Cart Path Relief rules

[BirdieMan]

Hey All,

I just played a round with my buddy Simmer and a question came up. Is there free relief when your ball rest on a cart path??? or If your stance is altered by the cart path, do you get a free relief???

Just wondering...

Thanx

[Kilroy]

Yes and yes. Nearest point of relief, plus a clublength, no closer to the hole. It's free!

[jvincent]

Also very important to note that it is "Nearest point". which is not always nicest point of relief.

Example. My ball is on the cartpath and if I hit it from there I have a flat lie. If I take relief at the closest point, my feet are now 3 feet below the ball because there is a sharp drop off into a ditch on the side of the cartpath which is closest to my ball.

[AAA]

Hey All,

I just played a round with my buddy Simmer and a question came up. Is there free relief when your ball rest on a cart path??? or If your stance is altered by the cart path, do you get a free relief???

Just wondering...

Thanx

Unless there is a Local Rule declaring pathe to be 'an integral part of the course', the answer is Yes & Yes.
Note however if you take relief you must take full relief. ie If the ball was on the path you drop it such that your feet are on the path.

[KickerOfElves]

Even if there is a local rule declaring a path to be a part of the course, I'm dropping free. Unless the course is going to buy me a new club after I destroy it hitting off the path.

[gbower]

I ended up on the cart path today and thought about where I had to drop with my NPR and although I had a flat lie on the path I decided to drop and even though I knew that it may roll into an unsatisfactory spot I hoped it would drop in a very favourable spot but it didn't and I had a brutal lie. Next time I will definitely play from that path in that area. It's only the bottom of the club that gets scratched up a bit and who looks at the bottom.

[SIMMER]

I was right again. Read up on the rules before questioning me again..

On a related note, the nearest point of relief could be different if you are a leftie or a rightie..

[BirdieMan]

It was weird...just cuz I saw Annika S. play a ball off of the cart path on the last round of the LPGA McDonald's Championship...

Was just wondering why she didnt take a relief, her ball was in the middle of the cart path.

Yeah, Simmer you were right, but I won the round and some $$$...

[SIMMER]

I saw the replay of the shot which was beautiful but I didn't see the circumstances she was in. She may have been in worse off shape if she took relief so it may have been better for her to play it as it lies.

By the way, you didn't win $$$, you only reduced the amount owing to me...

[jvincent]

She may have been in worse off shape if she took relief so it may have been better for her to play it as it lies.

Not Annika, but in the LPGA this weekend I think it was Pat Hurst took an unplayable and after her drop her feet were on the cart path.

I believe she would have been entitled to relief from the cart path, but in taking that relief she would have had to drop her ball in the area she just took an unplayable from (waist high fescue).

So in that case it was better to just play it as it lies (after the unplayable drop) and hit from the cart path. I've hit plenty of shots with my feet on the path for this same reason.

[jonf]

Anyone else remember that Greg Norman shot off the path at the Skins game, onto the green on a par 5? Warned the camera guy on his tower to move a bit to the side because that was where he was aiming, and ripped it right by the camera? That was GOLD.

[Kiwi battler]

AAA meant to say "drop such that your feet are NOT on the path"

lazy fingers lol

[BC MIST]

Even if there is a local rule declaring a path to be a part of the course, I'm dropping free. Unless the course is going to buy me a new club after I destroy it hitting off the path.

Of course, you can do whatever you want if you are not playing in a tournament or counting this round for handicap purposes, but, if your ball lies on a dirt cart path you are not entitled to relief unless the local rules indicate such. Paths that are "artificially" surfaced (paved, stone dust, gravel, interlocking brick) are immovable obstructions. Dirt paths are NOT.

I just played a round with my buddy Simmer and a question came up. Is there free relief when your ball rest on a cart path??? or If your stance is altered by the cart path, do you get a free relief???

If in taking a normal stance the path interferes with the players stroke, he is entitled to relief. However, if the players "alters" his stance so that it is on the path, whereas a normal stance would not be on the path, no relief is permitted.

[Golfbum]

Anyone else remember that Greg Norman shot off the path at the Skins game, onto the green on a par 5? Warned the camera guy on his tower to move a bit to the side because that was where he was aiming, and ripped it right by the camera? That was GOLD.

I remember that, that happened in BC if I recall correctly.
I have seen a few times in PGA events that guys hit off a cart path, Fred Funk was one of them. Due to the fact that the drop would have put the ball into thick rough, so they play it off the path.

I used to take a wedge to work, and older one I no longer used. One day a guy at work asked me about hitting shots off hard lies. I said watch this . Opened up the big door, set a ball on the concrete and smoked that wedge about 130 yards We looked at the bottom, not a mark on it. Now mind you that was smooth concrete. But if you are good you can hit off a path and not do any damage to your club. You just make sure you pick it clean, no time for the big strip of carpet to be flying

[AAA]

AAA meant to say "drop such that your feet are NOT on the path"

lazy fingers lol

Thanks. I didn't read what I had written. Doh!

[zoic]

You just make sure you pick it clean, no time for the big strip of carpet to be flying

Works for me, those fairways with the grass as short as a green are killer if you do not take a divot. I learned to pick it so clean, I think I could hit off a sheet of glass.

[Golfbum]

Works for me, those fairways with the grass as short as a green are killer if you do not take a divot. I learned to pick it so clean, I think I could hit off a sheet of glass.

When I learned to golf most courses did not have fairway irrigation. By the end of a hot July the fairways were like car paths! No wonder I do not take much of a divot today

[zoic]

Yep, that is probably why I used to be able to hit it 300 yards, lots of bounce and roll, LOL. When the grassed was right baked a worm burner was really special.

[jonf]

I remember that, that happened in BC if I recall correctly.
I have seen a few times in PGA events that guys hit off a cart path, Fred Funk was one of them. Due to the fact that the drop would have put the ball into thick rough, so they play it off the path.

I used to take a wedge to work, and older one I no longer used. One day a guy at work asked me about hitting shots off hard lies. I said watch this . Opened up the big door, set a ball on the concrete and smoked that wedge about 130 yards We looked at the bottom, not a mark on it. Now mind you that was smooth concrete. But if you are good you can hit off a path and not do any damage to your club. You just make sure you pick it clean, no time for the big strip of carpet to be flying

Perfect shot for Norman then. I've been told in various threads I've started about ball position that he always played off the front foot and was a sweeper of the ball. What really amazed me about that shot wasn't just that he hit it off the path, but that he hit it so perfectly.

Everyone was raving a couple years ago about that shot Tiger hit for that ad - they told him to try to hit the camera, and he hit it dead on. Well, Norman did the same thing. He told that camera guy to move, and if he hadn't, he would have just destroyed that camera....only Norman was hitting off the cart path. Still got to be my favourite golf moment of all time (apart maybe from Wie puking and having to quit on the weekend) ...and yes, I'm a jackass).

[Kiwi battler]

just read thru a link written by Gary on relief from paths ........1 thing bothered me

"Measure the distance from your ball to each tee (many such trials may be needed on a curving cart path). The tee that is CLOSEST to your BALL is the nearest point of relief. There can be only one NEAREST point of relief'

There will be cases where there are more than 1 Nearest point of relief ...i.e. a path 4 foot wide , and the ball is 4inches from the RH edge.
depending on club used and players setup , its quite possible the ball is equidistant relative to 2 NPR's
this will be relatively uncommon tho ....but are mentioned in the decisions book and no doubt the rules themselves
in such cases its the players choice as to which NPR he chooses

[Kilroy]

Very rare that there would be 2 equidistant Nearest Points of Relief.

Sounds like an argument waiting to happen though!

[jvincent]

This is exactly why on Tour they ALWAYS have a rules official confirm their decision of NPR.

Once a rules official has made a ruling the player cannot be assessed a penalty after the fact for making an incorrect drop even if the rules official made an incorrect ruling.