Question about wet greens ( what's the rule on this shot)

Fingerz

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Hello All,

I have a question about a shot today. I played with my normal partner this evening after work. We played on a course that was too wet in my opinion ( heavy rain a day ago). At any rate, I am 110 yards from the green and I strike it perfectly with my pitch wedge. The ball lands within a foot from the pin. No roll or bounce. I knew it was a good shot but didn't realize how good until I starting walking towards it. My partner was closer than I and asked how was I going to finish the putt. I laughed until I got onto the green. The ball had buried itself up to the halfway point into the green. The other greens had been soft but at least the ball would release a bit.

I couldn't putt it out of the divot and I really wanted to make par. After a brief discussion, we decided that I would remove the ball and mark the position right beside the divot/hole. I would putt out but take an extra stroke which put me over by 1. My question is... How was I supposed to play that putt?
 
Mark it. Repair it. Putt it.
 
So I didn't have to take a stroke and could I have made par?
 
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No sir. You can always mark a ball on the green.
 
Ok thank you. It was a small debate over this between.
 
So I didn't have to take a stroke and could I have made par?

Why would you take a stroke? Unplayable? I say that if the course is wet, you play pick, clean and place, much less on greens where you always play it that way. I'd say your buddy pulled a fast one on ya. Time to plan payback!
 
If your ball had only moved an inch from the divot, you could mark it, tidy up the divot, then replace it. Stands to reason that the ball getting plugged in the divot could also be marked and moved.

This was a common problem in Germany.
 
Mark it. Repair it. Putt it.
Exactly.

If your ball had only moved an inch from the divot, you could mark it, tidy up the divot, then replace it. Stands to reason that the ball getting plugged in the divot could also be marked and moved.

This was a common problem in Germany.
You can mark your ball any time on the green and clean your ball and fix the ball mark. And any other ball mark on the green.
 
The only hiccup that could happen is not marking it as closely to the original spot as possible. You can't avoid the divot by marking it off, you would have to smooth it out and place the ball right back on the repaired green.
 
As others have said, mark it, repair it and putt.

You also remove, clean and drop the ball (as close as possible, no nearer the hole) if the ball is embedded in it's own pitch mark through the green, in a closely mown area (fairway height or less).
 
This exact thing happened to Angel Cabrera yesterday at the Bridgestone Invitational on the #2 par 5. He plugged in a false front and the commentators marveled that he was the only person to get that ball to stop there. Marked it, fixed it, placed it back and putted it.
 
That's easy:

16-1. General

c. Repair of Hole Plugs, Ball Marks and Other Damage

The player may repair an old hole plug or damage to the putting green caused by the impact of a ball, whether or not the player’s ball lies on the putting green. If a ball or ball-marker is accidentally moved in the process of the repair, the ball or ball-marker must be replaced. There is no penalty, provided the movement of the ball or ball-marker is directly attributable to the specific act of repairing an old hole plug or damage to the putting green caused by the impact of a ball. Otherwise, Rule 18 applies.


So if its a crater and you mark and accidentally move your marker while repairing it - move it back, or just move your mark a putter head length away in the first place.

In any closely mown area: (Which would include the fringe.)

25-2. Embedded Ball

A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the coursethrough the green. “Closely mown area” means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.
 
Mark it. Repair it. Putt it.

I'm not sure this will ever happen to me, but I now his this one tucked away. Thanks, Hawk!
 
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