Rules of the Game:

What happens when you land on the wrong green?

Last month we discussed some of the privileges players have on the Putting Green. There is additional important information for you know about Putting Green play. First, remember the definition of Putting Green was limited to THE Putting Green of the hole being played. What happens if you make an errant golf shot and your ball lands on the green of a hole you are not playing, a practice green, or a nursery green on the course?

These putting greens are considered Wrong Greens. A Wrong Green also includes the normal putting green of a hole if a temporary green is being used. Since a Wrong Green is not a specific area of the course, a Wrong Green is in the General Area. (Remember, the General Area is the rest of the course that is not part of any specific areas). If you have interference from a Wrong Green, your ball MUST not be played as it lies.

Interference from a Wrong Green includes when any part of your ball touches a Wrong Green (including when your ball lies on a loose impediment, (like the huge leaf, or lies in or on a movable obstruction, like the Doritos bag) and is inside the edge of a Wrong Green. Interference from a Wrong Green also includes your intended stance and area of intended swing. Consider the following scenario John was playing Hole #12 and hit a terrible shot. His ball landed on Hole #14 Green. John MUST take FREE relief from the Wrong Green using the following parameters:

1. John will find a reference point; the nearest point of complete relief in the same area of the

course where the original ball came to rest. The ball lies on a Wrong Green— which is in the General Area. John’s reference point therefore must be in the General Area.

2. John will measure a Relief Area that is one club-length from the reference point, in the same

area of the course as the reference point, no closer to the hole than the reference point, and where there is complete relief from ALL interference by the Wrong Green. As stated earlier, interference includes lie of ball, intended swing, and player’s stance. Read your Notice to Competitors or Course Scorecard as there is a Local Rule that may be in effect that denies relief for a Wrong Green if interference only exists for your stance.

3. John will drop the original ball, or another ball in the relief area and play on with no penalty.

One last note regarding interference from a Wrong Green. If you choose a club, stance, direction of play, or swing path that is clearly unreasonable for your circumstances, relief from a Wrong Green is not allowed. You can’t take a super wide stance to try and get your foot onto a Wrong Green because you’d like to play from a different spot!

Since the huge leaf, and the Dorito’s bag scenarios keep popping up— lets also deal with those situations. The good news is that you get free relief. Since the ball is considered to lie on the putting green if it comes to rest on a loose impediment, you lift the ball, remove the loose impediment then replace the original ball on its original spot, which if is not exactly known, is estimated. I would suspect in the case of a large leaf; the spot of the original ball may need to be estimated. And in situations like these, the Rules of Golf accept the player’s best judgment.

The same is true of the Doritos bag— if your ball lies in or on the bag, it is considered to be on the Putting Green. Take relief from the movable obstruction on the putting green by lifting the ball, removing the Doritos bag, (dumping your ball out of the bag— if it was in the bag and clean off the nacho cheese crumbs) then replace the ball or another ball on the estimated spot right under where the ball was at rest. Please note the following difference between the relief procedures of a movable obstruction and a loose impediment—relief from a loose impediment on the putting green does NOT include substituting a different ball. The original ball must be used.

And our last Putting Green discussion for this month is a reminder that Rule 13.1e states that testing a Putting Green or a Wrong Green by deliberately rubbing the Putting Green surface or rolling a ball on the green is NOT allowed during a round or while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a (stopping and resuming play).

However, there is an exception which allows you to rub or roll a ball BETWEEN the play of two holes on the hole just completed, or on any practice green.