ck34
May 10 2005, 02:03 PM
Here's an option that I'm not sure has been used much although I've seen it happen before without much discussion. Bodies of water are not OB by default. They have to be specified by the designer/TD. I believe the rules then defualt to allowing players to take casual relief from water when not specified OB. However, the third option for water is to consider it a 'playing surface' that's inbounds but no casual relief is allowed by the TD.
The times when I've seen this option get invoked is when the skies open up and the ground is soaked during an event such that the ground is soaked eveywhere. One example I remember was in Austin, MN when we had a gully washer during lunch break. Some of the lowland areas were essentially 2" deep lakes but the course was still "playable." One hole went along a creek and you couldn't tell where the normal OB line would be located until you saw a guy walking then all of a sudden disappear. We allowed relief to throw where his waist was above water with no OB penalty.
But there's another day-to-day situation where this rule makes sense. We are looking at a hole where the fairway is essentially the 20-30 foot wooded corridor down a shallow rocky creek bed 6-10 feet wide that has variable flow with some areas where a disc could be surrounded by water a foot deep some times during the year. The creek bends away to the left just in front of the basket. The problem with using casual relief is that the line of play back from the basket could take the player up to 200 feet farther away before reaching the bank because the straight creek bed aims right at the basket. Marking OB is impractical with 600 feet of rocky shoreline and water levels moving up and down throughout the year, sometimes with 3/4 of the creek rocks without water cover.
So, the plan is to make the creek area in play where players have the choice to mark and play it where it lies, or take an unplayable penalty if they don't want to get their feet wet and move it to the left or right up to 5m. Seem reasonable? BTW, this hole is one of the most spectacular par 3 holes in the world with a 20' elevated tee looking straight down the wooded corridor to the pin 305' away.
The times when I've seen this option get invoked is when the skies open up and the ground is soaked during an event such that the ground is soaked eveywhere. One example I remember was in Austin, MN when we had a gully washer during lunch break. Some of the lowland areas were essentially 2" deep lakes but the course was still "playable." One hole went along a creek and you couldn't tell where the normal OB line would be located until you saw a guy walking then all of a sudden disappear. We allowed relief to throw where his waist was above water with no OB penalty.
But there's another day-to-day situation where this rule makes sense. We are looking at a hole where the fairway is essentially the 20-30 foot wooded corridor down a shallow rocky creek bed 6-10 feet wide that has variable flow with some areas where a disc could be surrounded by water a foot deep some times during the year. The creek bends away to the left just in front of the basket. The problem with using casual relief is that the line of play back from the basket could take the player up to 200 feet farther away before reaching the bank because the straight creek bed aims right at the basket. Marking OB is impractical with 600 feet of rocky shoreline and water levels moving up and down throughout the year, sometimes with 3/4 of the creek rocks without water cover.
So, the plan is to make the creek area in play where players have the choice to mark and play it where it lies, or take an unplayable penalty if they don't want to get their feet wet and move it to the left or right up to 5m. Seem reasonable? BTW, this hole is one of the most spectacular par 3 holes in the world with a 20' elevated tee looking straight down the wooded corridor to the pin 305' away.