Hit Tee Shot Into Area With ∞ Range Balls

[metaswinger]

New one for me: Playing a course today with a par 3 next to the driving range. Hit tee shot just left of green but not much. I get there and the area is coated with white range balls that somehow passed the fencing.  I spend my 3 minutes going thru what I can but it's hopeless.  It's Sunday morning and people are behind our group. Technically its a lost ball and I need to go back to the tee - right?  

Instead I dropped in the area my ball landed and hit another without taking a penalty.  It was UNFAIR!

Seriously though, I'm assuming there is nothing in the rule book to help me out, right?

[Vinsk]

11 minutes ago, metaswinger said:

New one for me: Playing a course today with a par 3 next to the driving range. Hit tee shot just left of green but not much. I get there and the area is coated with white range balls that somehow passed the fencing.  I spend my 3 minutes going thru what I can but it's hopeless.  It's Sunday morning and people are behind our group. Technically its a lost ball and I need to go back to the tee - right?  

Instead I dropped in the area my ball landed and hit another without taking a penalty.  It was UNFAIR!

Seriously though, I'm assuming there is nothing in the rule book to help me out, right?

I’m surprised there isn’t a local rule for that, assuming you’re that close to the green.

[Piz]

Dr. Piz here.  It sucks and there ought to be a law...but there isn't.  My advice: take your medicine and play an orange ball next time by.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Piz
miss pelled werd

[Shindig]

My home course, the left side of the ninth fairway and the right side of the second half of the 18th fairway (18 is a par-5) is the driving range.  You aren't supposed to hit woods from the upper deck, but the rule is rarely enforced.  And some people can hit over the fence from the lower deck (I hope not on purpose).

A friend of mine takes a bicycle helmet with him when we play the course.  He puts it on if he's going towards the areas where we're at risk for being hit, which is required when we approach #18.  

The driving range balls are primarily white, so many people, even those who typically only play white golf balls, play a yellow one on those holes for exactly the reason you describe.

[ghalfaire]

On 6/30/2019 at 8:28 PM, Shindig said:

My home course, the left side of the ninth fairway and the right side of the second half of the 18th fairway (18 is a par-5) is the driving range.  You aren't supposed to hit woods from the upper deck, but the rule is rarely enforced.  And some people can hit over the fence from the lower deck (I hope not on purpose).

A friend of mine takes a bicycle helmet with him when we play the course.  He puts it on if he's going towards the areas where we're at risk for being hit, which is required when we approach #18.  

The driving range balls are primarily white, so many people, even those who typically only play white golf balls, play a yellow one on those holes for exactly the reason you describe.

Sounds like a lawyer's dream set up.  Especially if the rules are not consistently enforced.  For the record I'm not a lawyer.

[iacas]

On 6/30/2019 at 7:22 PM, Vinsk said:

I’m surprised there isn’t a local rule for that, assuming you’re that close to the green.

There can’t be. You can’t just make up Local Rules to suit whatever situation you have. Not if it changes the game as this one would.

The ball was lost. Play a yellow ball or a provisional or to the other side of the hole next time.

[Shindig]

8 hours ago, ghalfaire said:

Sounds like a lawyer's dream set up.  Especially if the rules are not consistently enforced.  For the record I'm not a lawyer.

Yeah.  The city keeps saying they can't raise the nets at the practice range because nearby neighbors object.  I imagine someone getting hit and suing would do the trick, or they'd just shut down the upper deck entirely (probably the latter, although I imagine it's a good money maker for them with how occupied it is).  Or we could threaten to go back to an older setup the course had when the range was first added, where it bordered the street and reroute #18 (I hope they don't do this, because #18 in its more or less current setup is where Arnold Palmer made his famous 12).

Anyway, the lesson is if you're hitting into an area you know has range balls, take a ball you'll find.  When I bought six dozen Snell a year or so ago, I was able to get five dozen white one dozen yellow for just this reason.

[metaswinger]

On 6/10/2019 at 3:43 AM, Asheville said:

R16.1e. Relief for Ball Not Found but in or on Abnormal Course Condition

If a player’s ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that the ball came to rest in or on an abnormal course condition on the course, the player may use this relief option instead of taking stroke-and-distance relief:

The player may take relief under Rule 16.1b, c or d, using the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the abnormal course condition on the course as the spot of the ball for purposes of finding the nearest point of complete relief.

Why can't this be used in the condition of the other thread: finding out your ball is surrounded by hundreds of similar range balls and you can't find it?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, metaswinger said:

Why can't this be used in the condition of the other thread: finding out your ball is surrounded by hundreds of similar range balls and you can't find it?

Range balls are not an abnormal course condition.

[metaswinger]

23 minutes ago, iacas said:

Range balls are not an abnormal ground condition.

You used the word “ground”.  The rule uses the word “course”.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, metaswinger said:

You used the word “ground”.  The rule uses the word “course”.

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/rules/rules-2019/rules-of-golf/rules-and-interpretations.html#!ruletype=fr&section=definitions

Abnormal Course Condition

Any of these four defined conditions:

• Animal Hole,

• Ground Under Repair,

• Immovable Obstruction, or

• Temporary Water.

So, which of the four are "a bunch of range balls"?

• Nope.
• Nope.
• Nope.
• Nope.

[metaswinger]

Got it. Tx.

[burr]

Real shame the club can't keep it (fairly) clean for play if it has to have the range so close.  Games hard enough to score without something like this to penalize a playable shot.

[mcanadiens]

That's a pretty common issue at some of our local city courses.  The range is just left of No. 1 on one course and No. 7 on another. So those fairways are where big slices go to die.

Happily, the home courses' new pro brought with him all yellow range balls, so that makes it easy on us.

At the other course, is our old pro. She made a routine of harvesting our hazard losses. If you hang one left out there, you are hosed.

 

[Cantankerish]

I have had that issue with leaves a few times.  Using a different colored ball would not help.  It really stinks to lose your ball in the fairway, but I have come to view the tree lined section of the offending course as a hazard of sorts.

[DrvFrShow]

We have that situation on the 1st hole. Never play a Yellow ball. If you pull your shot you'll never find it. That situation extends mid-way all the way to the rough near the green. The side fence is high but I've sliced the tits off a drive on the range over it many times. You can run into the same problem on the 4th hole but fortunately there aren't as many lefties.

[Bonvivant]

My local muni doesn't have nets, and there are fairways close both sides. Luckily they are to the left, so most of the righty slicers are fine. Its not uncommon to see 3-10 range balls on the fairways outside of those as well. That is to say, off the range, over a rough, fairway, another rough, and out into another fairway. Ive definitely dropped and taken 2 on good shots that should be playable after looking for the alloted time