Rules #2-Relief Options, Part I: Finding the NPR

There comes a time during a round of golf when you may choose or are required to play your ball from some place other than where it ended up. Perhaps you hit it out of bounds, lost it in a water hazard, or knocked it down a rabbit hole; maybe it landed in a puddle of water, got stuck in a tree, or is resting on a bench (you might want to rest, too, if someone were pounding you with a club all day!).

Different rules will apply to different situations. Sometimes you get free relief; other times you pay for it. Sometimes you have several choices of where to drop the ball; other times you are restricted to dropping the ball in a specific area.

I am going to try to help clear up the mystery of where to drop the ball by addressing each different situation in a separate article. For today’s topic I will explain when you are permitted to drop your ball with no penalty at the nearest point of relief (NPR), and how to find that point.

You are entitled to FREE relief when you are unable or unwilling to hit your ball because of interference from an immovable obstruction, an abnormal ground condition, or a wrong putting green. Let’s pause a moment and define those terms:

1. IMMOVABLE OBSTRUCTIONS are artificial, man-made objects such as paved cart paths, water fountains, electrical boxes, pump houses, etc. that you are unable to pick up and move. I should mention that objects that define out of bounds (e.g., walls and fences) are NOT obstructions – you DO NOT get free relief if they are in the way of your swing.

2. ABNORMAL GROUND CONDITIONS are casual water, ground under repair (GUR), or holes made by burrowing animals. Casual water refers to such temporary things as puddles, overflow from water hazards, and ground that is so wet that you see the water rising around your shoes when you take your stance.

3. WRONG PUTTING GREEN refers to any green other than the one that belongs to the hole you are playing. You are REQUIRED to take relief if your ball is lying on a wrong putting green; indeed, you will incur a two-stroke penalty if you hit a ball that lies on the wrong green. (Please read Ask Linda #43 for the complete story about how to proceed when your ball lands on a wrong green.)

What all of these immovable obstructions and abnormal ground conditions have in common is they are not supposed to be in your way (unlike trees, fescue, and azaleas, all of which live on the golf course). Therefore, the rules provide their version of a “get out of jail free” card. What they tell you in Rules 24 and 25 is that if your ball lies in or on an immovable obstruction or an abnormal ground condition, or they interfere with your stance (where you are placing your feet) or the area of your swing, you are entitled to free relief.

Note: It is very important that you understand that this free relief does not entitle you to a clear shot at the green; you may still have to hit your ball over the puddle or the water fountain or the electrical box after you take relief.

If your ball lands in one of these predicaments, the rule book will tell you that you may drop your ball within one club-length of the nearest point of relief (NPR), and it also tells you that the spot you choose may not be closer to the hole. Let’s review the procedure for finding this magical NPR.

My first, and perhaps most important, piece of advice is DON’T PICK UP YOUR BALL until you evaluate your relief options. The NEAREST point of relief may not be the NICEST point of relief. If the NPR for a ball lying on a cart path would be in the middle of a group of sticker bushes, you might prefer to take your medicine and hit it off the path. Once you pick that ball up off the cart path, if you decide to put it back because the cure (where you would be permitted to drop) is worse than the disease (the cart path) you will incur a one-stroke penalty for moving your ball. So always look before you lift!

Here is the procedure for finding the NPR (I will use a cart path running alongside the fairway for my example):

1. You will need to use two different clubs to find the NPR. First, select the club you would have used to hit the ball if the cart path weren’t there (perhaps a pitching wedge or a 6-iron). Next, move away from the ball (angling slightly away from the hole) to the spot on the course closest to where your ball lay where your feet are not on the path, and your club, in a natural address position, is not touching the path. Put a tee (or marker) in the ground where the clubhead touches the ground. Now, using any club in your bag (most players will select their longest club for this measurement), lay it on the ground with one end at the tee and the other end no closer to the hole. Place a tee in the ground at the end of this club. You may now drop your ball in the quarter circle area bounded by the two tees and the arc described by the radius that is your club going away from the hole with one end anchored at the first tee you put in the ground. (This area will be MUCH easier to visualize if you look at the diagram in Decision 25-1b/2. I have explained at the bottom of this article under Additional Information, Note 3, how to find that Decision online.) When you drop the ball, if it rolls closer to the hole, into a hazard, out of a hazard (if you were in one), onto a putting green, out of bounds, more than two club-lengths from where it hit the ground, or rolls to a spot where you will still have interference from the condition from which you are trying to get relief, then you will have to re-drop. (I will explain dropping and re-dropping at a later date; for a sneak preview, read Rule 20).

Note 1: You are not required to go through the procedure of marking the area in which you will drop the ball. As long as the spot on which you drop the ball is no closer to the hole and within one club-length of the NPR, you have dropped in the correct spot.

Note 2: While my example was a cart path on the side of a fairway, bear in mind that when you take relief in other situations (e.g., from a water fountain, or a cart path crossing the fairway), the one club-length area starting at the nearest point of relief in which you may drop your ball could be almost as large as a half circle.

2. If your ball is in a bunker (you may be looking to get relief from casual water, for example), follow the procedure in #1 above. However, please note that for FREE relief, the ball MUST be dropped IN the bunker. You may drop it outside the bunker on the line-of-sight to the hole, but taking the ball out of the bunker will cost you a penalty stroke (add one stroke to your score).

3. On a putting green (the likely culprit here will be casual water) you will be placing the ball instead of dropping it, and you are permitted to place it off the putting green if that is where you have to go to find the nearest relief.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Note 1: On a putting green or in a bunker, if complete relief is not available, you are allowed to find the maximum relief possible. Elsewhere, you must take COMPLETE relief.

Note 2: You may not take relief if something else is interfering with your stroke. For example, if you would have to stand on a cart path to hit your ball, but your ball is lodged between tree roots in an unplayable lie, you are not entitled to free relief from the cart path. You would have to proceed under Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable).

Note 3: For an excellent diagram showing how to find the nearest point of relief, see Decision 25-1b/2 on page 357 in the Decisions book (Decisions on the Rules of Golf), or visit:

http://www.usga.org/playing/rules/books/rules.html

scroll down the left side and click on Rule 25, then scroll down the lower right side under Decisions and click on 25-1b/2.

Note 4: If the casual water looks more like a lake than a puddle, and you cannot retrieve your ball without a rowboat, then the point of reference from which you will establish the NPR is the point where your ball entered the casual water. This would also hold true for a sizable area of GUR.

Note 5: Freedom of relief does not mean freedom of choice. If you are a right-handed player, and your ball is lying in the middle of a cart path, then your NPR will be on the left side of the cart path. Even if dropping on that left side would put your ball in a virtually unplayable lie (dense undergrowth, for example) and dropping on the right side would put you on the fairway, you do not get to choose which side to drop it on. The only time you have a choice is when there are two relief points that are equidistant from your ball.

Note 6: The rule book makes no distinction between fairway and rough. If your ball is lying in the rough in a situation that entitles you to free relief, and the nearest relief is on the fairway, it’s your lucky day. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true, which is why I strongly advise you to always check out your options before you lift the ball.

Copyright © 2008 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.