Getting out to play golf in Colorado over the past few months has certainly been a challenge. After near record snows in the Denver Metro area, golfers across the state are itching to get out and play. Whenever a course gets enough snowmelt to open, the tee times are booked up fast by players from all regions who have been bitten by the golf bug (myself included). It’s hard to believe Colorado’s active score-posting season is only 15 days away!
Right now conditions are obviously not the same as in the summer months and generally the maintenance crew has done some things to “winterize” the golf course. One of the most common things a superintendent will do is cut multiple holes in the putting greens. They do this to have the ability to move the flagstick around each day because cutting a new hole would not be possible due to the frozen ground. On the days they are not using a particular hole, the crew will put an insert in the hole so that a ball does not come to rest in it and this insert would be considered an immovable obstruction.
This past weekend I finally got out to play with a few friends at Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont. They have multiple holes cut in their greens like I talked about earlier and cover the holes they will not be using for the day with a wooden insert. While on the 7th green, one of the players in the group had a 25-foot putt for birdie, and on his line of putt was one of the holes not being used for the day. His ball rolled right over the unused hole, took a big hop and stopped and came to rest almost immediately. I have to be honest and say that he was my opponent at the time so I wasn’t too upset with the effort, but I did ask him why he didn’t take relief for his line of putt. He told me he didn’t know that he could – another instance in which knowledge of the Rules can save strokes on the course.
When looking at Rule 24-2 it talks about the circumstances in which you are entitled to relief from immovable obstructions and how to obtain relief. When your golf ball lies through the green (i.e. not on the teeing ground or putting green of the hole being played, or in any hazard on the course) you are only entitled to free relief when you have interference for the lie of your ball, stance and area of intended swing. This also applies when your ball is on the putting green. However, if both your ball and an abnormal ground condition or immovable obstruction (such as a covered unused hole) lie on the putting green, you may take line of putt relief as well. Your line of putt is the direction in which you intend the ball to take after a making a stroke from the putting green. If there is an immovable obstruction or abnormal ground condition on this line, you are entitled to relief. To determine where your relief would be, you will have to find your nearest point of relief that is not closer to the hole and place the ball on this spot, even if the spot is off of the putting green. Keep in mind that you will be placing the ball in this situation because the ball currently lies on the putting green.
Some examples of when there would be no free relief under this Rule are when your ball lies just off of the putting green, i.e. on the fringe of the green, and you elect to putt the ball over an immovable obstruction on the putting green. Or if your ball lies on the putting green, but the direction you need to play your stroke to get the ball close to the hole is over an obstruction off of the putting green, there is no line of putt relief.
Until spring begins to head toward summer, look for these situations out there and know when you can take relief. Don’t putt over obstacles if you don’t have to! This game is hard enough…
