Using the green to clean your ball

[TheJezster]

That's a great way to protect the green

Why not rub it away from the surface that is pretty important to the game

Haha I think the green will cope, don't worry about it. Certainly it's better for it than me trampling off the green then back on again.. Don't sweat the small stuff ;-)

 

[evahakool]

I was picked up on this when I played last week by my playing partner. I had a bit of earth on the ball and as I went down to mark it I rubbed the ball on the green to clean it off.

Totally innocently I must add with absolutely no intention of testing the surface to gain an advantage. What possible advantage I thought could be had at my level by doing that? Anyway I accepted the 2 shot pen with the intention of checking at the end before I signed my card. As it happened I had a poor day on the course so signed it anyway.

But still unsure of the rule I looked into it. I would of been OK after all but lesson learnt wont be doing it again.

Q. May a player clean his ball by rubbing it on the putting green?
A. Yes, provided the act is not for the purpose of testing the surface of the putting green. It is recommended that a ball be cleaned in other ways to eliminate any question as to the player’s intentions.

o

I thought you couldn't clean your ball on the green, so something else I've learned.
But how can you really test a green when cleaning a ball? Stupid rule, instead of recommending a player shouldn't clean a ball on a green why not have the rule to say you can't do this on a green?

 

[rulefan]

o


But how can you really test a green when cleaning a ball?

"by rolling a ball or roughening or scraping the surface"

 

[sawtooth]

o

I thought you couldn't clean your ball on the green, so something else I've learned.
But how can you really test a green when cleaning a ball? Stupid rule, instead of recommending a player shouldn't clean a ball on a green why not have the rule to say you can't do this on a green?

Apparently it can help you know if its with or against the grain.

 

[evahakool]

"by rolling a ball or roughening or scraping the surface"

I assume this means as Sawtooth states to see if it can help to see the way the grain goes.

But if a player cleans his ball he would have to drag his ball along the green.
Buy this action he could see what way the grain goes, how as a player seeing this could he possible tell if the player was just cleaning his ball or trying to test the way the grain goes
I still think it's a ambiguous rule and could be simplified by just having a ruling where you can't clean your ball on a green.

 

[Father_Ted]

grain direction is pretty obvious just by looking at it

and grass is a different a colour with vs against grain

preventing ball being cleaned would cost time and authorities dont want that

 

[evahakool]

grain direction is pretty obvious just by looking at it

and grass is a different a colour with vs against grain

preventing ball being cleaned would cost time and authorities dont want that

When this rule was introduced slow play would never have been a consideration.
I have never seen a player cleaning his ball the surface of a green and imo it would make very little impact on slow play.

 

[Simbo]

While I agree cleaning the ball on the green isn't good practice. The question of whether it's morally correct or not are pretty irrelevant, it's not against the rules to do it so he's free to do it.

 

[duncan mackie]

When this rule was introduced slow play would never have been a consideration.
I have never seen a player cleaning his ball the surface of a green and imo it would make very little impact on slow play.

Everytime you rotate a ball in contact with the putting green you are effectively cleaning it, or risking removal of mud etc that you might not even realise was on it and certainly didn't intend to remove etc etc You would like to change the rules such that everyone became exposed to such a risk?
The rule is simple and straightforward as it is - within the context of any of the rules for which intent matters rather than action. As such the player knows his intent and any ruling would be applied against that intent.

 

[evahakool]

Everytime you rotate a ball in contact with the putting green you are effectively cleaning it, or risking removal of mud etc that you might not even realise was on it and certainly didn't intend to remove etc etc You would like to change the rules such that everyone became exposed to such a risk?
The rule is simple and straightforward as it is - within the context of any of the rules for which intent matters rather than action. As such the player knows his intent and any ruling would be applied against that intent.

I don't unnderstand your first paragraph , I thought you can under the rules rub your ball on the surface of the green to clean it.

You say the ruling is straightforward as it is , I beg to differ, how would we know the players intent? And therefore apply a penalty if needed.

Instead of recommending players to clean there balls in other ways to take away any intentions, would it not seem more sensible not to allow players to clean there balls in this manner.

 

[Region3]

1. If I wanted to test the grain I'd just pretend to brush something away with my hand.

2. Greens in this country don't have grain.

 

[SugarPenguin]

lol

I literally do this on every hole.