How Long.....

[BigJim]

One of life's wonderful co-incidences....

The other day, after somebody posted the link to the 200 yd gong shot, I also watched Sam Torrance wait for over 25 seconds for his ball to drop after putting in the English Open.

Then today, playing with Novice, he hit a putt which hovered on the edge of the cup, before dropping in an eternity later - probably when I deflected the nice gentle 40 mph gusts of win on to it.

Is there a rule that says you have to putt or mark your ball within a certain amount of time? Could we have waited for a minute to see if the ball dropped? Could we have pretended that we were looking for his ball for 5 minutes?

[Novice]

Jim as i said i am sure it is ten seconds from when you reach your ball.
Mind you might take 45 secs to reach your ball on some greens 

[BigJim]

But Sam Torrance hovered over his ball for 26 seconds....

[Blofeld]

Jim as i said i am sure it is ten seconds from when you reach your ball.
Mind you might take 45 secs to reach your ball on some greens 

Quite correct....you have ten seconds from when you reach your ball that is precariously teetering on the edge of the hole that you can wait for it to fall in. However....you do have to get to your ball in a reasonable time after playing the putt.

So you couldnt, after say playing a ten footer to the lip, take thirty or forty seconds to reach your ball...e.g. by means of a detour to your bag to wipe an imaginary blade of grass of the sole of your putter!!!!

[Novice]

Quite correct....you have ten seconds from when you reach your ball that is precariously teetering on the edge of the hole that you can wait for it to fall in. However....you do have to get to your ball in a reasonable time after playing the putt.

So you couldnt, after say playing a ten footer to the lip, take thirty or forty seconds to reach your ball...e.g. by means of a detour to your bag to wipe an imaginary blade of grass of the sole of your putter!!!!

Exact situation has just happened on the golf from America with Scott Mc Carron i think and Mark Roe just stated he had 10 secs from reaching the ball