Fixing footprints / spike marks experiment...

[Nels55]

A few weeks ago I played a round on my home course after a drenching rain and the greens were really bad.  The pins had not been moved for some time and there was a definite lumpy doughnut effect along with a ton of footprints.  I hit an extra putt after missing my first one a few times and the ball often 'broke' in the opposite direction on the second putt.  

 

On the 17th hole I had a 5 foot putt and I knew that there was no possibility of making it LOL.  So just for fun I took my putter and tapped down foot prints / spike marks from the ball to the hole.  I did this while keeping my putter pointed at the hole and on a direct line to the hole.  The result was a visible channel from the ball to the hole.  There was nobody waiting for us to get off the green and the group in front had not teed off 18 yet so I putted several putts down the channel and into the hole.  Every putt rolled perfectly straight and right down the line into the hole.  Something that I had not seen all day. 

 

So, this procedure has to be completely illegal per the rules of golf does it not?  The problem is that I can argue that I was simply fixing spike marks or footprints between my ball and hole.  I have not tried this since then I but I suspect that it would work anytime a green is really soft.

 

Also please note that this was a casual round with my friends and our matches were over so I was not cheating anybody!   

 

One other thing is that I believe that I read somewhere that Titanic Thompson would leave a water hose on a path from some spot on the practice green to the hole overnight and then bet someone that he could make some ridiculous number of putts from 30 feet the next morning.  He would then win the bet by putting down the channel similar to what I did. 

[sui generis]

Read all about it here:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=13&subrulenum=1

[Colin L]

Rule 13.1c permits you  to repair damage done to the putting green by spike marks on the putting green but .....

 

 

..... if the player improves the putting green by taking actions that exceed what is reasonable to restore the putting green to its original condition (such as by creating a pathway to the hole or by using an object that is not allowed), the player gets the general penalty for breach of Rule 8.1a.

 

[Nels55]

Thanks for the answers!