Chances are you recognize that the aerial photo above is of the first and 18th holes at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. As you take a look, you can see spectators walking across those two fairways on a paved road.
You might wonder what happens when a ball comes to rest on that road. After all, it’s appears to be a oversized cart path, so shouldn’t it be treated like all other abnormal course conditions where free relief is granted under Rule 16?
Nope. Sorry. If your ball comes to rest on this road, you either have to play it as it lies or take an unplayable lie (and the stroke penalty). Sounds harsh, but this road is considered an integral object (Definitions, Rules of Golf).
It’s a term you might not be familiar with because it’s highly unusual to encounter one on a course. In short, a committee/golf course can declare an artificial object “integral” if it feels it’s part of the challenge of playing the course (Model Local Rule F-1).
Where this rule often comes into play on courses less famous than St. Andrews is when there are bridges crossing penalty areas. In many cases, the ends of the bridge are outside the penalty area. You might think because of that, if your stance or swing is interfered with by the bridge, you would get free relief. Often, however, that is not the case, so it’s always smart to check before proceeding.
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Another example would be encountering a stone wall on a hole that is not part of the course boundary. North Berwick Golf Club, not far from St. Andrews, has some walls around its property including one that famously guards the green on the 400-yard 13th (below). It’s considered an integral object, so you have to steer clear of it if you want to avoid a big number on that hole. Although if it did define out of bounds, you wouldn’t get free relief from it, either.
Courtesy of North Berwick Golf Club
Walls bordering penalty areas also are sometimes deemed integral objects. At Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi, which played host to the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open and more recently the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur, there’s a penalty area in front of the sixth green that has a retaining wall surrounding the water (below). Since it’s man-made, you might think it’s an obstruction. But during the Amateur, it was considered an integral object. That meant it didn’t matter whether a player’s ball, stance or swing was interfered with by the wall—even if the ball was outside the penalty area—they still had to play it as it lies or take an unplayable (and the stroke penalty).
Courtesy of Old Waverly Golf Club
We did some investigating to see if there are any integral objects to note at Royal Portrush for this week’s British Open. Players will be glad to know that there are none, so they don’t have to wrestle with the question over the course of a round.
As for you and the next round you play, a good question to ask yourself when trying to figure out if an artificial object is an obstruction or integral is, Does it seem like it’s there to impact my decision-making in playing the hole?
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
