Agree with this, you will (almost) never be penalized for playing your ball as it lies.
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The R&A also has a useful site explaining the Rules; I’m currently going through Rule 16 covering relief for obstructions or abnormal conditions … there were a few instances recently where I could’ve (“should’ve” 
) taken a free drop.
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correct, play it as u find it! Check the rules for something abnormal… (not grass, weeds, stumps, roots etc, Ball in a tire track is abnormal). That’s in a match! Believe me… I did that once on a Saturday casual round, hit my ball next to a root and messed up my wrist BAD! Now, if it’s a match I’ll decide at that time to take a stroke and penalty or risk injury when it’s “official” Other than that… I’m not risking injury and I’ll roll it slightly away from the root. I played a shot last week out of a hazard and the ball was against some soft stumpy thing, I played it as it lied, I didn’t break the club, advanced it semi sideways about 20 yds, hit a 70yd pitch to about 12 ft, got lucky and drained it for par (all world)!
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You would do well to read the definition of Ground Under Repair. Tire tracks are not automatically GUR, unless defined specifically as such by the Committee. No free relief from tire tracks.
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Life is not fair and neither are the rules of golf. However, the local rule at our club, mostly to protect the course, is free lift out of tire tracks. We are not talking golf cart tracks per se either. We are talking maintenance tractor tire indentations. I have had the unfortunate luck to have a ball land in those types of indentations 2 x in amateur events playing hundreds of competitions over 35 years. These events are like holes in one. You remember them. Both times I had to tell my playing partners to come over and declare I was playing 2 balls and posting 2 scores. One from the possible GUR and the other from a drop no closer to the hole one club length of full relief. Upon finishing the round the tourney rules committee came back out on the course with my playing partners to look and confirm. One time it didn’t matter because score was par. The other time it did. The drop score was 4, the non drop score was 6. I was granted the drop score as the tire track was considered an abnormal ground condition as it was probably 2 inches deep on a soft area. So 100%. You are correct, there is a correct way of taking relief in a tourney and you just get used to the local rule at our club. I do know that on several “weird” circumstances that arise when we are playing for a couple shekels, we will play 2 balls and the pro will settle the dispute and sometimes actually come out to observe the odd condition. As a matter of fact, this one happened last week after a bad rain that an old part of a bridge that was taken out years ago became exposed at the edge of a red stake hazard, but inside the hazard, it was immovable. The players ball landed smack on it. He wanted relief and I was like not in the hazard. You either drop with penalty or risk playing as it lies. He risked it and ended up with a quad, The drop, at worse would have been a double, The worse part for him his opponent ended up 3 putting and took a double. Always think, on the course.
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I agree that life isn’t always fair, and neither is the game of golf. The Rules, however, are consistent in most ways, and to me consistency is generally fair. IS having to hit from a tire track unfair? Well, since everyone who hits it into that tire track has to play it from that tire track, it does seem fair to me. As in life, its unfortunate, but consistent. If your Committee chooses to define these tire tracks as GUR, that’s also consistent, in that nobody has to play from them. Similarly, nobody gets relief from an Immoveable Obstruction when his ball is inside a Penalty Area.
Now that I’ve typed all that, I’ll go back to my previous post, I just wanted to make sure that people reading here know that tire tracks are NOT automatically considered an Abnormal Course Condition, even if its not exactly “normal”.
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Agreed. In the 2 instances I cited in tournaments that I played in (and I played in a few hundred of them), I did everything correctly. Like I said, I called the other players over, showed them the area where my ball was and played 2 balls. The first instance was moot, both balls I made 4. The second instance, I made 4 from the drop, I made 6 from the Tractor Tire Rut. After the round, we went to the rules referee, (even though my partners said to the ref it was a legal drop also). Ref still went to the spot, looked at the spot, took out his white spray can and circled the 3 foot area. Counted the 4, not the 6. He could also have said too bad bub… this ref didn’t. I have to admit it was a bad spot right by the first cut… looked more like a tire trench and hence the 6. I could have dropped in the FW, but I dropped behind the rut on the first cut, in my mind, to keep it fair as I wasn’t on the FW. The rut actually prevented my ball from rolling into some pretty high rough. Just one of those things you remember from playing multiple rounds of golf.
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I just want to clarify a couple of things, so others may understand a little better. You don’t mention when these things occurred, so I’m answering based on the current (2019) Rules of Golf.
Even if you make the same score with both balls, you MUST report to the Committee that you played 2 balls under Rule 20.1. If you don’t report to the Committee, you are DQ.
The other players cannot define that rut as GUR, it has to be a member of the Committee. And he marked it so that anyone else who ends up there would understand that it was GUR, and get the same relief that you did.
If the Relief Area included a portion of the fairway, you’d have been perfectly entitled to drop it there. Remember, if the Nearest Point of Complete Relief, and the Relief Area within 1 clublength of it, was in that “pretty high rough”, your drop would have been in that heavy rough. Relief isn’t always in a good place, its just the closest place.
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Correct, Correct and Correct. All were done in accordance as stated above. Just to make the #1 instance even more interesting… We reported the first instance, my playing partners (competitors) said we would have granted him relief, but he played 2 balls. And when that was done, I played one out, then went back and played from a mark. The referee went out and said… I wouldn’t have granted relief in that circumstance. So my first ball was the only one that would have counted anyways… I did score 4 on both balls in that instance. The second instance, this was like a 8inch wide 3 - 4 inch deep, looked like a spin out in the center of the first cut. It did prevent my ball from going into the 3 inch rough. Ball was marked, closest point of relief probably was into the fw, but it was equidistant if I kept the drop into the first cut, really was a close call. If I would have dropped into the 3 inch high rough 1 club length, my stance would have been in that rut, so that was definitely out. Pretty sure we did everything properly. Everyone and the referee was comfortable with drop. Mostly the second instance, and it’s not like they have travelling referees in these local events, like you see in the pros… you make your best effort to be in compliance. Hey if the drop had to be in the rough that’s what we would have made it. We all try and make our best call. Know what I mean? It was bad enough declaring I’ll play 2 balls as that slowed down play as it was.
In our saturday rounds, we play the local rules, we had a local rule for a while, when there were no rakes out and you ended up in a bunker, you could lift, smooth out the area with your foot or club, and place the ball on the smoothed out area. I’ve had rules look like they would hurt like I was entitled to a drop from a path, but the closest point of relief was into bushes! So I sucked it up and scraped up a 5 iron.
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I’d forgo the rules when the golf ball is near roots tree trunks, boulders… If nothing is riding on the outcome of the shot. Why risk injury or damaged equipment?
I had to fix a guy’s 5 iron last month because the shaft snapped upon impact during the follow through on a tree trunk. He was playing with his S-I-L and a round of drink was riding on the outcome of the game.
It cost him plenty to re-shaft it.
More than a few rounds of drink, and he also risked of injuring someone when the broken shaft with the head helicoptered to 10’ away.
I for one will not take off my golf shoes to hit a shot submerged in water, even a friendly bet is on the table.
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I agree with you, if not playing a competition go ahead and move it. If playing a competition, by the rules, take Unplayable Ball relief, or take your chances. The rules don’t require anyone to risk injury, its only their own stubbornness that leads to that.
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Or as I remembered, have volunteers to remove the obstruction.
Tiger Woods had a situation where a good sized boulder might be interfering with the golf swing. There were a few of the spectator who carried the boulder away from his swing path. It was on Television with one of the tournaments broadcasting. Not sure if that is a violation of the rules where the golfer did not ask for the act but it was performed anyway.
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Now and then, a Loose Impediment can be removed by any means available, if its done with excessive delay to play. But if you cannot remove it, thats life, keep it out of the desert.
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Yes, I remember seeing 3-4 strong men lifting that small piece of boulder to clear the way for Tiger. Amazing. Bethpage Black?
I’m thinking it was either Arizona or Palm Springs, but I’m way too lazy to Google it for myself
You’re correct, it was in Phoenix. It amazed me that the fans could help in this situation without breaking the rules.
I completely agree with that sentiment, but I’m not playing to maintain a handicap.
But, and this is strictly imo…
For people who are maintaining a handicap, I’m wondering if actions like that … along with others such as moving your ball out of a fairway divot … are contrary to “the spirit of the game”…
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If one is not depending on the outcome of this one round of score to bring his index down a half a point. Why do it? Even in tournament golf, we’d witness professionals assessing the situation then either go ahead or declare unplayable lie. Keep one thing in mind that they have sponsors for their equipment. A trip to the tour van after the round would get the damage shaft or head replaced.
Can’t remember which golfer nor the tournament, but I witness on the media there were quite a few incidents of broken or bent shafts resulted from heroic play.
I do remember Phil Michelson and others hitting off the paved asphalt surface a few times.
As for hitting golf balls in a fairway divot, why abandon a chance to practice such a shot? You won’t find this lie on the modern day driving range mat, and no one practice with this lie on grass tee.
I had several opportunity to practice and confirm on what I learned of hitting from the fairway divot ( not a crater). Take one or two more club hit down and through; the ball will come out a bit lower and mostly with a little curve to the right . Same as hitting a driver off the fairway on a long par 5 ( back a few decades ago when the center of gravity on the driver’s face was much lower on a smaller driver head ). I could pull off a shot with a driver head as large as 410 c.c.
It is a personal choice when playing a recreational round if to hit a wayward tee shot in the jungle, through tree branches to get back on the fairway or toward the green; trying to stop a full swing to avoid a tree trunk ( usually won’t work unless one is extremely strong). Not everyone is Saviano Ballesteros.
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I agree here. If you don’t want to play the shot due to risk of injury or damage fine but its a one stroke penalty. If its in a divot as Dews says, play it, its the only way you learn how to!
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I’ve said it before, the “spirit of the game” means (to me at least) playing by the Rules. All the Rules, not just the convenient ones. Sure, that might mean you’re faced with a choice between potential injury and/or club damage, vs taking a penalty stroke for Unplayable. There’s discussion that free relief is OK in casual rounds, where the score doesn’t really count. But if the score doesn’t really count, why would a player be so concerned about adding a penalty stroke to his score?
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