Sport

Why are you penalised for touching the line of a putt even lightly, perhaps to guide your partner?

BY THE RULES: It’s interesting looking at this because Rule 8-2/b has remained essentially unchanged for 100 years, writes DAVID…

Tue May 11 2010 - 01:00

BY THE RULES:It's interesting looking at this because Rule 8-2/b has remained essentially unchanged for 100 years, writes DAVID RICKMAN

It was certainly in the 1908 Rules. I imagine it’s there on the basis that if you don’t touch, you can’t damage or improve the putting surface, so there’s no question of there being an issue. The last well-known case was Richie Ramsay, who lost a hole in the quarter-final of the 2006 US Amateur when his caddie touched his line.

It’s a tough prohibition – if you touch it lightly what harm can it do? But it’s not a question we’re often asked – not many people seem to have an issue. You could never really define “lightly” either.

So how is the Nick Price putting style, in which he first places the putter on the ground in front of the ball, deemed okay?

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A lot of people do it. I was interested to see when this permission came in and it was actually in the first general set of Rules the RA issued in 1899. So it’s a very traditional method of addressing the ball on the green, and I think Rule 16-1a(ii) is simply drafted to say as long as you do it lightly and don’t press anything down, there’s no problem.

That seems at odds with the line of putt’s “sacredness”. . .

It’s been around a long time and I think it’s one of those thought-to-be-reasonable exceptions the Rules do allow. The Rules Committee is not without heart – it does allow people to try and play the game. It’s a bit like grounding the club lightly behind the ball through the green – technically, are you improving its position marginally? I think the answer probably is, yes.

The back of the Rules book encourages golfers to “do what is fair”, but sometimes certain Rules just don’t seem fair.

People want fair answers – answers where everyone watching thinks, ‘Yes, that’s the right thing to do’. But simplicity and fairness don’t always pull in the same direction. What they’ve got to remember is what seems fair to them may not be fair on the rest of the field. But I do accept that to “do what is fair” can be open to interpretation.

David Rickman is Director of Rules and Equipment Standards at The R and A. For further information visit RandA.org.