Pros tapping down ground on line of putt

Several times this year I have seen pros (on both men's and women's tour) use their putters to tap down some irregularity on the ground between them and the hole before putting.  They're not repairing a pitch mark and then flattening the surface afterwards.  These actions with putters are the only 'repair' they are making.  Isn't repairing the indentation of a pitch mark the only repair allowable?

It's impossible to be sure what they are doing but the suspicion would have to be they are getting rid of spike marks.  That is not allowed before putting, and yet I have never seen anyone penalized.

Also, I have seen several players, after holing out, go back over their previous line of putt, and tap down the ground - presumably repairing spike marks. But that is before other players have holed out.  Are they not supposed to wait before dealing with spike marks until every player has finished?

They are most likely tapping down incompletely repaired pitch marks.

Referees cannot afford to miss such things. The TV coverage is too tight to take chances.

Are there still a lot of guys who wear shoes with regular spikes on tour?  I know you can leave spike marks with the "grippier" spider type soft spikes, but was just wondering.

Many are now wearing the soles with moulded studs.

Oh I can't stand this rule. About not being able to tap down spike marks, but able to repair pitch marks. What's the difference?

Never understood this....

Preach on.  This rule has never made sense to me.

It's like' travelling' in basketball.  It's more like the triple jump in track now.

It's never called.

I always thought the line of putt was "sacred" territory.

It's hard to tell however if they are doing it in their line of putt or off the line.

Ya I think it's a bit crazy. Also I would allow shots in the fairway to be moved out of divots or repaired or something too. Sucks to be punished for a perfect shot.

I think the only reason for the rule in the first place was that it would take forever for some guys to putt out if they could pave their way to the hole.

A tournament at our club once.  The rule was waived and spike marks could be tamped down.

It took forever to finish the round.

Jeffrey:

That's a different story.

How can you tell whether it's a repaired divot or not?

They have to draw the line somewhere or you would be out there forever.

You might as well play 'winter rules' if it's going to be an arbitrary call by yourself.

Ya I know it can be hard. It just sucks when I see a guy on tour in a huge, clear divot.

That was my first thought too, but that would also be covered under the slow play rules, I would hope, so they could eliminate this rule without the fear of rounds going to 6 hours.

It wouldn't slow me down though ... I sometimes see a small leaf or piece of pine straw that might be in my line but I don't move those.

I would say that back when greens weren't so smooth, it would have been a big advantage to "smooth" your line to get a better role.  This is probably a rule that no one ever really brings up because they don't pay it any mind..so its never been changed.

The only time I'd call someone on things like that is if they were somehow brushing the green with their putter for some reason...something completely blatant.

I bow to your wisdom, but I've seen players on TV tap down at 3 or 4 places on a distance of about 10 feet between their ball and the hole.  None of those places were where their ball landed on the green, so either the group which went through earlier never repaired any ball marks or they are tapping down something else.