[PHOTO: David Cannon]
Let’s start with an absolute – golf courses need water. This is especially true of green complexes, where grass is cut to such short lengths that water is essential to keep them alive. You might take this into consideration when you start to curse anytime a sprinkler head is in the way of your ball and the flagstick. It might seem to be in a curious location, like just in front of the green for example, but it’s not there to ruin your day.
That message was brought to you by every golf-course superintendent who ever lived. And with that out of the way, you might still be wondering why you can’t take relief from a sprinkler head that is on your line of play. Well, sometimes you can, according to the Rules of Golf. More on that in a moment. First, a refresher on Rule 16.1, which deals with abnormal course conditions including immovable obstructions such as sprinkler heads.
Under Rule 16.1, you are entitled to free relief if an obstruction interferes with your ball, stance or swing (or, if it’s on the putting green, you also get relief if it’s on your line of play). How and where you take free relief depends on a few factors, but to simplify, you need to locate the nearest point of complete relief that is not nearer the hole. You can then take a drop in an area within a club-length of that point. If it’s on the green, you don’t drop, you place the ball. There’s more to the rule than that, but we’re here to discuss line-of-play relief.
In most cases, you can’t move your ball if it’s off the green and a sprinkler head is between you and the hole – it doesn’t matter if it distracts you or prevents you from putting, etc. However, check to see if your course or committee is using Model Local Rule F-5. If they are, and you are close to the green with a sprinkler in your way, you might get relief. Here is the reason the R&A and USGA give:
“When a ball lies anywhere other than on the putting green, an immovable obstruction on the player’s line of play is not, of itself, interference under Rule 16.1. Free relief is normally not allowed. But if the aprons or fringes of putting greens are cut short enough that putting from off the green is likely to be a common choice of stroke, immovable obstructions that are close to the putting green might interfere with such strokes.
“In that case, the committee can choose to give an extra relief option when a player’s ball lies in the general area or on the putting green and an immovable obstruction close to the putting green is on the player’s line of play.”
Here are the factors that need to be considered before getting line-of-play relief:
1. The sprinkler head must be on your line of play. That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be on a direct line between your ball and the cup, but you can’t claim the free relief if you choose a line of play that is clearly unreasonable.
2. The sprinkler head must be within two club-lengths of the putting green.
3. Your ball must be within two club-lengths of the sprinkler head.
If your ensuing shot meets all of these requirements, you’re in luck, you get free relief. Of course, you could have skipped this entire post and just chipped over the sprinkler head. Just sayin’.
