Ask Linda #30 - crater repair

Dear Linda,
Here is a question for you. If my ball lands in the fairway and in doing so leaves a crater and then bounces away from the crater but the crater is in your line of play, can you repair that crater before you hit your shot from the fairway? I was taken aback when my opponent said you cannot repair that until you have played your shot. Doesn't make sense to me because you can repair a ball mark on the green before you putt. Just wondering.
Lulu

Dear Lulu,

What a great question! Golf rules don't always make sense, Lulu. (You've surely been around long enough to know that!) Your opponent was correct - you may not repair the crater until after you have played your shot. This comes under Rule 13-2 which prohibits a player from improving his line of play by eliminating an irregularity of surface. (If your ball had remained in the crater, generally referred to as a pitch mark, then this would come under the embedded ball rule. A ball embedded in its own pitch mark in the fairway may be lifted, cleaned, and dropped as near as possible to where it lay but not nearer the hole. This is a free drop under Rule 25-2.)

I am going to give you an interesting offshoot of this rule. What are your options if the crater that is disturbing you was made by someone else in your group? The answer is a two-parter. If the crater was there BEFORE your ball came to rest, then you would NOT be entitled to relief without penalty. If your ball had already come to rest, and another player subsequently hit a shot that created a disturbing crater on your line of play, then you would be allowed to repair it. The rationale is that you are always entitled to the lie that your stroke gave you (Decision 13-2/8).

Similarly, let’s say your ball is lying on the apron between a sand bunker and the green. Another player, whose ball lies in that bunker, hits her ball out of the bunker and deposits sand all over your ball. You would be entitled to lift and clean your ball and also remove the newly-deposited sand. You are always entitled to the lie and line of play you had when your ball came to rest.

Linda

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