practice putting stroke over the ball

MungoMan

when my friend practices his putt (prior to putting), he places the putter head about 5 cm above the ball, and does his practice putt in this position

When he is happy, he lowers the putter to the ground, and takes the putt in the exact same line as his practice putt. Looks odd, but it is effective.

I never saw anyone doing this before.

Is it illegal ? The pros all take their practice putt with the putter to the body side of the ball........

I strongly suspect my friends putting practice strokes should count as extra shots ?

Opics

Why should it count as a shot? He's practising his putting stroke. It's not like he's affecting the ball or the lie of the ball.

PhilipMarlowe

Have you not seen Harrington do this earlier this year?
It's a beginnerish type thing to do alright...

By the way, a 'stroke' is a defined thing - it's mostly the forward movement of the club with an intention to smack the ball. If there is no intent in a "practice putt" to move the ball then it can't be a 'stroke'.

Fulton Crown

Licksy wrote: »

Have you not seen Harrington do this earlier this year?
It's a beginnerish type thing to do alright...

By the way, a 'stroke' is a defined thing - it's mostly the forward movement of the club with an intention to smack the ball. If there is no intent in a "practice putt" to move the ball then it can't be a 'stroke'.

Yep ...no penalty here ..perfictly legal.

Damokc

i imagine the same rules would apply when golfers are driving off in high winds when they don't ground the driver head and hover the club behind the ball.if the driver was grounded and the ball was blown off the tee would that count as a stroke?

Opics

Damokc wrote: »

i imagine the same rules would apply when golfers are driving off in high winds when they don't ground the driver head and hover the club behind the ball.if the driver was grounded and the ball was blown off the tee would that count as a stroke?

No. If a ball falls off a tee for any reason you just re-tee it.

k.p.h

So far this thread is really entertaining ..

D3PO

no penalty for what your friend is doing.

I wonder however if the ball were to move as a result of wind(ala Harrington) if his practice would be construed as having addressed the ball and therefore be counted as a stroke ?

Ben1977

Ball is only address when the player takes their stance and grounds the club behind the ball. If you hover the putter behind the ball and it moves, the player must replace the ball without penalty. As he did not ground the club, he had not addressed the ball.

Anatom

Ben1977 wrote: »

Ball is only address when the player takes their stance and grounds the club behind the ball. If you hover the putter behind the ball and it moves, the player must replace the ball without penalty. As he did not ground the club, he had not addressed the ball.

I noticed Rickie Fowler did that a few times on the last day of the Open two weeks ago - he was obviously afraid that with the wind and openess of the greens that his ball would move so he kept his putter hovering above the ground until right before he struck it...

Webbs

Anatom wrote: »

I noticed Rickie Fowler did that a few times on the last day of the Open two weeks ago - he was obviously afraid that with the wind and openess of the greens that his ball would move so he kept his putter hovering above the ground until right before he struck it...

If I remember correctly Jack Nicklaus never or rarely grounded his putter

Trampas

Opics wrote: »

No. If a ball falls off a tee for any reason you just re-tee it.

but you must say 1 after it falls off