Some of us will at times have played with someone who has tried to call us up for the action of brushing something off our line on the putting green with our hand, saying something along the lines of, “You can only do that with a towel / glove / club but not your hand.”
So, who is right? Thankfully, not them, as long as we are taking "brush the green with your hand" to mean brushing away sand or loose impediments rather than rubbing the surface to test the putting green of the hole you are playing. That latter act of deliberate testing would get you the general penalty under Rule 13.1e, as would rolling a ball along that putting green to deliberately test the surface before you had finished playing that hole. However, both such actions are permitted on the putting green just completed between the play of two holes.
