Every month former 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). Michael from Suffolk County asked Gene the following Rules question:

 

Q: When can a player repair a pitch mark left by a ball? When would it be a penalty?

 

 

Gene responds:

You may repair pitch marks on the putting green. You may also repair pitch marks "through the green" as long as they do not improve the area of an intended swing or the line of play of a player.

It would be a penalty if you repaired a pitch mark through the green that was on your line of play. Let's say your ball is on the apron and a pitch mark is on the apron right on your line of play. If you fixed the pitch mark or allowed it to be fixed you would incur a penalty for improving your line of play. Similarly if you fixed a pitch mark that was right behind your ball in the fairway you would incur a penalty for improving the area of your intended swing.

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