Rules Column: Patti Daskalos

What can you do when your ball ends up by an Immovable Obstruction?

Last article we looked at how to take relief from movable obstructions. When a player has interference from a movable obstruction, the player will get free relief my moving the obstruction away from their ball. But what happens if the obstruction cannot be moved?

The Rules of Golf define an Immovable Obstruction as any obstruction that cannot be moved without unreasonable effort without damaging the obstruction or the golf course. Immovable Obstructions are things like maintenance sheds, signposts, cart paths, and sprinkler heads. When a player has interference from an Immovable Obstruction (IO), the ball gets moved away from the object. Interference includes the player’s lie of ball, intended stance, and intended swing path. What area of the course the ball has come to rest matters if and how a player will get relief. (You don’t get relief if you create a weird stance or funky swing to try to get relief. Your stance and swing must be clearly reasonable!)

Here are a couple of scenarios about immovable obstructions: Bella’s tee shot comes to rest in the fairway. In taking her regular stance for her approach shot, her right foot is on a sprinkler head. Bella is entitled to free relief. For a ball in the general area, Bella would find her nearest point of complete relief (where she no longer has interference from that sprinkler head). The nearest point of complete relief becomes her reference point. Remember that the nearest point of complete relief can be right, left, or even behind the sprinkler head, but never closer to the hole. Bella gets one club length from her reference point, which must be in the general area. Bella will drop the ball, which must remain in the relief area. Her relief is free relief.

Ed has hit his ball into the penalty area. There is a permanent signpost in the penalty area that interferes with his swing. Unfortunately for Ed there is no IO relief for a ball in a penalty area. Ed may play the ball as it lies, or he may take penalty area relief.

Tyrone hit his tee shot and it barely dribbled into a fairway bunker. There is a drainage grate that he would have to stand on to hit his ball. Tyrone is entitled to IO free relief within the bunker. He would use the same procedure that Bella used to find her nearest point of complete relief. However, Tyrone is concerned about where he would get to take relief and wisely leaves his ball where it came to rest while he determines where his relief area would be. Unfortunately for Tyrone, once he found his reference point and relief area, he realizes he has no backswing because of the bunker edge. Tyrone can either play the ball as it lies, or Tyrone can take relief outside the bunker for one penalty stroke. Tyrone’s relief procedure is different in this case.

He would go back on a line from the ball’s position in the bunker in line with the hole. Tyrone can go back as far as he would like (He cannot go closer to the hole than the ball’s original location). He can drop the ball in any area of the course (except for the bunker he took relief from). When he drops the ball it must stay in the same area of the course where it first touched the ground— and the ball can roll IN ANY DIRECTION up to one club length away from where it struck the ground—(Again cannot be closer to the hole than the ball’s original location). Taking IO relief outside the bunker costs one penalty stroke. And lastly, in a case I have never come across, but I’m sure on a golf course somewhere exists: an immovable obstruction on a putting green. If you have interference from an immovable obstruction IO on a putting green, interference also includes your line of play. In this case you determine your nearest point of complete relief, which can be either on or off the putting green and no closer to the hole. Even if your nearest point of complete relief is off the green, you place the ball on that spot. And always remember, relief from Immovable obstructions is an option. If you choose, you can play the ball as it lies.