Your queries resolved
When I was watching some golf the other day, one of the players putted on the 18th green without removing his ball marker first. He holed the putt and then picked up his ball marker. We then had a discussion regarding the legality or otherwise of this procedure. I was of the opinion that there should be a penalty, probably the general penalty, but couldn’t think under which rule. Can you please clarify if any rule has been broken here and if a penalty is incurred in this situation?
Alan Eccles, via email
Q
The simple answer is yes. A Rule 14.1a clarifies the dos
and don’ts of what to do when lifting and replacing a ball back on its original spot. If the spot is marked with a ball marker, then the player has to remove the marker before making a stroke. If they fail to do so before playing, they would incur a one-stroke penalty.
Chris Wallace,
R&A Rules manager
I was playing in a
Q four-ball betterball match recently and my partner’s putt was conceded. As I was nearest to his ball, I putted it back to him. Our opponents told us that this was not allowed as I still had to putt and my actions could be construed as testing the green. I accepted the ruling but cannot find clarity on this supposed penalty shot. Can you help please?
Integpin, GM website forum
Although Rule 13.1e
A prohibits a player from
taking actions on the putting green to find out information about how a ball might roll on it, if a player hits the ball of a conceded putt away (even if it’s on the same line of play as the player may subsequently use) but does not do so to deliberately learn information about the putting green, then there would be no penalty (Interpretation 13.1e/1). Chris Wallace,
R&A Rules manager