Ask the Ref: Could rolling a ball back to me across the green be seen as testing the surface?

Could the following situation be seen as cheating? Women & Golf’s rules expert Sheila Waltham explains.

I recently played in a stableford competition, and my ball landed on the green between the pin and another player’s ball.  As I couldn’t score, I asked her to remove my ball because it would be in the way of her putt.  She returned my ball by rolling it to me across the green.  Could this have been construed as testing the surface of the green?

As her primary intent is to return your ball to you there is no penalty incurred. Rule 13.1e does not allow a player to rub the surface or roll a ball on the putting green for the purpose of learning how the ball might roll. However, if a player putts or rolls a ball away on a line of putt that they might use, but not deliberately to learn information, then there is no breach (Rule 13.1e).

Sheila Waltham

Golf Rules Referee

Sheila Waltham has been a qualified rules official for over 15 years and joined the England Golf Tournament Panel of Referees in 2019. A keen golfer since 1995, Sheila’s interest in the Rules was born out of the realisation that a lot of the information she received as a novice golfer was incorrect. So, she took matters into her own hands!