Can You Play From Another Green?

There are many definitions you really need to know to fully understand the Rules of Golf and our first port of call in answering this question is the Definitions section at the back of the Rule book.

In there, you will find the five defined areas of any golf course described in detail. They are the general area, all bunkers, all penalty areas and the teeing area and putting green of the hole you are playing. This final phrase (‘of the hole you are playing’) is an important distinction, for although a golf course has nine or 18 greens and many different potential teeing areas, any other than those on the hole you are playing form part of the general area, which means different Rules apply to the ones that govern what you can and can’t do on the teeing area and putting green of the hole you are playing.

That said, it would, of course, not be great for the golf course if the playing of full shots were permitted from the finely prepared grasses on any putting green, so thankfully the Rules of Golf designate any green other than the putting green of the hole you are playing as a 'wrong green' from which you must take free relief under Rule 13-1f.

At some courses, where many of the holes are self-enclosed, this may rarely happen other than with the very wildest of shots, while at others, two greens often lie in reasonable proximity with the wrong one in play for relatively minor miscues – perhaps on a narrow out-and-back links course where the front nine runs one way and the back nine the other

If you have strayed on to a wrong green, it is important to note that you are not permitted to play from it even if only separated from the putting green of the hole you are playing by a narrow strip of fairway or fringe such that putting from one to the other would be perfectly practical. And you must take relief away from a wrong green not only when your ball is lying on one, but also when a wrong green physically interferes with your area of intended stance or area of intended swing.

So, next time you hit one slightly offline and find your ball on a wrong green, what should you do? You must find your nearest point of complete relief (free relief) no nearer the hole under Rule 13-1f such that both feet and ball are off the wrong green and it is no longer interfering with your area of intended swing. You are then entitled to a one club-length relief area from this reference point. The relief area must not be nearer the hole than your reference point and must be in the same part of the course as the reference point – in this instance, somewhere in the general area as wrong greens form part of the general area.

There is, of course, nothing to stop you declaring the ball unplayable and opting to drop back on line for a one-stroke penalty or go back to where you last played from under stroke and distance if the route back through to your hole is problematic, but in most instances there will probably be little reason not to enjoy the free relief on offer.