Rule For Ball Hanging Over The Lip

Josh Kelley

Josh Kelley

SwingU Instructor

We’ve all seen it. You or one of your playing partners has hit a really good putt that just runs out of steam before getting to the hole. Even still, the putt is hanging over the edge of the cup and looks like it could fall in. What are the options under the Rules of Golf?

Golfers should operate under “the 10-second rule” or Rule 13.3a, which states that a player make his way to the hole from where he made his previous stoke in a reasonable amount of time. Once at the ball / hole, the player has 10 seconds to see if the ball will fall in. After that amount of time, the player must tap the ball in, or if it falls in outside that timeframe, the player is assessed a one-stroke penalty.


Subscribe to the SwingU YouTube channel for more instruction from SwingU’s nationally-rated instruction team!