May a right handed player play on the left in order to obtain a free relief?
LAST WEEK’S QUESTION
Eddy’s ball lies 12 inches from a cart path on the right side of the fairway in a very bad lie. 15 yards away a tree is on his line of flight. Eddy is right handed and his feet are not on the cart path, but if he was left handed, his feet would be on the path and he would be allowed a relief. His nearest point of relief would bring him in a position where the tree would not bother him anymore.
CAN EDDY DECIDE TO PLAY LEFT HANDED AND OBTAIN THE RELIEF FOR AN IMMOVABLE OBSTRUCTION?
- When a right handed player wants to play on the left and obtain a free relief of a cart path, he need a very good reason to play left handed.
- The tree that is 15 yards away is not a factor in his stance and will not be considered in the ruling.
- The player can’t decide to switch sides only because he feels good about it. He needs a physical reason.
Look at the following picture:
The green is 180 yards, you can see it far away, the ball lies near a tree, we see a cart path nearby and the player can’t play his next shot properly because the tree will be in his stance.
The player has 2 choices:
- play right handed but away from the hole.
- play left handed and hit his ball somewhere to get closer to the green.
Il these two choices, he will have his feet on the cart path and will be granted a free relief from the immovable obstruction.
HOW TO TAKE RELIEF
-a the player must take position with his feet not touching the cart path
-b put a tee at the position of the club head
-c drop a ball within 1 club-length of that point
-d the ball may roll another 2 club-length and still be in play.
The ball will probably lie on the other side of the tree and the player would play his next stroke right handed.
OTHER QUESTION:
On the other picture we see the ball in an unplayable position, what are the options?