Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Riverwalk 6/4/16
Our club played a tournament at Riverwalk on the weekend, and there were a few interesting rulings in our foursome:
Nearest point of relief on a cart path
If you are a right handed golfer, and your ball comes to rest in the middle of the cart path, then your nearest point of relief is going to be on the left side of the cart path (assuming the cart path runs parallel to the hole). Your stance is taken into account when determining the nearest point of relief. The rule doesn't say nicest point of relief, it says nearest.
My ball was about 3/4 of the way on the right side of the cart path, and I took relief on the right side. It was very close.
Ball Unplayable (but not lost)
One of the guys in our group hit his tee shot on a par three into a nasty area of scrub. He then hit a provisional onto the green. He spent a couple of minutes looking for his first ball, and he unfortunately found it. It was in a bush about waist high. It was clearly unplayable. Once he found the ball, then his provisional was no longer an option. If he hadn't found his first shot (if he didn't looked very hard), then the provisional would be playable, laying three.
The nearest point of relief was further behind the nasty bushes. That was an option, as was going back to the tee. But the provisional is not a legal option in this scenario.
Unmarked Ground Under Repair
There were large areas of bare dirt in the fairway on several holes. There was no marking indicating that it was ground under repair. As far as I can tell from the definition of ground under repair, and from reading Rule 25, no relief is available. Our group played this way, but other groups played it as ground under repair, even though it wasn't marked. What say you?
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Our handicap chair cited decision 25/14:
ReplyDeleteQ: What constitutes a "hole made by a greenkeeper?"
A: A "hole made by a greenkeeper" is usually ground temporarily dug up in connection with course maintenance, such as a hole made in removing turf or a tree stump, laying pipelines, etc.
The word "hole" threw me on that one. It wasn't a hole, but it was definitely GUR.
So relief was legit.
This brings up a question that has come up regarding GUR. The ROG state the a GUR area has to be marked either by say chalk or stakes with rope, or designated so by the Club Committee (or designated rep like a greenskeeper) but then it must be noted so, like on a scorecard, so all players are aware. Since the chalk or stakes designate the boundaries of the GUR I also assume it must be a complete circle of sorts otherwise one wouldn't know on which side of the chalk or line constitute the boundaries of the GUR.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes those chalk lines become thin due to weather. Would a player need to be able to discern a circle, of sorts at least, to be able positivel identify the GUR or at least it's boundaries, or can one just see a a little chalk maybe several feet or yards from the lie of the ball and declare it must have been GUR at one time and therefore take a free drop?