putts

Question
What constitutes when you have made a putt? Do you start counting your putts if you use your putter from off the green ,or not until you have reached the green?[2] You have reached the green, made your first putt and the ball rolls off the putting surface and rests in a bunker or say in some tall grass. Are the rest of your strokes counted as putts , or are they counted just as a stroke until you reach the putting surface and then count them as putts. Can not find a rule on these questions.  

Answer
Dear Doug, thanks for the question.  Number-of-official-putts are not really a "rule" issue, but rather fall under strictly a statistical category.  The PGA recognizes a putt as ONLY a stroke taken while the ball rests on the green.  Therefore, in your example, those strokes that followed the putt off the green would NOT be considered putts.  Likewise if you decided for whatever reason to use a sand-wedge or otherwise instead of your putter while ON the green, those strokes WOULD be considered putts. (this does not apply if your ball lands on the green of another hole and you use ANY club for your next stroke)  The example that immediately comes to mind is in the case the the putter is broken (out of anger for instance) forcing a player to putt through the remaining round with something else.  Thanks again for asking, good luck and remember...

Love the game,
skipper