The putting green has special permissions that do not apply everywhere on the course. A player may normally mark, lift, and clean a ball on the green, and may repair many kinds of damage—but each permission has a limit.
Under Rule 13.1a, a ball is on the putting green when any part of it touches the putting green, or when it lies on or in something inside the green's edge. A ball touching both the green and the fringe is therefore treated as being on the green.
The marking, lifting, and cleaning permission applies when the ball is on the putting green for the hole being played. The repair permission is broader: a player may repair allowed damage on that putting green even when the player's ball lies somewhere else.
Rule 14.1a requires the spot to be marked before a ball is lifted when it must later be replaced. The player may place a ball-marker right behind or right next to the ball, or hold a club on the ground right behind or right next to it.
A ball-marker is an artificial object used to mark the spot, such as a coin, tee, purpose-made marker, or another small piece of equipment. It does not have to be a coin. Official Clarification 14.1a/1 also confirms that a marker may be in front of or beside the ball, provided it is right next to it.
A player may lift and clean a ball on the putting green at any time under Rules 13.1b and 14.1c. Deliberately rotating the ball on its spot also counts as lifting, so the spot must be marked first—even if the player only wants to align an identification line.
The player or anyone authorised for that occasion may lift the ball. A caddie may lift the player's ball from the putting green without specific authorisation. This special permission does not mean every fellow-competitor or spectator may pick it up.
The original ball normally must be replaced. The player, or the person who lifted it or caused it to move, sets it down by hand on its original spot and lets it go so that it stays there. Replacement is not a drop.
The ball is back in play once it is replaced with that intention, even if the ball-marker remains beside it. The marker must nevertheless be removed before the stroke. If the exact original spot is not known, Rule 14.2c requires the player to estimate it.
Rule 13.1c allows reasonable repair of damage caused by any person or outside influence. The listed examples include ball marks, spike and other shoe damage, scrapes or indentations caused by a club or flagstick, old hole plugs, turf plugs, seams of cut turf, maintenance-tool or vehicle damage, animal tracks, hoof marks, and embedded objects or their indentations.
The permission is not limited to the player's own pitch-mark or line of play. It applies across the putting green during the round and while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a.
The Rule's definition of damage excludes aeration holes, grooves from vertical mowing, conditions caused by irrigation, rain, or other natural forces, and natural surface imperfections such as weeds or bare, diseased, or uneven growth. Natural wear of the hole is also excluded.
A player may not press down or reshape one of these excluded conditions merely because it affects the intended line. Calling every irregularity a “pitch-mark” does not make it repairable.
A permitted repair may be made with a hand, foot, another part of the body, a normal ball-mark repair tool, a tee, a club, or a similar item of normal equipment. The actions must be reasonable and directed at restoring the green as nearly as possible to its original condition.
Creating a smoother pathway beyond restoration, using an object the Rule does not allow, or unreasonably delaying play exceeds the permission. The fact that a repair improves the line of play is not itself a breach; the issue is whether the action and result went beyond reasonable restoration.
Official Clarification 8.1b/6 allows the whole of one identifiable area of damage to be repaired when it is partly on and partly off the putting green. A ball mark that crosses the edge may therefore be repaired on both sides.
Separate damage outside the green does not gain the same permission. For example, one shoe print on the green and a different shoe print on the fringe remain two separate areas; repairing the off-green print may breach Rule 8.1a if it improves conditions affecting the stroke.
Official Clarification 13.1c(2)/1 treats the hole as part of the putting green. Damage caused when removing the flagstick may be repaired, even if it changed the hole's dimensions. Ordinary wear of the hole remains excluded.
If the player cannot restore damage—such as a hole that cannot be made round again—the player should ask the Committee to repair it. Clarification 13.1c(2)/2 says that when the Committee cannot repair other significant damage, it may consider defining the affected area as ground under repair so that Rule 16.1 relief can apply.
If natural forces move a ball on the green before it has been lifted and replaced, Rule 13.1d normally requires play from the new spot. Once the ball has been lifted and replaced, natural forces cannot take that spot away: the ball must be replaced again without penalty.
If the player, opponent, or another player in stroke play accidentally moves the ball or ball-marker on the green, there is no penalty; restore the ball or marker to its original spot. The separate moved-ball rules explain the cause test in more detail.
This page applies the jointly governed R&A and USGA 2023 Rules of Golf, effective 1 January 2023, with Additional Clarifications updated 1 July 2026. A Committee may mark abnormal course conditions or adopt Local Rules, so players should also check the scorecard and competition notices.