another flag tending Q

[garyinderry]

A tip I like and has been talked about recently is picturing the hole a foot or more past the actual hole when struggling to get the ball to the hole on slow greens.


Can your caddy or playing partner for mere mortals hold the flag stick in this position at your request?


I know you can't have someone standing at the top of a hill indicating line as you hit over a blind shot but can you do this slightly dubious manoeuvre on the green?

 

[guest100718]

A tip I like and has been talked about recently is picturing the hole a foot or more past the actual hole when struggling to get the ball to the hole on slow greens.


Can your caddy or playing partner for mere mortals hold the flag stick in this position at your request?


I know you can't have someone standing at the top of a hill indicating line as you hit over a blind shot but can you do this slightly dubious manoeuvre on the green?

I woud say no. I dont think you allowed to have anyone indicate the line of play while acually playing the shot.

 

[Foxholer]

A tip I like and has been talked about recently is picturing the hole a foot or more past the actual hole when struggling to get the ball to the hole on slow greens.


Can your caddy or playing partner for mere mortals hold the flag stick in this position at your request?


I know you can't have someone standing at the top of a hill indicating line as you hit over a blind shot but can you do this slightly dubious manoeuvre on the green?

No. Decision 8-2b/0.5 has pretty much exactly this as one of the examples of what is not acceptable!

 

[woody69]

In Tom Watson's book Getting up and Down, he talks about how he would get his caddy to tend the flag and stand on the line he was aiming at. I remember when reading it that I thought that was slightly dubious with regards to the rules!

 

[Colin L]

A tip I like and has been talked about recently is picturing the hole a foot or more past the actual hole when struggling to get the ball to the hole on slow greens.


Can your caddy or playing partner for mere mortals hold the flag stick in this position at your request?


I know you can't have someone standing at the top of a hill indicating line as you hit over a blind shot but can you do this slightly dubious manoeuvre on the green?

Rule 8-2b answers your question:

On the Putting Green
When the player's ball is on the putting green, the line of putt may be indicated before, but not during, the stroke by the player, his partner or either of their caddies; in doing so the putting green must not be touched. A mark must not be placed anywhere for the purpose of indicating a line of putt.

Foxholer has already referenced the explanatory Decision for you.

 

[garyinderry]

Thanks chaps.


Visualisation it is then.

 

[chrisd]

Yet, if an opponent attends the flag and I decide that his left toe is exactly the line I need to putt on that's perfectly OK as he isn't complicit in indicating a line?

 

[Slab]

Yet, if an opponent attends the flag and I decide that his left toe is exactly the line I need to putt on that's perfectly OK as he isn't complicit in indicating a line?

It’s a chicken and egg thing

You’re allowed to indicate line of play with an egg but not a chicke... ok scratch that, it comes down to what came first, the position of the shoe/toe or the line

If the shoe was there and coincidentally ends up being the point you want to putt to that's ok, if you put the shoe/toe there to indicate line then its a no no

 

[Colin L]

Yet, if an opponent attends the flag and I decide that his left toe is exactly the line I need to putt on that's perfectly OK as he isn't complicit in indicating a line?

It's entirely consistent with your being allowed to use a twig or something already on the ground to align a shot.