Chipping from Putting Greens
Rule 17
The hole was located at the very back of the three-tiered green and Mickelson clearly felt that he had a greater opportunity to get the ball close with his wedge than with the putter. In playing the stroke, he extracted quite a large divot from the green, but managed to get the ball up to the top tier. There is nothing in the Rules of Golf which requires a player to use his putter when the ball lies on the green, although clearly this happens in the vast majority of cases and there is little doubt that greenkeepers around the world will hope that this practice continues. However, there are occasions in the most important of tournaments when players have a legitimate reason to risk taking a divot from the putting surface in an attempt to achieve the best result from their stroke. The greens at The Old Course are of such a nature that a player may be faced with a stroke where it is impossible to get near to the hole with a putter – the shot may simply be too long to play with a putter, but there are occasions where a bunker may interfere directly on the line. Although seven of the greens serve as greens for two holes, the entire green is considered to be the green of the hole being played, even when a player's ball comes to rest on a part of the green which is clearly supposed to be for the adjacent hole. Jack Nicklaus and Corey Pavin are just two players who have adopted to chip from the hallowed turf of Old Course greens at recent St Andrews Opens. From a Rules perspective, the important thing to remember, which was actually forgotten in both the Nicklaus and Pavin cases, is that, regardless of the club being used, the stroke is still being played from the putting green and, therefore, it is necessary to have the flagstick attended or removed. If the ball were to strike the flagstick in the hole, the penalty would be two strokes in stroke play or loss of hole in match play. Fortunately for Nicklaus and Pavin they did not strike the flagstick and, therefore, no penalty was incurred. Clearly it is not recommended practice for players to use clubs other than putters from the green due to the damage that can be caused. However, if a player strikes his ball onto a green of a hole other than that of the hole he is playing, i.e. a wrong putting green, it is prohibited to play that ball as it lies with any club. In such circumstances, the player must take relief by establishing the nearest point of relief off the green not nearer to the hole and drop within one club-length of that spot. Relief is only available when the ball is on the wrong green. A player standing on a wrong putting green to play a ball lying off the green would simply play the ball as it lies.