As much as we would all like to play our golf on property unspoiled by man-made annoyances (homes, roads, etc.), having to navigate shots around things other than trees, sand, rocks and water is more typical than not. One of the worst of these obstructions are power lines, which sometimes criss-cross golf courses.
When having to hit a shot from a tee or fairway that has power lines in the way, the question of what happens if you should strike one is worth asking. And if you think it never happens, well, it does – even to tour pros. Matt Wallace, a winner on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, fell victim to a power line at the Italian Open a couple years ago. Same with Sam Burns on the PGA Tour at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship.
A ⚡️ powerful ⚡️ tee shot.@SamBurns66 flexing his knowledge of the rule book. pic.twitter.com/i4j9jQYRCk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 30, 2022
In both cases, they proceeded under a Model Local Rule the tours enacted for the events that gave them essentially a “do-over”.
But do everyday golfers get the same break if they hit a power line?
Short answer: it depends.
Unless your course or committee has enacted the local rule (Model Local Rule E-11) allowing you to replay your previous shot without penalty, you must play the ball as it lies after striking the line (Rule 11.1b). Worse, if it was deflected into a penalty area or out of bounds, you have to play as if you were at fault for the errant shot.
If you’re fortunate enough to be playing a course where E-11 is enacted, where you replay from depends on whether it was a tee shot or not.
Under Rule 14.6, if the previous stroke was made from the teeing area, you can re-tee and play from anywhere inside that teeing area (not just the previous location of your tee shot). If the stroke is made from the general area, penalty area or bunker, this original ball or another ball must be dropped within one club-length of the previous spot in the same area of the course and no nearer the hole. Once you’ve dropped the new ball in play, you’re back to where you were before hitting the power line in the first place.
One last point: If you are playing under the Model Local Rule, you are required to replay the stroke regardless of where the ball winds up after it hits the power line. (“A Local Rule that gives a player the option to replay the stroke for a ball that hits a power line is not authorised,” according to the Rules of Golf.) That was a source of frustration for Burns in his instance of hitting the power line at the Sanderson; his ball found the fairway, albeit a little farther back than normal. Burns, though, had to hit another drive, this one finding the left rough. He was bummed about it afterward, but still made a par so it wasn’t a disaster. And it was still probably better than if his tee ball that hit the power line fell into a water hazard.
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