Sprinkler Heads Near Greens
prinkler heads are a common feature found on most golf courses, but shouldn’t be a challenge of the course itself, says Chris Wallace, Rules manager at The R&A.
The Rules provide relief from these immovable obstructions under Rule 16.1 when they interfere with the lie of the ball, a player’s stance or the area of their intended swing. But what happens when an immovable obstruction interferes on a player’s line of play? Generally speaking, there is no free relief then, unless the ball is on the putting green. Relief is provided on the putting green as it is expected that the player will be putting and playing the ball along the ground rather than getting it airborne, so any interference on the line of play has the potential to affect the next stroke more significantly.
However, on courses with very closely mown areas around the green, there may be situations where players are likely to
Select to putt from off the green. If the fringes of putting greens are cut short enough that putting from off the green is likely to be a common choice, immovable obstructions that are close to the putting green may interfere with these strokes in the same way that they would on the putting green. As a result, Committees can choose to give an extra relief option under Rule 16.1.
This extra relief option allows the relief under 16.1 to be extended to situations where a player’s ball lies in the general area and an immovable obstruction close to the putting green is on the player’s line of play. Model Local Rule F-5 (in the Committee Procedures) specifically addresses the issue and allows for free relief if a sprinkler head (or any immovable obstruction) on a player’s line of play is located within two club-lengths of the edge of the putting green and is within two club-lengths of the player’s ball.
Players can then take relief just as they would from any other abnormal course condition by finding their nearest point of complete relief and dropping the ball within one club-length of that point, no closer to the hole.
The Committee does have the option to limit such relief to certain situations, such as only for particular holes or obstructions, or only when the ball and the obstruction are in part of the general area cut to fairway height or less, so it is important to have a close read of the Local Rules.