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On the green rules question

Snickerdog

Snickerdog

Team THP 2019 Grandaddy Alumni
Albatross 2024 Club
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While playing today I rolled a putt and when it stopped you could see it rock into an old divot mark. I placed my maker about an inch behind the ball in line with the pin and repaired the divot/mark. I place my ball back in the same spot I picked it up from about an inch from the maker.
The guy I was playing with says "I don't think you can do that."
I don't see that I did anything wrong but maybe I am wrong.
Just looking for some insight or explanation please.
Thanks.
 
You can fix ball marks in your line, just not spike marks. So as long as you thought it was caused by a ball then you didn't do anything wrong.
 
You may repair a ball mark at any time, whether it was caused by your ball, a previous ball, old, new, whatever.

[h=4]c. Repair of Hole Plugs, Ball Marks and Other Damage[/h]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.

Any other damage to the putting green must not be repaired if it might assist the player in his subsequent play of the hole.
 
Repair anything as long as it's not a spike mark on the green. Spike marks for some reason.... I'd like to see that rule changed. So would a lot of pros.

The act of repairing the spike mark in your line is done after you've missed your putt to show everyone that it was the single thing that caused your ball to go off its intended line.
 
I don't think you did anything wrong! Did you make the putt?
 
For the life of me I can't understand why you can fix a ball mark and not a spike mark?

But to me it seems like you didn't break any rule.


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MBurnham said:
For the life of me I can't understand why you can fix a ball mark and not a spike mark?

But to me it seems like you didn't break any rule.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I am with you on that one. It seems like there is an unwritten rule on tour that they pretty much fix anything and everyone is good with calling it a ball mark.
 
I don't think is so much with fixing the ball mark but more putting your mark about an inch behind the ball. I think the rule is you have to mark immediately behind the ball (could be wrong). My guess is you should mark your ball immediately behind it. Move your mark to the right or left using your putter. Fix the divot and move your mark back.
 
The Milk Man said:
I don't think is so much with fixing the ball mark but more putting your mark about an inch behind the ball. I think the rule is you have to mark immediately behind the ball (could be wrong). My guess is you should mark your ball immediately behind it. Move your mark to the right or left using your putter. Fix the divot and move your mark back.
Click to expand...

As far a is know you can mark in front, behind, or on the side as long as you replace the ball in the same spot
 
emart2173 said:
As far a is know you can mark in front, behind, or on the side as long as you replace the ball in the same spot
Click to expand...

I just looked up the rule.

20-1. Lifting and Marking A ball to be lifted under the Rules may be lifted by the player, his partneror another person authorized by the player. In any such case, the player isresponsible for any breach of the Rules.The position of the ball must be marked before it is lifted under a Rule thatrequires it to be replaced. If it is not marked, the player incurs a penalty ofone stroke and the ball must be replaced. If it is not replaced, the playerincurs the general penalty for breach of this Rule but there is no additionalpenalty under Rule 20-1.If a ball or ball-marker is accidentally moved in the process of lifting theball under a Rule or marking its position, the ball or ball-marker must bereplaced. There is no penalty, provided the movement of the ball orball-marker is directly attributable to the specific act of marking the positionof or lifting the ball. Otherwise, the player incurs a penalty of one strokeunder this Rule or Rule 18-2a.Exception: If a player incurs a penalty for failing to act in accordance withRule 5-3 or 12-2, there is no additional penalty under Rule 20-1.Note: The position of a ball to be lifted should be marked by placing a ball-marker, a small coin or other similar object immediately behind the ball.If the ball-marker interferes with the play, stance or stroke of another player,it should be placed one or more clubhead-lengths to one side
 
The key word there is "should." The rules are pretty careful with their word choice, and so they suggest marking immediately behind the ball as a best practice, as it's easy to remember exactly where the ball was. If it said that the ball "must" be marked immediately behind the ball, then you'd be compelled to do so.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
It wouldn't have been an issue if people would fix the ball marks.
 
The Milk Man said:
I don't think is so much with fixing the ball mark but more putting your mark about an inch behind the ball. I think the rule is you have to mark immediately behind the ball (could be wrong). My guess is you should mark your ball immediately behind it. Move your mark to the right or left using your putter. Fix the divot and move your mark back.
Click to expand...
That's the way I read it too. You can move a ball to the side or whatever for marking purposes but I've always seen people use the putter blade and some point of reference to make sure it goes back to the exact same spot. I don't know the rule about that and an inch isn't worth worrying about to me - we aren't on tour.
 
Snickerdog said:
While playing today I rolled a putt and when it stopped you could see it rock into an old divot mark. I placed my maker about an inch behind the ball in line with the pin and repaired the divot/mark. I place my ball back in the same spot I picked it up from about an inch from the maker.
The guy I was playing with says "I don't think you can do that."
I don't see that I did anything wrong but maybe I am wrong.
Just looking for some insight or explanation please.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

The guy was wrong. If he's a friend, let him know. As long as the ball was replaced on the same spot, it doesn't matter that the marker was placed an inch behind it.

In a tournament, I might have placed my marker in my normal fashion, then used my putter head to move it away, repaired the defect (after getting agreement from my fellow competitor that it was indeed a pitch mark), then moved the marker back, but in a casual round I would probably have done it similar to what you did for efficiency.

captaincaution said:
The key word there is "should." The rules are pretty careful with their word choice, and so they suggest marking immediately behind the ball as a best practice, as it's easy to remember exactly where the ball was. If it said that the ball "must" be marked immediately behind the ball, then you'd be compelled to do so.
Click to expand...

This explains it. As long as the marker was placed so that the ball could be returned to the correct spot, then the marking was acceptable. Since this isn't his normal way of marking and he was doing it for a specific reason, his act was acceptable.
 
The Milk Man said:
I just looked up the rule.

20-1. Lifting and Marking A ball to be lifted under the Rules may be lifted by the player, his partneror another person authorized by the player. In any such case, the player isresponsible for any breach of the Rules.The position of the ball must be marked before it is lifted under a Rule thatrequires it to be replaced. If it is not marked, the player incurs a penalty ofone stroke and the ball must be replaced. If it is not replaced, the playerincurs the general penalty for breach of this Rule but there is no additionalpenalty under Rule 20-1.If a ball or ball-marker is accidentally moved in the process of lifting theball under a Rule or marking its position, the ball or ball-marker must bereplaced. There is no penalty, provided the movement of the ball orball-marker is directly attributable to the specific act of marking the positionof or lifting the ball. Otherwise, the player incurs a penalty of one strokeunder this Rule or Rule 18-2a.Exception: If a player incurs a penalty for failing to act in accordance withRule 5-3 or 12-2, there is no additional penalty under Rule 20-1.Note: The position of a ball to be lifted should be marked by placing a ball-marker, a small coin or other similar object immediately behind the ball.If the ball-marker interferes with the play, stance or stroke of another player,it should be placed one or more clubhead-lengths to one side
Click to expand...

captaincaution said:
The key word there is "should." The rules are pretty careful with their word choice, and so they suggest marking immediately behind the ball as a best practice, as it's easy to remember exactly where the ball was. If it said that the ball "must" be marked immediately behind the ball, then you'd be compelled to do so.
Click to expand...

Thats how I read it too. It's basically the suggestion but not mandatory.
 
The Milk Man said:
I don't think is so much with fixing the ball mark but more putting your mark about an inch behind the ball. I think the rule is you have to mark immediately behind the ball (could be wrong). My guess is you should mark your ball immediately behind it. Move your mark to the right or left using your putter. Fix the divot and move your mark back.
Click to expand...

I agree with this.
 
Fourputt said:
In a tournament, I might have placed my marker in my normal fashion, then used my putter head to move it away, repaired the defect (after getting agreement from my fellow competitor that it was indeed a pitch mark), then moved the marker back, but in a casual round I would probably have done it similar to what you did for efficiency.
Click to expand...

Best tip you can give anyone playing in a tournament is to ask his fellow competitors. I do it all the time even when officiating at tournaments. It takes all the argument away from most situations. Who knows, you may earn something along the way too.

As for the op question I would have marked behind and then moved my mark. The reason for behind is for not touching the "line of putt" which is in front and a reasonable distance on either side of the ball.
 
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