Many courses are being built on land that contains wetlands and various wildlife habitats. In many cases, the golf course owner must preserve some of this land for native grasses and wildlife for the golf course construction to be approved. This land can be designated by a government agency as an “Environmentally Sensitive Area” (ESA), and that designation comes with its own set of rules.
The most common form of ESA is a water hazard, but in rare circumstances an area of ground under repair or out of bounds can be declared environmentally sensitive. If the area is an ESA, the tops of the stakes defining the condition will be painted green. Simply put, this means “DO NOT ENTER.” When your golf ball lands in an ESA you must leave it there, even if you can see it! Although there is no penalty under the rules of golf for entering an ESA, you are subject to a fine if you are caught walking in these areas. There is, however, a two-stroke penalty under the Rules if you play a ball from an ESA. The bottom line is: If you are in an ESA, grab a ball out of your bag and take relief.
The Colorado Open was held last week at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver which features many ESA’s – all of which are water hazards. During the final round, a player in the final group played his ball into an ESA over the green on the first hole. After he had correctly taken relief, the plants growing in the water hazard were interfering with his backswing. Appendix I of the USGA Rules of Golf (pg. 105) states that when a player’s stance or area of intended swing has interference with an ESA and the player’s ball is located outside of the area, the player must take relief – and in this case it is free relief.
The procedure is very similar to taking relief from a cart path or ground under repair. The player must find a point on the golf course that is outside of a hazard and not on a putting green that is not nearer the hole and no longer has interference from the ESA. The player must then drop the golf ball within one club-length of this point. In this situation the player needed to first take relief from the ESA-marked water hazard in order to establish a reference point to then take relief from the ESA interference.
The most important thing you need to remember about ESA’s is that relief is mandatory – you lose the option of playing the ball as it lies and also a couple of bucks for the golf ball you need to leave in there!
