Hello Linda,
I was playing a round with a friend and pulled my drive
left. It hit a tree that was OB (white stakes) and we saw it kick right back to
what we assumed was inbounds. The side of the small hill where the tree was,
was covered with Ice Plants, and the cart path ran along the entire bottom edge
of the hill. We found my ball on the left edge of the cart path on the inbounds
side of the white stakes. The Ice Plants were covering about 6-8 inches of the
left side of the cart path. My ball was being held on the path (the path sloped
towards the fairway) by the Ice Plants. The ball was literally within 2 inches
of rolling down to the fairway. I argued that I got NPR from the cart path,
which would have been the other side because I can't drop my ball OB. My
buddy said that because my ball was in the Ice Plants and the plants were OB,
so was my ball, and besides they had a local rule that the left half of the cart
path was OB. There was nothing on the scorecard denoting this as a local rule
included with the two local rules that were on the scorecard. He then said:
"well that is how we play here." I argued that I got relief under no
penalty and he argued stroke and distance. There was no white line on the path,
just stakes about 1 foot to the left of the path. Who was right, and what is
the rule I would reference to show him?
Thank you,
Lou from Seattle, Washington
Dear Lou,
Let’s take a moment to review the scene. We have a small
hill with a cart path to the left. Left of the cart path are six to eight
inches of ice plants; left of the plants are the out-of-bounds stakes. The ball
is lying on the left side of the cart path, held in place by the ice plants.
Getting down to basics, what we have here is a ball lying on
a cart path, which is an immovable obstruction. Since the obstruction
interferes with the player’s swing, he may (if he wishes) drop his ball within
one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief
[Rule 24-2b (i)].
The Rules require that the drop be at the nearest point of relief, regardless of
where that may be. From your description, Lou, the nearest point of relief will
be in the ice plants. You must decide whether to hit the ball as it lies on the
cart path (most likely the wiser choice) or drop it in the plants. There is a
third option to declare the ball unplayable and choose one of the relief
options in Rule 28, adding a one-stroke penalty to your score. There is no option to drop without penalty
on the other side of the cart path, since that would not be the nearest
point of relief.
The so-called “local rule” that the left half of the cart
path is out of bounds is not permissible (regardless of whether it appears on
the scorecard). The white stakes define out of bounds, and they are not positioned
in the middle of the cart path.
I suspect your ball landed on a spot from which there is no
practical relief. If you prefer not to hit it off the cart path, your best bet
is to declare it unplayable .
Linda
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