Using your putter as an alignment aid

[alerickson]

I use my putter to help set the line on the ball in the correct direction.  I hold it upright, squatting behind the ball.  Recently, I have been allowing the putter to decline to the point it is touching the putting surface between the ball and the hole.  I have gotten different interpretations on doing this quoting 10.2.b(2)

 

"(2) Pointing Out Line of Play for Ball on Putting Green. Before the stroke is made, only the player and his or her caddie may point out the player’s line of play, but with these limitations:

• The player or caddie may touch the putting green with a hand, foot or anything he or she is holding, but must not improve the conditions affecting the stroke in breach of Rule 8.1a, and
• The player or caddie must not set an object down anywhere on or off the putting green to show the line of play. This is not allowed even if that object is removed before the stroke is made.

While the stroke is being made, the caddie must not deliberately stand in a location on or close to the player’s line of play or do anything else (such as pointing out a spot on the putting green) to point out the line of play."

 

I am never setting the putter down, so I feel this is a valid operation.

 

Thoughts? Comments?

[antip]

No issue providing the putter is not "set down" which means the object is in contact with the ground and the player is not touching the object.
Note also, you are quoting from a Rule book that is out of date, there are non-trivial changes to 10.2b in the 2023 Rules but the substance of what you raise is unchanged.

[AzRoger]

I think this is one of the reasons they recently updated the rules banning the use of the standup putter if using it as an alignment aid. The player would stand the putter up behind the ball then leave it there while they walked behind it to check alignment. Don't recall any pros using it, John Smoltz used it in some celebrity golf events. The standup putter itself is OK to use, just can't use it as an alignment aid, which I think was the original intent of the putter.

Edited February 26, 2023 by AzRoger