Relief From Cart Path (Immovable Obstruction)

[BC MIST]

BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATES ONLY

A cart path runs up the left side of a hole and my tee shot lands a couple of inches to the right of the centre of the path. Being 150 yards from the green I take out my driver to help find my nearest point of relief. I am right handed and because my ball is just barely on the right side of the cart path, I take a stance on the right side of the path, with the head of the club well clear of the path and there, I place a tee. My heels barely touch the edge of the cart path.

Using my 7 iron, the club that I would play the shot with if the path was not there. I measure one 7 iron length and place another tee in the ground. I drop the ball from waist height and it lands between the tees but rolls about one and a half club lengths farther away from where it landed.

I pick up the tees and because I dropped the ball into a lousy lie, I play the shot with a pitching wedge.

This procedure contains several errors. Let's see how many of them you can find and how many penalty strokes, if any, would be incurred.

[little brit]

Well I haven't really got a clue But I would imagine that the first penalty mistake would be taking a drop closer to the hole. Maybe a second would be not obtaining full relief? third maybe for not re-dropping when the ball landed outside the dropping zone? Fourth would be waist high drop not shoulder? Seems like a comedy of errors.

I am probably wrong on all accounts. Time to buy a rule book!

[BC MIST]

Well I haven't really got a clue But I would imagine that the first penalty mistake would be taking a drop closer to the hole. Maybe a second would be not obtaining full relief? third maybe for not re-dropping when the ball landed outside the dropping zone? Fourth would be waist high drop not shoulder? Seems like a comedy of errors.

I am probably wrong on all accounts. Time to buy a rule book!

Not obtaining full relief - Correct
Not dropping from shoulder height - Correct The arm must be extended, too. This results in a one stroke penalty.

The ball landed in the correct spot "it lands between the tees"
I did not indicate that the ball rolled closer to the hole, but only that it rolled a club length and a half away from where it landed.

You got two, but there are others. Don't give up.

[Kiwi battler]

It's quite possible the NPR was actually correct , and full relief WAS obtained , explaining how and why would give away possibly 3 of the errors

I must ask tho , how wide was the cart path ?

Oh yeah , you exagerate lol

[Kilroy]

It's quite possible the NPR was actually correct

I doubt it. Don't forget the distance from the path between player's heels and the clubhead / ball.

a couple of inches to the right of the centre of the path

[Kilroy]

and full relief WAS obtained

Can he have his feet on the path after taking relief from the path?

[Kiwi battler]

Ok , but its going to give some errors away lol

He cant no , but there is no penalty for using an incorrect method to obtain NPR , as long as the drop is withen the allowed area

He used driver , wrong club , no penalty
Had he used his 7iron and found NPR without his heals on the path , he would end up the same place had he used driver with heals on path

Had he used the 7iron , dropped withen inches of NPR then grabbed his driver "or 3wood" for his next shot , he could well have been playing with heals on the path , further relief would have optional

What was on the left side of the path ? a hazard ? OOB ? GUR ?

Lets assume this is a rear case where NPR was on the right side , for now anyways

[Kiwi]

BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATES ONLY

A cart path runs up the left side of a hole and my tee shot lands a couple of inches to the right of the centre of the path. Being 150 yards from the green I take out my driver to help find my nearest point of relief. I am right handed and because my ball is just barely on the right side of the cart path, I take a stance on the right side of the path, with the head of the club well clear of the path and there, I place a tee. My heels barely touch the edge of the cart path.

Using my 7 iron, the club that I would play the shot with if the path was not there. I measure one 7 iron length and place another tee in the ground. I drop the ball from waist height and it lands between the tees but rolls about one and a half club lengths farther away from where it landed.

I pick up the tees and because I dropped the ball into a lousy lie, I play the shot with a pitching wedge.

This procedure contains several errors. Let's see how many of them you can find and how many penalty strokes, if any, would be incurred.

First, are you not allowed two club lengths? But it is with the same club, either 1W or the 7i, not one of each, Right? Not sure of the penalty, but there would be one for improper measure.

Second the height of the drop, shoulder, not waist. Penalty for improper drop.

Third, as long as the ball does not roll more than two (?) club lengths after it lands within the prescribed area, no problem, Right?

Finally, back to para one, I think there is an issue there. NPR does not mean that it goes to the right because it is on the right half of the path. If you go left then your new ball position would be closer to the original ball position and therefore be the NPR. Is it not the distance of the ball, not your stance that is the issue? Not sure I explained it correctly... but I know what I mean. If you go to the right then the ball could be up to two full club lengths away from the original position, whereas if you went left you would have a clear stance and the ball could be barely half the cart path width from the original resting position, no? So another penalty for not taking NPR... pass the calculator

[BC MIST]

First, are you not allowed two club lengths? But it is with the same club, either 1W or the 7i, not one of each, Right? Not sure of the penalty, but there would be one for improper measure.

Second the height of the drop, shoulder, not waist. Penalty for improper drop.

Third, as long as the ball does not roll more than two (?) club lengths after it lands within the prescribed area, no problem, Right?

Finally, back to para one, I think there is an issue there. NPR does not mean that it goes to the right because it is on the right half of the path. If you go left then your new ball position would be closer to the original ball position and therefore be the NPR. Is it not the distance of the ball, not your stance that is the issue? Not sure I explained it correctly... but I know what I mean. If you go to the right then the ball could be up to two full club lengths away from the original position, whereas if you went left you would have a clear stance and the ball could be barely half the cart path width from the original resting position, no? So another penalty for not taking NPR... pass the calculator

1. No. You are allowed 1 club length relief once you have determined the NPR. The rules states that the golfer SHOULD use the club with which he would hit the shot if the cart path was not there. In this case the 7 iron would be used to determine the NPR and then ANY club can be used for the club length, including an opponent's or a fellow competitor's. It IS acceptable to just drop a ball without actually measuring anything, as long as it's dropped in the proper spot, however, it is wise to mark the NPR and the club length.

2. Correct.

3. Correct, except the ball may roll up to 2 club lengths from where it first hits the ground, not from the outermost limit of the 1 club length mark.

4. Correct. The distance of the ball from the right side of the cart path + the length from the heels to where the 7 iron would be soled is likely greater than the distance from the ball to the left side of the cart path + a couple of inches to be clear of the path. Because the golfer played the ball from a wrong place, the penalty is 2 strokes, not one and as this is not likely to be a serious breach of the rule, the stroke does not have to be replayed from the correct spot.

[Kiwi battler]

1 wrong club to determine NPR , no penalty
2 NPR on wrong side of path , assuming of course there was no reason NPR couldnt be on the left.....breach of 24-2 2 penalty strokes
3 heels on the path , no resulting penalty in this case
4 incorrect drop , not corrected ...1 shot penalty

all resulting in 5 , playing from a wrong place with no serious breach presumably ...2 stroke penalty already applies in #2

Is the total 3 penalty shots or 2 ? ....does he avoid penalty in #4 ? multiple breaches and all that

[Kiwi]

Thanks BC. First one of these I tried. Lots more fun (and informative) than reading, and re-reading that little book.