ELMSFORD, N.Y. - Every month MGA Senior Director of Rules and Competitions Gene Westmoreland will answer one question posed by the readers of the MGA e-Revision Newsletter (click here to sign up). Ed from Westchester County asked Gene the following Rules question:

Q: A player’s ball hits the green and spins back. The ball remains on the green, but the ball mark is directly in the line between the hole and the ball. May a player repair the ball mark before putting?

Ed, Westchester County

Gene responds:

See rule 16-1c which makes it very plain that you may repair damage to the green made by the impact of a ball whether your ball is on the green or not. What confuses some people is that you may not repair this same type of damage on the “apron” of the green — even if you prefer to putt from the apron.