Ruling Needed? Immovable Obstruction?

[TapOut64]

Heron Ridge in Virginia Beach yesterday, hole #7 for those in the area.  Would this box be considered an immovable obstruction with free relief?  (It was in my back swing as the hole was to the left of my ball in the picture.)  You can see that it sits just off the cart path.  How about all the mud and tire tracks?  When I addressed the ball my feet were sinking in wet mud so I took relief for standing water.  Right or wrong?  Thoughts?

[iacas]

Mud is not temporary water.

You would get relief from an immovable obstruction if it's in the area of lie, stance, or area of swing, assuming all are reasonable.

Highly unlikely that is an "integral part" of the course as defined by the Committee.

[DaveP043]

I'm with @iacas, relief from the Obstruction seems likely to be available.  As tor relief from Temporary Water, that only becomes available only when actual water is present, not just mud.  from the Definition of Temporary Water:

"It is not enough for the ground to be merely wet, muddy or soft or for the water to be momentarily visible as the player steps on the ground; an accumulation of water must remain present either before or after the stance is taken."

Relief from Temporary Water can get complicated, once you decide to take relief, you MUST find the nearest point of COMPLETE relief (NPCR).  The NPCR  from an Immoveable Obstruction is usually pretty close, but could be 10 or 20 or sometimes 50 yards away for Temporary Water. It could be into the tree line, or further from the hole.  My recommendation is to ALWAYS figure out where your NPCR will be before you decide to take relief and lift a ball in play.

Edit to add....If you realize that you do NOT want to play from the appropriate Relief area after lifting the ball to take relief, you MAY replace the ball, with one stroke penalty under Rule 9.4.  Or you MAY decide instead to directly take Unplayable Ball relief for two total penalty strokes.  So figure out what your best option is before you decide to lift the ball.

[saevel25]

On 3/16/2025 at 10:10 AM, DaveP043 said:

Relief from Temporary Water can get complicated, once you decide to take relief, you MUST find the nearest point of COMPLETE relief (NPCR).  The NPCR  from an Immoveable Obstruction is usually pretty close, but could be 10 or 20 or sometimes 50 yards away for Temporary Water. It could be into the tree line, or further from the hole.  My recommendation is to ALWAYS figure out where your NPCR will be before you decide to take relief and lift a ball in play.

Good advice. 

When you see a golfer taking short steps, looking down at the ground, it's probably checking for temporary water. 

There are plenty of cases were just hitting it from the bad lie is better than where you would drop it. Like hitting of a cart path.