Had this happen this weekend and never really thought about it...

The hole was a 380 foot turnover with a ball field on the left. I threw a horrid drive and it went ob almost immeditantly and never came back in. So as I took my meter from the fence, I realized that I had like 250 to the pin and had only a meter of run up. I felt this really wasn't right.

Because the rule only says that you get a meter from OB, I had no choice. The rule doesn't take into account that ob could be just a piece or string or a fence. If it was just artifical ob, I could have started my run up from OB as long as I released the disc while IB, but with a fence there there was no option.


Bottom line is, I threw a really bad shot and deserved the penalty stroke. But since my run up was so short for what I considered a full mid range shot, I felt I was penalized again.

Should you get extra relief from a vertical OB obstabcle?

You can always rethrow from your original lie. Might have been a better choice.

You also have to take into account what type of OB you are lookin gat and what type of restrictions may come into play before you bring the OB into play.

If I land my drive right behind or in front of a tree in the fairway and the tree interferes with my release or run-up, should I get relief ?

You can always rethrow from your original lie. Might have been a better choice.



In retrospect yeah ( I took a 6), but I don't think anyone would have done that.

If I land my drive right behind or in front of a tree in the fairway and the tree interferes with my release or run-up, should I get relief ?



No, but you would be throwing your second shot, not your third - big difference

Should you get extra relief from a vertical OB obstabcle?



I'm assuming that one reason additional relief hasn't been considered IS because you can go back and throw from your previous lie (unless restricted by the TD). An even worse scenario that's been discussed before is a situation where a good sized pricker bush or fir tree is growing right along an OB fence such that one meter relief puts you in the bush. Rethrowing from the previous lie versus taking an unplayable lie penalty are currently two choices. However, now that unplayable relief has to be taken on the LOP, even that might not work. So rethrowing would most likely be the choice.

"Should you get extra relief from a vertical OB obstabcle? "

I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for, but you may take a meter relief from the OB object that is reaching in. By this I mean that if a fence is leaning in over the playing surface, and IS the OB line, then you get a meter from the top of the fence in, not from the bottom (unless that is what the director says is the OB line.

You should have re-Tee'd if you shot went out of bounds close to the tee box. I have seen SEVERAL players use this rule now. One even tin cuped it.

But since my run up was so short for what I considered a full mid range shot, I felt I was penalized again.

Should you get extra relief from a vertical OB obstabcle?



This made me think of a punitive shot in ball golf, while in ball golf you are not allowed to re-tee in this situation, it is double punitive.

Player hits their tee shot and lands in a fairway bunker. It is a penalty to land in a fairway bunker due to the fact that it requires finesse to get out of the trap and you will lose distance in advancing down the fairway.

This bunker has fairly high sides, and the players ball landed on the far side of the bunker up against the near vertical wall although it is only 2ft high. The player cannot get a full swing and advance the ball.

Do you let the player move the ball back so that they can get a full swing on the ball? Or does the player have to deal with a bad shot which landed in a bad lie?

I think that 1m relief from OB is plenty. Granted you may not be able to advance as far up the fairway as you would like but it does give you ample room to make a throw back to a safe/fair area. Like posted above, you don't get relief from a tree that is impending your shot, why an OB line/fence?

The difference is a fairway bunker isn't already a 1-shot penalty before making your next shot.

The difference is a fairway bunker isn't already a 1-shot penalty before making your next shot.



I am just thinking that our friend MTL was trying to save a shot he was not going to get due to the area where he went OB. If a large percentage of player go OB right there and it is the only logical route down the fairway then I think there is a design issue. If not, then I am thinking that it is just really unfortunate. If in particular this is a problem area for the small percentage of player that go OB there, then the TD could designate a drop zone for that OB area.

I am just having a hard time to justify changing the 1m relief rule. Especially since there are options written into the rules of play. Drop zones (as designated by course designer or TD) and re-throw options. If the area at the OB line was known to be hindering, then the best option would to have been to retee.

Try working on your sidearm. No run-up needed.

The TD and/or CD also has the option of providing a drop zone. This seems to be an excellent solution for this. The rules can't anticipate every possible obstacle on every course, but they try to provide enough flexibilty to allow TDs to do so.

A local private course owner has a barbed wire fence that runs perpendicular to the fairway on two very long holes (where ~300' drive is needed to clear the fence from either direction).

He has a special condition rule that allows for three meters of relief if your shot lands behind the fence --- to avoid people running into or ripping their hand open on his barbed wire fence. However, landing on the "good" side of the fence only gets you one meter of relief.

Sounds a bit daring !!! :eek: