Cracks in fairways

[spongebob59]

Played yesterday and where the course is now so dry there are some quite wide cracks in the fairways. Some are wide enough for a ball to disappear into.
In the unlikely event that this did happen, is the only option to take an unplayable ?
Has anyone heard of a local rule being brought in to cover this ?

 

[rulefan]

I have never seen such a LR but even though not included specifically in the Interpretation I see no reason why there shouldn't be.

 

[wjemather]

A few years ago, at least one course in the Bristol/Somerset area had a local rule for exactly this problem. They had slit their almost saturated fairways in spring just prior to a spell of warm dry weather and they opened up significantly - took until the end of the summer to recover.

 

[BiMGuy]

We have one for cracks anywhere on the course. It’s a free drop if your ball is in one.

 

[clubchamp98]

We had one for cracks within two club lengths of the green but not anywhere else.
Players were scratching their heads at that one.
Surely the general area would make more sense.
As far as I know it’s still a LR.

 

[Platypus]

We had our club championships this weekend and the starter specifically told every group that free relief can be taken from any cracks in the general area.
Our course is on clay so can get quite large cracks opening up in really dry weather.
I don't know if this LR was only introduced for the comp or if it will remain in place until we get some rain, hopefully the latter...

 

[jim8flog]

One of the local clubs had this as a LR when it was first built.

There was very little top soil on clay ground and they used to get a lot.