Musings from your Rules Chairman

As part of the bi-monthly newsletter, I’d like to highlight some common rules we use at Cinnabar Hills that members frequently have questions about. The intent is not to be an exhaustive list of rules (that’s that the Rules of Golf are for) but to help members with answers to questions they frequently have.

As summer turns to fall, and fall turns to winter, a couple of questions always come up. Are we “playing it down” or “playing preferred lies”. Can I clean mud off my ball? A basic principle of golf is to play it as it lies, but I wanted to take minute to explain the different options we look at for each tournament and how we typically apply them by adding them to the notice players receive the day of the event.

  • Playing it Down. Playing it Down means a player must hit the ball from where it lies without improving the lie; and they can only clean or move the ball when they are taking relief based on another rule or on the putting green. We typically “play it down” during summer when the weather and course conditions are very good.

  • Cleaning Ball. MLR E-2 or “Lift, clean, and replace” is the local rule we use when ground conditions are likely to cause mud to stick to a golf ball on a regular basis during the round, but there is no need for preferred lies (typically early spring/late fall). It allows players to lift, clean and replace the ball (when in the fairway or closely mown areas) on the original spot without penalty

  • Preferred Lies. Preferred lies, or “lift, clean, and place,” is the local rule (MLR E-3) that allows players to improve the lie of their ball on the fairway after marking, lifting, and cleaning it. We often use this rule in winter when course positions are poor due to heavy rain, mud, or soggy turf, to help maintain fair play. Normally we allow the player to place the ball within 6” (occasionally one club length) from its original spot, BUT NOT closer to the hole. There is always relief for a ball embedded in its own pitch mark, and we have relief on our local rules sheet all year for a ball that touches an aeration hole.

I would like to focus on topics that can help members better understand and apply the rules of golf. Today’s topic is a refresher on taking relief, which breaks down into Free Relief (one club length) and Penalty Relief (usually two club lengths). I wish someone had told me this before I asked so many times!

Free Relief
To know if you can take relief from an Abnormal Course Condition (ACC), you must know if you are in one! The definition (yes, you can read them in the USGA rules app on your phone) of what an ACC is, and ONLY is, follows:

    • Animal Holes, including loose material and track leading to the hole
    • Ground under Repair (GUR) (area marked by the committee with white paint or ropes, a hole made by the committee, or natural material piled up for later removal). Read this definition, it will save you a stroke someday!
    • Immovable Obstructions (IO) such as artificial (man-made objects), cart paths, sprinkler heads, split rail fences, etc.
    • Temporary Water which is water that remains visible before or after taking a stance, without pressing down excessively.

      If it does not fit into one of these definitions, it is not an ACC and you do not get relief, so it is to your advantage to read the definitions. You get relief if the ACC interferes with your lie, intended stance, or intended swing. The relief area is the same for all 4, the nearest point of complete relief from interference, and one (free = one) club length in any direction no closer to the hole.

      Embedded Ball. Players may take Free Relief if their ball is embedded in its own pitch mark, by dropping their ball within one club length, in either direction, of the nearest point of relief (right behind the ball), no closer to the hole; anywhere in the general area (not a bunker, green, or penalty area).

Penalty Relief

    • Penalty Areas (red or yellow staked areas). If any part of a player’s ball lies in, touches, or is above the edge of a penalty area, the player may, for a one stroke penalty, take Penalty Relief. NOTE: It must be known or virtually certain (95% + sure) the ball CAME TO REST in the penalty area, otherwise the ball is considered lost, and you cannot take penalty area relief (and must play it as a lost ball, e.g. a drive right on Lake #3).
    • Unplayable Lie. A player may, for a one stroke penalty, take penalty relief when they determine their ball is “unplayable”, outside the penalty area.
    • A player may take relief out of a bunker, using the back of the line relief (and ONLY back of the line relief) for an additional (2 total) penalty stroke.

      The options for taking Penalty Relief are

      • Lateral Relief. The player may drop their ball outside a red penalty area within TWO club lengths of where the ball crossed into the penalty area, no closer to the hole and stay in same area of the course that the ball first touched when dropped. For an unplayable lie, lateral relief is TWO club lengths in any direction form the original point the ball lies, no closer to the hole.
      • Stroke and distance relief. The player may drop their ball within one club length, in any direction, from the original spot they hit the previous shot from, no closer to the hole and in the same area of the course. The player may always take this option for a penalty stroke anywhere on the course.
      • Back of the line relief. The player may drop their ball, as far back as they like, on an imaginary line extending from the flag/hole through:
        • The estimated point where the ball crossed into the penalty area (for penalty area relief)
        • The spot where the ball is unplayable (for unplayable relief).

The ball must be dropped on the imaginary line, and come to rest within one club length (in any direction), but not closer to 1) where it crossed into the penalty area (penalty area relief) or 2) the spot where the ball originally lies (unplayable relief); and in the same area of the course it landed in when dropped. Yes, it can roll forward up to one club length if it was dropped on the line.

The CHMGA hard card adds local rule penalty relief from drop zones and free relief from other potential conditions at Cinnabar. For more detailed information regarding the above relief options, refer to the following link at: USGA Rules of Golf.