2008 #10 Where Can You Stand?

THE SCENE:
Your drive lands on the front of the 7th green, rolls towards the flag and comes to rest just two feet from the hole. You putt for a birdie. Your ball rims the hole and curls out, stopping inches beyond the hole. You now have a tap-in. Two other balls have been marked beyond your ball.

What would you do?
A. Reach across the hole and tap the ball back towards you, between your feet?
B. Walk around the hole, avoid stepping on the other players’ lines by awkwardly placing your foot behind your own ball, and then tap it in?

Both A and B are correct.
Many players think A is illegal because Rule 16-1e says you can’t putt while standing astride the line of putt. Sam Snead used to putt this way, as if he were playing croquet, until the USGA outlawed it.

But A is legal. It is true that you can’t straddle the line of putt. But in your Rules of Golf book under Definitions it says:
‘The Line of Putt does not extend beyond the hole.’
In our scenario you are standing beyond the hole. So you are not standing astride the line of putt. Reaching across the hole and tapping the ball in towards you is OK.
And B is legal, too. The same rule, 16-1e, says:
‘The player shall not make a stroke on the putting green from a stance astride, or with either foot touching, the line of putt or an extension of that line behind the ball’.
In B you placed your foot behind your ball – that is on an extension of the line of putt behind the ball.

This is new: But Rule 16-1e goes on to say: There is no penalty if the stance is inadvertently taken on or astride the line of putt (or an extension of that line behind the ball) or is taken to avoid standing on another player’s line of putt or prospective line of putt.

In other words, if, because you are trying to avoid standing on the line of another player, you place your foot behind your own ball, that’s okay.

REMEMBER: When you have a tap in, don’t worry about where you place your feet. There is no penalty.