Linda,
During
a recent club 4-ball Ambrose tournament, one of the players in my group hit his
ball close to the pin. Mine and another player’s ball went past and ended up
next to the edge of the green. I picked mine up and used my putter to hit the
other player's ball back to him. I was told I could not do that as that was
"testing the green." He went on to say that if I was on the green and
accidentally dropped my ball on the green, that would be "testing the
green." After reading the rule we are still not sure.
Could
you please explain?
Lou from Perth, Australia
Dear
Lou,
A
player is only guilty of testing the surface of the putting green if he does so
intentionally.
If
the purpose of returning the ball to your teammate by hitting it with the
putter were to test the surface, you would incur a two-stroke penalty. Your
narrative seems to indicate that this was a casual act, with no thought of
testing the green. Therefore, there is no penalty.
Accidentally
dropping a ball does not constitute testing the green. Accidents are, by
definition, not intentional.
The
manner in which a player putts or drops a ball and his purpose in doing so
would determine whether he was testing the surface.
There
are two Decisions on this topic you may want to read: 16-1d/1 and 16-1d/2.
Linda
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© 2013 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.