So, let’s wrap up Rule 2, specifically addressing rules 2.3 and 2.4 which deal with free relief. These rules are often misunderstood and the implications can save you from playing a shot that you don’t really want to play.
These rules are in rule 2 (“The Course”) because you will inevitably encounter situations that have to do with how the course is set up for the day. Sometimes the staff is working on a hole and will pile some dirt in the fairway. Late spring spreads the maple helicopters on the green. The groundhog decided to dig a hole this morning. Somebody moved the bench near the teeing area.
Generally, you get FREE relief from obstructions, loose impediments, no-play zones and abnormal ground conditions. BUT, there is a caveat. You do not get relief from boundary objects (things that denote Out-of-Bounds) or integral objects. We’ll address the specific rules for obstructions, impediment and abnormal ground conditions later on in the year (they are found in rules 15 and 16).
We defined boundary objects in last week’s blog entry. They are the objects that define where the Out-of-Bounds area starts.
Say you’re playing your tee shot on #18 at Ruggles and you hit it left and near the short white stake that defines the OB region near the driving range. You get up to the ball and find that part of your ball is not out-of-bounds, but your swing is going to go right into the short white stake. Can you remove the stake to play your shot and then replace it (as you can with a stake denoting a penalty area (yellow or red)? The answer is “no”, but what are your options? The first is to play the ball as it lies and whack the white stake. You might break the stake and your club, but it’s a legal stroke. I’d suggest replacing the stake as close to the original position as possible after the swing. The other option is to declare your ball unplayable and then (for the price of 1 stroke) you could go back to the previous position and hit again, drop (in bounds) within 2 club lengths no closer to the hole, or (if possible) drop on a line between the ball’s location and the flag no closer to the hole. Here’s another riddle. Same situation, you’ve yanked the ball left on #18 and you’re right behind that white stake. You remove the stake and are about to make a swing when you realize that you should not have removed the boundary object. Can you replace it without penalty? Yes, you can. As long as you haven’t played the shot, you can rectify the error. What’s the penalty if you remove the stake and play the shot? That’ll cost you 2 penalty strokes added to the score of the hole.
And what’s an integral object? That would be something designed into the course that you think you’d get relief from (say a wall or a fence), but the committee decides otherwise. The most famous integral object in golf is the road running to the right of the green at the Old Course at St. Andrews. End up on the road and you’ll have to play the ball as it lies. Normally, you’d consider something like a cart path to be an immovable object, but if the committee has decreed it to be an integral part of the course, you’d have to take your lumps. No integral objects have been declared by the committee for REGL, so you’re safe from those kinds of implications during league play.
Finally, no-play zones. These are a new addition to the rule book from 2019. Primarily, it’s to address the environment. Golf courses are often built near environmentally fragile areas (watercourses, marshes, etc.). Rather than mark these areas as penalty areas (where you have the option to play from within them), the course will not allow you to enter these areas and you’ll be forced to take relief outside the no-play zone. We do actually have no-play zones at Ruggles. We do? Yep, and it has to do with the new trees planted between some of the holes. You’re not allowed to take a swing that would hit the tree with your club. I’ve addressed that local rule here in a different blog entry: Tree soldiers and a new local rule (apg-regl.com) .