Relief From Cart Path and Obstruction Question

[Wendy Dominick]

There is no option of replaying the stroke if the ball hits the tractor.

[Golfingdad]

Do it in stages. 1) The npr from the path is to the left and the drop would put you under the tractor.  2) Now you take relief from the tractor. The npr would seem to be to the left of the tractor. No problem. 3) If the npr was to the right (ie back on the path). Drop within 1cl and if this leaves you on the path there are two situations. a) The new npr may take you to the right of the path. Good b) The new npr may take you back to the tractor. In this case treat the path and the tractor as ONE big obstruction and take relief from this grand obstruction. This would almost certainly take you to the right of the path.

A fairly similar situation (with two separate drops) occurred yesterday at the Greenbrier. Bryce Molder snap hooked his tee shot on the first hole into a hospitality tent. First he dropped a club length clear of the tent for line of sight relief, but then his swing still interfered so he was allowed a second drop for that interference. For the sake of prudence in a casual round, I would skip the first couple of steps and jump straight to step 3b. :)

[Rulesman]

The pro's take free drops from TV  cables or move the cable, same obstacle but different circumstances govern the option. So, I say your tractor is an unmoveable obstruction.  If you do want to call it a moveable obstruction I believe you bring into play other issues with the tractor like if you hit it you get the option of rehitting your shot with no penalty.

No such animal in the book as an unmoveable obstruction.

You don't get a rehit if your ball hits an Immovable Obstruction.

But you may be thinking of Temporary Immovable Obstructions such as TV towers, grandstands, advertising hoardings which you find at pro events. For these a Local Rule can give line of play relief but not a rehit.

You do get a compulsory rehit if your ball hits an overhead power or telegraph cable and the specific local rule is in force.

[Lihu]

For those suggesting I take a left handed stance that was part of the issue, I'm a lefty.   @Rulesman If I understand you correctly, according to the ROG I should have dropped on the right side of the golf path.  Given I dropped past the trees and it was a casual round, should I add a two stroke penalty to my score and adjust it for handicap purposes?

I was going to mention this as well, but playing off the right is fine as our stance is not affected. The guys you were playing with were just messing around with you making you play that far back. . .

[newtogolf]

I was going to mention this as well, but playing off the right is fine as our stance is not affected. The guys you were playing with were just messing around with you making you play that far back. . .

I don't think they were messing with me, I think we were all confused on where the appropriate place was to drop the ball.  I had the ROG on my iPhone but we couldn't determine the proper ruling and we didn't want to back up the course.  We agreed that the right side of the cart path would be wrong because it put me closer to the hole.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

I was going to mention this as well, but playing off the right is fine as our stance is not affected. The guys you were playing with were just messing around with you making you play that far back. . .

I don't think they were messing with me, I think we were all confused on where the appropriate place was to drop the ball.  I had the ROG on my iPhone but we couldn't determine the proper ruling and we didn't want to back up the course.  We agreed that the right side of the cart path would be wrong because it put me closer to the hole.

You should be able to take a radius from the hole as eventually depicted in the post from @Rulesman ?

[Rulesman]

For those suggesting I take a left handed stance that was part of the issue, I'm a lefty.   @Rulesman If I understand you correctly, according to the ROG I should have dropped on the right side of the golf path.  Given I dropped past the trees and it was a casual round, should I add a two stroke penalty to my score and adjust it for handicap purposes?

This could make significant difference. Depending on the width of the path and the exact position of the ball may mean the npr is to the right and the tractor is irrelevant.

The diagrams in 25-1/2b are helpful (if you can get them to display )

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-25,d25-1b-2

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

For those suggesting I take a left handed stance that was part of the issue, I'm a lefty.   @Rulesman If I understand you correctly, according to the ROG I should have dropped on the right side of the golf path.  Given I dropped past the trees and it was a casual round, should I add a two stroke penalty to my score and adjust it for handicap purposes?

This could make significant difference. Depending on the width of the path and the exact position of the ball may mean the npr is to the right and the tractor is irrelevant.

The diagrams in 25-1/2b are helpful (if you can get them to display  )

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-25,d25-1b-2

Thanks you very much for making the clarification!

This was my gut feeling on this situation (which is why I asked for a simple diagram), so that's why I figured his playing partners were just messing with him.

[Rulesman]

Did you get the diagrams in the link I posted to display ?

[Lihu]

Did you get the diagrams in the link I posted to display ?

They were broken links on the actual USGA website. . .

[DrvFrShow]

Do it in stages.

1) The npr from the path is to the left and the drop would put you under the tractor.

2) Now you take relief from the tractor. The npr would seem to be to the left of the tractor. No problem.

3) If the npr was to the right (ie back on the path). Drop within 1cl and if this leaves you on the path there are two situations.

a) The new npr may take you to the right of the path. Good

b) The new npr may take you back to the tractor. In this case treat the path and the tractor as ONE big obstruction and take relief from this grand obstruction. This would almost certainly take you to the right of the path.

In other words, he ends up dropping at where I drew the green dot for relief no nearer the hole to the right of the path. Yes!

[Rulesman]

They were broken links on the actual USGA website. . .

This still works it seems.

http://usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Decision-25/#d25-1b-2

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

They were broken links on the actual USGA website. . .

This still works it seems.

http://usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Decision-25/#d25-1b-2

Worked, thanks.