Repairing a pitch mark from the fringe: what Rule 13.1c allows

By Staff Writer

August 23, 2026

2 min read

Key takeaways

Rule 13.1c lets you repair a ball mark on the putting green whether or not your ball is on the green.
Repairing a pitch mark on the fringe before playing from the fringe breaches Rule 8.1.
That carries the general penalty: two strokes in stroke play, loss of hole in match play.

You fire at a tight pin, land on the green and trickle off the back edge. The lie on the fringe is fine and the putt is on, but your own pitch mark is sitting on the putting surface directly between your ball and the hole. Your ball is not on the green. Are you allowed to fix it?

Yes. Rule 13.1c covers improvements permitted on the putting green, and it opens by saying the permitted actions apply whether the player's ball is on or off the putting surface. Repairing damage is one of those actions, and ball marks are listed as damage. Your ball being on the fringe changes nothing.

When is repairing a pitch mark a penalty?

When the pitch mark is on the fringe rather than on the green, and you are playing from the fringe. Flattening it improves the conditions affecting your stroke, which breaches Rule 8.1 and brings the general penalty.

There is one exception, under Rule 8.1d. If your ball was already at rest and another player's shot then made the pitch mark on the fringe, you may restore the conditions and repair it. If the mark was there before your ball came to rest, you play it as you find it.

Where the pitch mark is	Where your ball is	Repair allowed?
On the putting green	On the green	Yes
On the putting green	On the fringe	Yes
On the fringe	On the fringe	No, two-stroke penalty
On the fringe, made after your ball stopped	On the fringe	Yes, under Rule 8.1d