[PHOTO: Icon Sportswire]
In 2019, the Rules of Golf became a lot friendlier in terms of what you can and can’t do on a putting green. For example, if a ball on the putting green moves after you’ve addressed it, whether your accidentally caused the ball to move or natural forces such as the wind did it, there is no penalty (Rule 13.1d). That wasn’t always the case. You’re also allowed to “tidy” a green, removing loose impediments any way you see fit, as well as repair damage such as spike marks.
All of this is intended to make arguably the most important part of the game, putting, fair and equitable. There’s nothing worse than worrying about a ball moving on a green on a super-windy day or seeing your ball track towards the cup only to have it re-routed by someone’s unrepaired pitchmark.
However, there are some things that still aren’t allowed when it comes to the putting green, which brings us to the scenario of checking to see if all that rain from the night before has made the green you’re about to roll a putt on damp and slow. Can you put your hand down with the intent of checking for moisture?
In a word: yes.
Rule 13.1e says that during a round and while play is stopped under temporary suspension, a player must not deliberately rub the surface of a green or roll a ball on it to test conditions. You can test a green on a hole just completed or the practice putting green, but if you do it on your green before you putt, it’s a two-stroke penalty in strokeplay or loss of hole in matchplay.
Where things get a little confusing is the act of putting your hand down on a green to see if it’s wet. The Rules of Golf clarifies some exceptions to the “testing the surface” rule, including putting your hand down on your line of putt to check for moisture (Rule 13.1e/1). Notice we didn’t say rubbing? However, you can rub your ball on the green to clean off mud.
Some argue that testing gets into a grey area when someone removes sand from a green by sweeping it with his or her hand. While that person literally is “rubbing” the green, it’s being done as an act of cleaning up the putting surface, and not as a way of testing the speed or firmness. If that player happens to glean a little information about what to do with his or her ensuing putt, it’s fine so long as that wasn’t the intent of rubbing the green in the first place.
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