Is it authorized to faucet down grass across the gap earlier than placing?

The Guidelines of Golf are tough! Fortunately, we’ve obtained the guru. Our Guidelines Man is aware of the ebook entrance to again. Acquired a query? He’s obtained all of the solutions.

This morning, a gentleman in our foursome made a behavior of tamping down fairly forcefully across the gap together with his putter (at all times in his line of putt, naturally). Once I query this “gardening,” he claimed the greenskeepers weren’t doing their job correctly once they modified holes. I occur to know higher, since I’m a kind of greenskeepers. What rule ought to I quote? —Bob Keifling, Seibring, Fla.

Clearly, you are the gentleman because you selected to take the excessive route fairly than tamp forcefully round this clod’s noggin!

Subsequent time, let the principles try this for you. Gamers might restore “injury” to the placing inexperienced, which incorporates the opening and the realm round it, even when doing so improves the road of play. However (!) regular upkeep practices, pure put on and pure floor imperfections aren’t injury as outlined by Rule 13.1c(2) and will not be repaired.

If his tamping alters the bottom and improves a situation affecting the stroke, equivalent to line of play, then Rule 8.1a applies, and he will get the overall penalty of two strokes in stroke play and lack of gap in match play. Now who’s not doing his job correctly?

For extra green-related steering from our guru, learn on …

I used to be known as out for aligning my ball for a putt after inserting my ball after which lifting my ball marker — that I can’t alter the ball until the marker continues to be in place, and if I had been caught doing it once more I’d be penalized. But within the R&A’s rule clarification 14.2c/1, the ball will be aligned in any manner as long as its vertical distance to the bottom stays the identical, I don’t see any reference to a ball marker being required when lining up a putt. Are you able to make clear? —Mark O’Neill, by way of e-mail

We will, and we are going to, forthwith. Unhappy to say, you had been known as out appropriately. Rotating the ball is taken into account “lifting” beneath Rule 14.1, and also you solely get the correct to raise the ball on the placing inexperienced after you mark it first.

So, if you happen to rotate the ball when it isn’t marked you get one penalty stroke — because it didn’t change place you needn’t fear about changing it. Please see Rule 14.1a.

The clarification you cited refers to how the ball truly will get changed — you possibly can exchange the ball in nearly any orientation; the aligning of the ball isn’t your challenge right here — nevertheless it doesn’t handle whether or not or not the ball was marked when initially lifted, as that’s a separate challenge.