THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS...

Q. This question came in from one of the Fringe Faithful.

Bob--

I had a rules question come up in a friendly round we were playing last weekend. The situation:

My approach shot landed and stopped on the fairway, just short of the green. My ball was just a few feet closer to the hole than one of my playing partners and directly in her line to the hole.

She asked me to mark my ball as she wanted to putt her next shot instead of chip.

We had a bit of an argument when I told her that since I was not on the green that I could not legally mark my ball. She contended that I could mark my ball without penalty even though I was not on the green. I told her no and that I shouldn't play out of turn just so she could have a clear path to the hole. We were not playing in pick and clean conditions, so I refused and now she is not talking to me.

Please let me know who was right--that is, I need to know if I need to apologize to her or if not, I need something I can show her to prove I was right. I'm just not finding the right rule in the book so far...

Thanks,

Steve