I spent much more time on the baseball diamond in my youth than I ever did on a golf course. In baseball, it's a rare event that you connect with the ball, put it in play and get a hit. I also spent many an evening listening to my clock radio tuned to Harry Kalas and Whitey Ashburn while they described the travails of my Philadelphia Phillies. I can still remember Harry's signature strikeout call - "...and here's the pitch.... Swing and A Miss, he struck 'eem out!" Golf is different. It's a rarity that you swing and don't hit the stationary golf ball - but it does happen.
Intent.... There's only one person on a golf course that can tell you if a swing was a practice swing or if a swing was taken with the intent of hitting the ball. That's the player himself. If you intend to make contact with a golf ball and miss, let you opponents know you missed and add one to your score on that hole. I know it's probably the most embarrassing thing that can happen, but if it happens, man up and take your medicine.
I heard about an incident that occurred in week one of this year's league play. An opponent had a habit of taking two practice swings and then playing his shot. There's nothing in the rule book that says you can't take a practice swing (or even two or fifteen for that matter). Ok, 15's probably extreme and would test anyone's patience.
On one hole, the two practice swings were taken, everyone expected the next to impact the ball. Instead, a whoosh of air with no contact, followed by another quick swing in which there was contact. It seemed to the other team that they had witnessed the dreaded whiff - but there is only one person who knows for sure. Nothing was said and the player did not count the whiff. The truth - whether this was a whiff or a practice swing - is known only by one person. No big deal - until the final tallies. Both teams had the same number of net strokes and they halved team net. Counting a whiff would have meant at least 1.5 more points for the other team. Over a 19 week season, that might seem paltry, but that difference may be enough to solidify a playoff spot or may mean a difference in seeding.
Every swing taken with the intention of hitting the golf ball is a stroke and counts as such.
Don't know if any of you were watching the Masters coverage on Friday evening or not, but Zach Johnson had an encounter with intent and practice swings on the 13th tee box on national TV. He's practicing a draw on 13, which for him is not his natural shot shape, and he probably took a couple extra practice swings close to his ball. Unfortunately, one of those practice swings clipped the ball on the tee which careened off of the toe of the club, bounced up against a microphone stand and landed about 10 feet in front of Zach. Zach claimed that he did not intend to hit the ball and since he's on the tee box (which is a special place with special rules), he could retrieve the ball, place it back on the tee and put the ball in play with no penalty. However, if he had been on any other portion of the course, accidental movement of a ball in play incurs a one-stroke penalty and the ball must be replaced. That has happened to one of my partners and is detailed in one of my old blog entries. Take you practice swings well away from your ball and away from debris (a pine cone for instance) that you might hit and which might ricochet into your ball and cause it to move.
And an addition.... Heard about this a few weeks ago but just after this entry had been penned. A friend and coworker of mine just got back into competitive golf and plays on Monday night. He wasn't sure of the application of the rules (I've since pointed him to my blog - don't know if he's spent any time reading, but we can hope so), but he ran into a situation in a match that struck him as wrong (and he was right....). One of their opponents was (get this) taking a practice swing before hitting a ball already in the fairway. The guy (accidentally, he said) struck his ball while taking his practice swing and the thing goes about 50 yards. "Whoops! That was practice." he said. He ran up to retrieve his ball which he put back in its original location and played the ball for real. The finishes the hole and adds up all of his strokes (excluding the practice swing) and reports his score. What did he forget? That's right, he should have assessed himself a penalty stroke for accidentally moving his ball in play. I don't know if that single stroke made a different to any of the points that night, but it might have.