The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
A friend and I were playing when her ball landed just off the cart path. Because she would be standing on the cart path to hit her ball, she could take free relief. The course, however, had staked out of bounds such that she didn’t have enough room to drop her ball and still be off the cart path. The quandary: Are you allowed to drop the ball nearest the point of relief on the other side of the path, no closer to the hole? Or do you go back to the nearest point of relief where you can drop on the same side of the path the ball originally landed to a point where you would not be standing on the path? – Maurine Karabatsos, Jackson, Wyo.
Not only allowed, Maurine, but that’s what Rule 16.1b would tell you to do.
If you can’t keep the ball on the course where you’d get free relief, you must find the nearest point that is on the course — and in the general area—no nearer the hole that does give complete relief, then you get a club-length from there. That’s the straight and narrow path.
For more OB-related guidance from our guru, read on …
Our course has an in-course OB to protect players on an adjacent fairway. About 240 yards out, in said fairway, is the last OB stake. Our pro says the OB extends on a line parallel to the last two OB stakes “indefinitely.” I say OB ends at the last stake. Who’s correct? – Tim Slauter, West Lafayette, Ind.
The answer should be specified by the local rule that creates the boundary; if not, the pro, as the de facto committee, is the decider.
Important to note: Boundaries and markings don’t just “stop,” and when a marking “ends,” typically it is by either tying into another marking or is extended to infinity. Your pro appears to be alluding to the latter, which is generally indicated by a “double-stake” marking, with two stakes placed within a yard of each other.
As to what the marking should be, that depends upon the nature of this internal OB and the geography — and is above our pay grade.
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