As a Rules Official at the recent US Mid-Amateur Championship which was held on Kiawah Island, SC, I had a question from a player as to whether his ball was embedded in an area “through the green” that was covered in pine straw. Rule 25-2 deals specifically with an embedded ball, and the ball is referred to as being “embedded in its own pitch mark”.
Now, as the Rule is written, you are only entitled to relief when your ball embeds in a “closely mown area” meaning at fairway height or less. However, there is a local rule that entitles you to relief when your ball is embedded “through the green”, which is everywhere on the golf course with the exception of all bunkers and water hazards on the course, and the teeing ground and putting green of the hole that you are currently playing. Also, if your ball is embedded in sand “through the green”, you are not entitled relief to relief under this Rule. For example, if you are playing a golf course that has waste areas, and are not classified as bunkers, and your ball is embedded in one of these areas you must play the ball as it lies. This local rule is adopted in almost every major golf event in the country, including all USGA championships, PGA Tour events, PGA Championships and for all CGA tournaments.
Now let’s get back to the U.S. Mid-Amateur case with the player’s ball embedded in an area “through the green” that was covered in pine straw. In order for the ball to be considered embedded, it must “break the ground” meaning it must make an indentation in the soil surface of the ground. If you have ever played off of heavy pine straw, especially in the southeastern part of the country, you know that it can be layered quite thickly. In this case there was about three inches of straw before it reached the ground surface. If his ball was just buried in the pine straw, but never broke the surface of the ground, he would have to play the ball as it lies. Fortunately for the player, the ball did get through the pine straw and break the surface of the ground and, because it was not sand below the straw, he was entitled to relief.
Please note that when your ball is embedded in the ground there is a specific procedure that needs to be followed when taking relief. You should mark the position of the golf ball, lift it and then drop it as near as possible to the pitch mark. There is no “one club-length” from the pitch mark that you would get if you were taking relief from an obstruction or abnormal ground condition – you are really just trying to drop the ball back into the pitch mark. If the ball ends up back in the mark, then you must re-drop the golf ball. One important thing to remember is that you cannot repair the pitch mark prior to dropping or after the ball is back in play before you make a stroke at it. Also, you may clean the ball when it has been lifted, but before it has been dropped.
This time of year in Colorado you probably won’t see too many embedded balls since the ground is getting so hard, but next spring when it gets real soggy out there know the Rules and save a stroke – not to mention your clothes and nearby players’ clothes if you try to hit that ball out of its muddy hole!
