Fore! If you’ve not dive-bombed a group putting out on a different green to the hole you are playing, well, can you even call yourself a golfer?
We all know you can’t play a ball from what the rules term a “wrong green”. Greenkeepers would be blocking the M25 with their mowers if any old idiot was allowed to take chunks out of their beautifully manicured putting surfaces.
But what about when the lines blur? Check out this email…
“I played my shot standing on the wrong green but was told I should have taken relief, so I penalised myself two shots in the medal.
“My ball was about nine inches off the wrong green, but I was standing on it to play my third shot to the right green.
“Was this OK or should I have taken full relief?”
There are too many rights and wrongs in this scenario – so let’s see if we can come up with the correct answer.
Wrong green rules: What should you do in this situation?
Let’s have a little recap of what a wrong green means. It’s any other than the green for the hole being played. That means practice greens too.
So if you crash one onto the practice putting surface close to the clubhouse – and I saw someone do this at my home club recently – then that is a wrong green.
And the thing about wrong greens is you are not allowed to play the ball as it lies.
The key is “interference”. What does that mean?
You cannot play the ball as it lies. Rule 13.1f says it’s when any part of a player’s ball touches a wrong green or lies on anything that is inside the edge of a wrong green.
But it is also when it “physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing”.
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No part of your stance can be on the wrong green – not even a tip toe or the tiniest part of a heel. You’ve got to take complete relief.
It’s the same for the swing, too. Even if your club only brushes the very edge of the putting surface then it’s not OK.
Taking relief is straightforward. Find that nearest point of complete relief and drop in a one club relief area – no closer to the hole, of course.
Wrong greens are part of the general area, and your reference point for taking relief is the same area of the course where the original ball came to rest. So while, you might get lucky and drop in the fairway, or have to drop in the rough if that’s the nearest point of complete relief, you wouldn’t be doing so in a bunker or a penalty area.
Make sure you take that relief, though. As our emailer correctly points out, failing to do so and then making a stroke means playing the ball from a wrong place. That’s a two shot penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play.
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. Get in touch with your questions by emailing me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com
What do you think about these wrong green rules? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
