RULES AND HANDICAPPING

Putting green Master class

Takeaways to save you from penalties

Some of the most significant changes in the new Rules have to do with the putting green and flagstick. These bullet-point reminders are guaranteed to help you in your next rounds. Let’s start with the basic, “When is the golf ball “on” the putting green?” It has to touch the green itself or lie on an object on the green where the ball is above the green. That definition has not changed, but here are several other takeaways that many golfers may — or may not — understand:

Anytime a ball is on the putting green, the player, his partner or his caddie can first mark, then lift the ball and clean it without penalty. If the ball or marker is accidentally moved, there is no penalty and the ball or marker must be replaced.

The player must not test the condition of the putting green by rolling a ball or roughening the surface before completing the hole.

Once a ball has been marked and lifted, then replaced, no matter how the ball moves, even if by wind, water or gravity, it must be replaced. If it moves by wind, water or gravity before being lifted, the player must play the ball from where it comes to rest. Remember that marking and lifting the ball gives the player “ownership” of that spot. When a ball at rest on the putting green is moved accidentally for any reason, the player must replace the ball. When a ball is in motion from a stroke on the putting green and hits any person, animal, another ball in motion or movable obstruction on the putting green, it must be replaced and replayed. If it hits another ball at rest, the ball is played as it lies.

Example 1: If a putted ball hits a bug 5 feet past the hole, the ball is replaced and replayed.

Example 2: If a putted ball hits any of these or other objects off the putting green, it must be played where it comes to rest. The replay requirement goes away once the ball leaves the putting surface. If a ball is played from a place other than the putting green and is accidentally deflected, the ball is played as it lies, even if that happens on the putting green. If intentionally deflected, the player must determine “the most likely place the ball would have come to rest,” and then take that point as the reference point and place the ball at the reference point if on the putting green, or drop within a club length if off the putting green.

Always remember that relief must be taken for a ball on a wrong putting green, and that is any other green on the course.

Now for the Flagstick:

Everyone now knows you can leave it in the hole. That’s proving to be a real convenience and a time-saver. Here are a few other items to remember:

If the flagstick is attended, it must be removed just like before.

If the ball accidentally hits an attended flagstick or the person who removed or is attending it, there is now no penalty, and the ball is played as it lies.

If the ball is deliberately deflected by the person attending, there are two possible outcomes: (1) if the ball was played from the putting green, the stroke is cancelled and replayed (there is a penalty if that person was the player, player’s caddie or partner); (2) if the stroke was from anywhere else, an estimate of where the ball would have come to rest must be made and the ball placed there.

There are still several troublesome issues where deliberate actions occur, but for the most part the Rules now protect the player from the accidental happenings.

These takeaways are now so much simpler that there have been only a few penalties for mistakes by players in the last year. Remember these and you will never be penalized. n