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A creek runs along the left side of a hole on my course, enters a culvert that runs under the fairway and then exits the right side. Red stakes mark both sides of the stream, but the stakes end at the entrance to the culvert where the stream passes into the ground. My friend states that if a ball enters the culvert and comes to rest under the fairway, the player is entitled to free relief. vertically – that is, directly above the ball on the fairway. Their reasoning is that, because the red poles end at the entrance of the culvert, the part of the creek inside the culvert is no longer part of the marked penalty area. I called BS on that. Isn’t the ball always considered in the penalty area while it is in the culvert? Regardless, is there a rule that allows a player to take free relief directly over the ball on the fairway? — W. Scott Clark, via email
F. Scott – sorry, W. Scott (Rules Guy must have Fitzgerald in mind) – there are some nuances here that potentially complicate matters, which we will promptly ignore, so fusspots please spare your letters…
The edges of a penalty area extend vertically up and down. If the Committee marked the edges of the culvert as penalty areas, but clearly not the rest of the culvert since they did not want the middle of the fairway to be a penalty area, then a ball in that underground culvert is actually in an abnormal course condition and free relief is allowed.
In this case, where the relief is depends on where the ball is located – the closest point of relief it could be directly above, or it could be near the entrance of the culvert. See Clarification 16.1/5 if you want to go further, down that culvert, er, rabbit hole.
For more relief guidance from our guru, read on…
We had many discussions at my course about the proper way to leave from a car pathespecially on a dogleg right, with a fairway left of the fairway. A large oak tree is just off the road, on the right hand side. In a recent tournament, our opponent wanted to leave the left side of the fairway to have an opening to the green. I informed him that he had to go down on the nearest full relief – and that it was on the right side, which would put the shot in direct threat of the maples. He wasn’t happy…but wasn’t he right? – Scott Hall, via email
You weren’t alone, though! The closest point of complete relief is really… wait for it… the closest point of complete relief – in this case, from the course, regardless of whether it results in a difficult shot afterwards.
For the Definition of the Nearest Relief Point complete, the Rules give relief from the road, not from everything in the road. Your opponent must stop, drop and give 20 pushups on the way to the cart as a mea culpa… or just learn the Rules as you know them.
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