Linda,
Your stance is impacted or the ball is impacted by a cart
path. The ball is on the right side of the path (but the available space on the
right of the path isn’t wide enough to accommodate the ball and your stance),
and the hole is on the left side of the path. Would taking relief on the left
side of the path be considered “closer to the hole” and, therefore, a penalty?
Or is it OK to drop on the left side as long as it is the same distance to the
hole as the original spot?
Lulu from New Jersey
My response to Lulu:
Lulu, why is there not enough space on the right side to
accommodate the player's stance and ball? For example, is there a tree in the
way, dense bushes, an out-of-bounds wall?
Lulu’s answer:
Dense bushes, trees… I see it quite often on the public
courses I play, and ran into the situation yesterday that I could not hit
towards the green because there wasn’t enough space. The only thing I could do
was turn sideways and punch into the fairway. I was working under the
assumption that your lie when you drop should be similar to what it would be if
the cart path was not there, not dropping and hitting out of knee-high brush.
Dear Lulu,
Your assumption that the lie where you drop should be
similar to the lie you would have had if the cart path magically disappeared is
wishful thinking. The Rules of Golf provide no guarantee of a similar lie.
Nearest point of relief means precisely that – the point that is nearest to
where your ball lies where you will get complete relief from the obstruction.
If that point happens to be in knee-high brush, that is where you will drop
your ball if you choose to take relief.
There is no option to drop on the other
side of the cart path unless the NPR’s on both sides of the path are the same
distance from your ball (not likely in the situation you describe). Most of the
time you have no choice in the matter of where to drop. The NPR may at times
allow you to improve your situation, moving from the rough onto the fairway. You
have to accept the bad along with the good [Decision 25-1b/2].
I constantly caution readers to assess their relief options
before proceeding. The place where you will have to drop may put you in a worse
predicament than the one you are already in. If I were facing your particular
problem, I would more than likely choose to hit the ball as it lies on the cart
path. A more reasonable option might be to deem the ball unplayable, accept the
one-stroke penalty, and choose one of the options for relief in Rule 28.
Make your decision before you lift your ball. Should you
lift it and later decide you want to replace it on the cart path, you will
incur a one-stroke penalty for lifting your ball in play.
Linda
Copyright © 2015 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
