Rules Refresher – Relief From Abnormal Course Conditions

here are some things you’re likely to encounter out on the golf course from which the Rules, thankfully, do not expect you to play your ball as it lies. Rule 16.1 details what to do when there is interference from abnormal course conditions (ACC), which include animal holes, ground under repair, temporary water and immovable obstructions.

An immovable obstruction is any artificial object that cannot be moved without unreasonable effort or without damaging the obstruction or the course. The most common examples of these are usually things like sprinkler heads, cart paths or roads (as in this diagram), although with the latter, it’s always important to check their status as occasionally they are classed as integral objects from which there is no free relief (e.g. Grannie Clark’s Wynd crossing the 1st and 18th fairways on the Old Course at St Andrews).

Interference from any of these conditions exists when your ball touches, is in or on the ACC, or when

Tthe ACC physically interferes with your area of intended stance or swing – e.g. when you would have to stand on it to play your ball or when your swing would strike it either on the way back or through. In addition to this, and only when your ball is on the putting green, you would also be entitled to free relief if an ACC on or off the putting green intervened on your line of play (see this month’s main article).

There is no free relief, however, if your ball lies in a penalty area or if you have manufactured interference by choosing a club, type of stance or swing or direction of play that is clearly unreasonable, or when something other than the ACC would make it clearly unreasonable to attempt to play the ball (e.g. you’re standing on a cart path but your ball lies deep within a bush).

To take relief from an ACC, you must find the nearest point of complete relief, which is the closest point, no nearer to the hole, where the ACC no longer interferes with the lie, stance, or area of intended swing for the stroke you would have played. From this reference point, you must then drop a ball within one club-length, not nearer the hole, ensuring you have taken complete relief from the ACC.

“Remember, it’s the nearest point of complete relief, not the nicest point!”

Depending where your ball is lying, for an ACC that runs parallel to the line of play, your nearest point of complete relief may be further away from the ACC on one side than the other, and it is important to ensure your stance is completely clear of the path (as in point B2 on the diagram). Remember, in these situations, it’s the nearest point of complete relief, not the nicest point!