Commitee overrides a rule of golf

[GarthM]

On Sunday in our Intersectionals at Cedar Glen the rules for the day included one that seemed inappropriate IMHO.

The committee deemed all hazard stakes to be immovable obstructions from which 1 club length relief no closer to the hole was granted.

Is this allowed? To me it makes no sense whatsoever. It never became an issue in my group but I could see it being so where you were close to a hazard and as a result got a significantly better lie.

[AAA]

The Committee are entitled to declare hazard stakes to be Immovable Obstructions. See the Note: to the Definition of IO

The relief from which is NPR plus 1cl not nearer. The did not need to specify the relief option as IOs are covered by Rule 24-2 which is all they had to say.

There reasoning I suspect is that many players 'forget' to put them back or put them in the wrong place after moving them.

[Thunder]

i bet they wouldnt give relief from OB stakes though eh Garth. I agree....stupid rule. the rules allow you to remove the stakes!!! that should be enough.

[AAA]

How often do you encounter stakes that have not been put back?
It seems to be common on many 'pay & play' courses.

[quinner]

I can definitely see how in certain situations where someone would remove the stake and never put it back and perhaps then someone getting a more favourable decision because it was not clearly marked. I would much rather have someone get a better lie than not being charged with a stroke, or being disqualified because the hazard wasn't properly marked because of someone not putting the stake back.