These are the answers on last week’s questions.
16.7 The ball lies in an overflow area of a penalty area. We don’t see any lines on the grass, only red stakes. Is the ball considered to be in the Penalty Area?
Answer: When a ball lies in an overflow of water besides a penalty area, the ball is not considered to be in the Penalty area.
16.8 A ball is embedded in the grass face of a bunker. What are the player’s options?
Answer: The ball is not in the bunker. If it is possible to drop a ball not closer to the hole inside one club-length from the reference point behind the ball, the player may get a free relief for the embedded ball.
16.9 What are the options if the player’s ball is embedded in temporary water.
Answer: At the player’s choice he may take relief from one or the other condition, without penalty. Once he took relief from one condition, he may take relief again from the other condition if the other condition is still present,
16.10 The ball is embedded in the penalty area. If the ball was not embedded, the ball would be playable. What is the relief procedure?
Answer: A player does not get a free relief for an embedded ball in a penalty area. He must use, with a one stroke penalty, any of the options available for a ball in a penalty area.
16.11 The player’s ball is in a bush in an unplayable position. But an alligator is close by to watch the ball. Can the player take a relief from a dangerous animal?
Answer: When a ball is unplayable, it is not possible to get a free relief from a dangerous animal.
16.12 A playable ball lies in a penalty area. A huge snake is about 6 feet from the ball. Will a referee grant him a free relief from a dangerous animal?
Answer: Yes, even if the ball lies in a penalty area, if the ball is playable and a dangerous animal is close, a player gets a free relief, but the ball must be dropped in the penalty area
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I will spend some time to give more information on the Abnormal Course Conditions as it was asked by many of my readers.
Any of those four defined conditions constitute an Abnormal Course Condition:
• Animal hole
• Ground under repair
• Immovable obstruction
• Temporary water
Under rule 16, it is possible to obtain a free relief from those conditions. Adding to those conditions, we may also get a free relief from an embedded ball and from a Dangerous Animal.
To give a free relief, we must verify that the ball would be playable if the condition would not be there. In the next weeks I will cover all the different conditions.
ANIMAL HOLE
An animal hole is any hole dug in the ground by an animal, except for holes dug by animals that are also defined as loose impediments (such as worms or insects). And the term animal hole includes:
• The loose material the animal dug out, of the hole
• Any worn-down track or trail leading into the hole, and
• Any area on the ground pushed up or altered because of the animal digging the hole underground
When we know that the ball is in an underground animal hole, the free relief will be granted if the ball would be playable at the entrance of the hole. If at the entrance there is a huge bush, we will consider that the ball would be unplayable, and the free relief will be denied.
If a worn-down path in the woods does not go directly to an animal hole, we won’t give a free relief.
LOST BALL (in the animal hole)
If the player’s ball has not been found and it is known or virtually certain that the ball came to rest in the animal hole, the player may take a free relief.
When we are looking for a ball in the woods, and we can’t find the ball. Even if we see a few groundhog holes, it would be very difficult to argue that the ball must be lost in an animal hole.
NEXT WEEK: GROUND UNDER REPAIR