Dear Molly: Are the greens within a few inches of the hole being damaged by leaving the flagstick in while putting? Are golfers allowed to tamp down the edges of the hole before putting without penalty?
It seems to me, the edges are raised when golfers with big hands or putter claws retrieve the balls in the hole with the flagpole in place, and it seems reasonable to be allowed to make repairs to keep the greens in the best shape. — Barb Monark, City Park and the Links at Highlands Ranch
Questions like yours remind me that it’s a good thing I have CGA experts to call on for help with answers! Because I would have gotten this all wrong.
For the first part of your question, I turned to Mitch Savage, the award-winning Director of Agronomy at the CGA’s meticulously maintained CommonGround Golf Course. According to Mitch, holes are damaged so many ways over the course of a busy day in score-posting season, one thing’s no worse than another thing!
“Maybe at some private clubs where there’s not as much play, they notice little things like one person leaving the flagstick in when they got their ball out and they damaged a couple holes,” Mitch told me on a beautiful spring morning. “But when we have 200 people out there on a day like today, that’s a lot of hands reaching down in the cup. And even if you’re careful not to touch the edge, things are going to happen. And yeah, sure, some of the gizmos and gadgets cause more damage.”
There are even good reasons why the hole gets wonky. “If someone almost slam-dunks a shot, or even if they do slam-dunk it, that can blow up an edge. When I was at Green Valley Ranch, that happened once at the Colorado Open and we were out there with toothpicks repairing the hole so the rest of the field would have the same hole location.”
For years, I’ve been telling my league mates that we competitors can’t fix all that hole damage because we’re not allowed to change course conditions for us and the players who follow us. I thought it was like that mean divot rule, where we have to play the ball as it lies.
But at the most recent Women’s Summit, CGA COO Ashley Harrell’s rules quiz stumped us on this one. Recent updates to the Rules of Golf, specifically Rule 13.1.c, do indeed permit players to take “reasonable actions” to repair damage on the putting green in order to restore its original, pristine roundness. So if you see that someone’s big paw or putting claw has dinged the edge of the hole, you can fix it with your fingers or other normal piece of golf equipment, like a tee or divot tool or even a club.
Ashley might ask, “Why are you doing that?” to make sure you are not creating some sort of channel by which you can more easily sink your 5-footer. But as long as you’re fixing damage and not altering natural wear or creating an advantage, you’re doing good work and the grounds crew thanks you.
Do you have a question about golf etiquette, golf relationships or the culture of golf in Colorado? Email it to Molly McMulligan, the CGA’s on-the-course advisor on how to have more fun on the golf course. Her creator, researcher and writer is golf journalist and CGA member Susan Fornoff.
MORE FROM MOLLY