rests inside the relief area. A gust then moves it three club-lengths beyond that area's edge, where it remains in the general area.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: play from the new spot without penalty under Rule 9.3. The ball left the relief area but did not enter another area of the course or go out of bounds, so Exception 2 does not apply.

Wind moves it from rough into a bunker

Situation: a correctly dropped ball rests in the general area, then wind rolls it into a bunker.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: replace the ball on the spot from which it moved, without penalty, under Rule 9.3 Exception 2. The decisive fact is the change from the general area to a different defined area of the course.

A dog is seen carrying the resting ball

Situation: after a proper drop and rest, the group sees a dog pick up the ball and run away. The exact resting spot was not marked.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: the dog is an outside influence, so replace the ball without penalty under Rule 9.6. Estimate the original spot using reasonable judgment. If the group had only found the ball elsewhere with no evidence establishing an outside influence, it could not simply assume the dog moved it; Rule 9.2's known-or-virtually-certain test would control.

The second drop first hits a branch

Situation: both correct drops finish outside the relief area, and on the second drop the ball first struck a branch inside the relief area before bouncing out.

R&A/USGA 2023 ruling: place at the point where the second drop first hit that branch. Clarification 14.3c(2)/1 says the bush is included in “ground” for this procedure. Only after the ball fails to stay there on two placement attempts does the player find the nearest permitted spot where it will remain at rest.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong ruling

• “It touched my club, so I must drop again.” Not if the correct drop first hit the ground, the contact was accidental and the ball rested inside the relief area.
• “Any roll outside the relief area means another drop.” Only if the ball had not yet come to rest. Later natural-force movement within the same course area normally leaves it at the new spot.
• “A terrible lie means the relief failed.” Tall grass and bushes inside the relief area count.
• “Replace means drop near the old spot.” Replace means set the ball down by hand on the required spot.
• “Something probably moved it.” Rule 9 requires known or virtually certain evidence before assigning movement to a player, opponent or outside influence.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• R&A/USGA — 2023 Rules of Golf, Rule 14.2–14.5: replacing, dropping, placing and correcting mistakes
• R&A/USGA — Official Clarifications to Rule 14, especially 14.3c/1, 14.3c/2, 14.3c(1)/1 and 14.3c(2)/1
• R&A/USGA — 2023 Rules of Golf, Rules 9.2–9.6: deciding movement, cause and replacement
• R&A/USGA — 2023 Rules of Golf, Definitions: Moved, Natural Forces and General Penalty
• R&A/USGA — Additional Clarifications of the 2023 Rules of Golf, updated 1 July 2026

Checked on 27 August 2026 against the live joint Rules and the Additional Clarifications dated 1 July 2026. The next clarification update was scheduled for early October 2026. A competition's Local Rules may supplement the baseline by changing the relief available or the relief area, so players should also check the Committee's published terms.