Give me some relief, or maybe not

Don’t pick up your ball until you have checked out where you are going to be required to drop it.

HAL LENOBEL
Contributing Columnist
golf@lbknews.com

At a recent PGA event, Tiger Woods hit a tremendous drive on the 17th hole down the right side of the fairway and into the rough. The ball was immediately behind a large round drain covered by a steel grate. The area around the drain was very thick. Woods’ ball actually was suspended above the ground in the deep rough. Frank Hannigan on TV said “Tiger can certainly claim interference and it would be a tough call for an official to make.”

Hannigan, as always, was correct. Woods could only ask for relief, however he would not be the sole judge as to whether interference as defined by the rules of golf actually existed and therefore be entitled to relief.

With a ball only an inch or so away from the immovable obstruction it would take a perfect swing to hit the ball and miss the grate. Woods carefully observed his predicament and decided to play the ball as it lay. One club nearest point of relief would have required him to drop his ball in very heavy rough and on a downhill lie.

He decided not to request relief and subsequently hit a spectacular shot to the green. His decision brings to mind two very important considerations that are frequently overlooked and misunderstood.

First, relief from conditions such as an immovable obstruction or ground under repair do not guarantee you a good lie or even a fair chance to play your next shot, nor is it supposed to. It only assures that you will get to swing without interference by the obstruction or ground under repair, without penalty.

Secondly, had Woods been granted relief and lifted his ball, then decided he was better off playing without taking relief, he would not be allowed to return his ball to its original position without penalty. Inexperienced players often make the mistake of picking up their ball the moment the realize they are entitled to take relief, then figuring out where the nearest point of relief is.

Keep in mind that there is only one nearest point of relief, and if that point plus one club length turns out to be behind a large tree or in deep rough, a player who has already lifted his ball would either have to live with those circumstances or accept a penalty stroke to return his ball to its original position.

Take a lesson from Tiger Woods: Don’t pick up your ball until you have checked out where you are going to be required to drop it.

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Definition of a double eagle:  3 strokes less than par for a given hole. This unusual achievement might be accomplished by, say, taking advantage of a gale tailwind on a straight par-5 hole to get down in 2 strokes, scoring a hole in one on a short par-4 or just skipping entirely a difficult par-3 hole.

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This is a situation which poses an interesting question:  a player marks his ball on the green and then replaces it.  As he is about to address the ball, it rolls into the hole.  Should the ball be replaced or is the player deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke?  The answer depends on whether the ball, when replaced, came to rest on the spot on which it was replaced before it started rolling.  If it did, the player is deemed to have holed out with his previous stroke (Decision 20-33d/1).  If not, the player is required to replace the ball (Rule 20-3d).

If gravity or wind moves the ball after it has been at rest you should not replace the ball, but you must play the ball from its new position.

Rule 20-4 clarifies that the ball is in play when it is replaced and at rest.  The next time your ball moves, resist the urge to immediately pick it up and replace it.  Most of the time that is what Rule 18 requires you to do, but not always.