Golf rules: Are you allowed to do THIS during your practice routine?
If you put the head of your putter on the ground in front of your ball, have you broken any rules and do you incur a penalty?
If you thought the game of golf was hard enough to perfect, then you haven't seen anything yet when it comes to the rules of golf.
Everyone knows that you don't need to know every single paragraph and every single sentence of the rules. You'll never remember them all.
However, when you first start playing golf, you should learn the fundamentals and the basics so you will never be caught out in your monthly Medal.
If you are on the tee box or the putting green, you need to be clued up and it is the putting green that we want to primarily focus on here.
If you have a putt from six feet or 20 feet, many golfers have their own routines. Some golfers like to put their putter down in front of the ball to line up their putt.
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However, if you put your putter on the ground between your ball and the hole, is this allowed? Do you incur a penalty? This situation is in the footage above.
According to the rules of golf, this is allowed. You may place your putter down in front of your ball on the green as long as you don't improve the ground conditions.
Rule 8.1a of the USGA rules of golf states:
Except in the limited ways allowed in Rules 8.1b, c and d, you must not take any of these actions if they improve the conditions affecting your stroke:
- Move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object, or immovable obstruction, integral object or boundary object, or tee-marker for the teeing area when playing a ball from that teeing area.
- Move a loose impediment or movable obstruction into position (such as to build a stance).
- Alter the surface of the ground.
- Remove or press down sand or loose soil.
- Remove dew, frost or water
