Find your ball sitting on a fringe and it’s often just as good as it being on the putting surface. At some courses, it’s even hard to figure out where the apron ends and the green begins.
Kudos once again to our hard-working greenkeepers but the quality of the course does raise some interesting questions about how you might need to take relief.
Consider the following scenario left in our comments: “When there is ground under repair on the apron of the green and you take relief, can you place the ball, or do you have to drop it?”
It’s a good question, mainly because it also asks whether there is a difference between the fringe and the green. So what do you think?
What the Rules say about the fringe and the putting green
The apron or fringe, however you describe it, is part of the general area. It’s not part of the putting green.
So if your ball is on the fringe, you would be dropping when taking relief from ground under repair.
You have to drop in the general area, so it could be that your nearest point of complete relief takes you off the fringe.
Remember, it’s nearest not nicest. Your one-club relief area could be in a place you don’t like.
But you are not able to drop onto the green.
The other interesting part of this question is what happens if any part of the ball is on the putting green. And by any part, I mean as much as a dimple touches the surface.
If that’s the case then that ball is on the green – check out Rule 13.1a and Rule 2.2c.
You could still end up taking relief in the general area. That’s because Rule 16.1d says the nearest point of complete relief, when you’re taking relief from an abnormal course condition on the putting green, must either be “on the putting surface or in the general area”.
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So, again, it comes down to where is nearest. But, on this occasion, because the ball was on the green, you are placing it rather than dropping it. Rules, eh?
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
Is the fringe part of the green? What do you make of this rule? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
