Ask Linda #146-Cleaning ball on green

Hi Linda,

Your advice [Ask Linda #124] generated goodwill in a 4 ball best ball match I played yesterday. One of our opponents had to move his marker in order for my partner to putt. By the time it got back to him to putt (to halve the hole) he forgot to move it back to the original point. Even though he had lined the putt up and was ready to putt, I interrupted him to ask whether he had moved his ball back to the original mark. He was most grateful that I interrupted him as he would have hated to lose the hole on such a simple technicality.

Back in the clubhouse, in the same friendly spirit he later gave me a friendly warning that I might be breaching the rules when I clean my ball on the green. If it is only a small mark on the ball I will often wipe the ball on the green to remove the mark (large marks get wiped on a rag in my pocket). He pointed that some opponents in the next match might call a penalty on me for this as technically it could be seen as testing the condition of the green. Should I be changing my ball cleaning habits to always use the rag?
Cheers
Lou Lou

Dear Lou Lou,

You are permitted to clean your ball by rubbing it on the putting green, as long as you are not doing it to test the surface [Decision 16-1d/5]. I do this from time to time in casual play to remove a small speck of mud from my ball.

However, if you are playing in a tournament I would recommend that you use your rag to clean your ball to avoid any misunderstandings about why you were rubbing it on the green.

Linda

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