Lucifer MorningStar
Well-known member
We had an interesting one in our Match last night and struggled for a decision.
Playing our 13th Hole the fairway cambers left to right towards the OOB and boundary fence that separates our course from the adjacent farm land. My PP Hit his tee shot up the right side and it ran down towards the OOB but we all thought it was safe as the rough stops balls rolling OOB, when we got up to the ball we were all baffled. We found the rough has all been cut down and the ball was rested up against a railway sleeper with absolutely no chance of a swing and there were sleepers running full length of the hole that have never been there before sitting on the inside of the boundary fence line but not directly against it. There’s a small gap of about 6-12” between the fence line and sleepers. It was nearer 12” sized gap from the fence where his ball was.
We checked the scorecard and there was nothing on there regarding the sleepers, none of the 4 of us in the group had ever seen them on the course before, nobody had seen signage in the locker room about it and no email correspondence about it. So it was agreed amongst the 4 of us that as they were on the inside of the boundary line with a clear gap between the fence and sleeper he could take free relief. It made no difference as we lost the hole anyway.
When we got back to the clubhouse we found out the Sleepers were installed on Monday as a way of stopping balls running OOB (odd decision as the rough always did that and they had to cut it down to put these in). Anyway we spoke to the Pro who told us it should have been a penalty drop as the sleepers now form part of the boundary fence! This caused further confusion as;
A) They’re inside the actual course boundary line in some places by a good 12”
B) There has been no correspondence with the members that they were being installed and would now form the boundary line
C) The card and local rules state any Man made object is to be allowed free relief (paraphrasing can’t remember the exact wording)
D) Our card and local rules board state the staked wire fence running along the course boundary denotes the boundary of the course and anything beyond that is OOB (again can’t remember exact wording) so in our minds this is still the actual boundary until something is released to state otherwise and thus the man made sleepers inside that line should be free relief.
Pro was still adamant it should have been a penalty drop as it’s preventing balls from going beyond the boundary, one of committee members with him agreed but the rest of us think otherwise as there has been no communication which changes what is currently written in our local rules.
So whose right
Playing our 13th Hole the fairway cambers left to right towards the OOB and boundary fence that separates our course from the adjacent farm land. My PP Hit his tee shot up the right side and it ran down towards the OOB but we all thought it was safe as the rough stops balls rolling OOB, when we got up to the ball we were all baffled. We found the rough has all been cut down and the ball was rested up against a railway sleeper with absolutely no chance of a swing and there were sleepers running full length of the hole that have never been there before sitting on the inside of the boundary fence line but not directly against it. There’s a small gap of about 6-12” between the fence line and sleepers. It was nearer 12” sized gap from the fence where his ball was.
We checked the scorecard and there was nothing on there regarding the sleepers, none of the 4 of us in the group had ever seen them on the course before, nobody had seen signage in the locker room about it and no email correspondence about it. So it was agreed amongst the 4 of us that as they were on the inside of the boundary line with a clear gap between the fence and sleeper he could take free relief. It made no difference as we lost the hole anyway.
When we got back to the clubhouse we found out the Sleepers were installed on Monday as a way of stopping balls running OOB (odd decision as the rough always did that and they had to cut it down to put these in). Anyway we spoke to the Pro who told us it should have been a penalty drop as the sleepers now form part of the boundary fence! This caused further confusion as;
A) They’re inside the actual course boundary line in some places by a good 12”
B) There has been no correspondence with the members that they were being installed and would now form the boundary line
C) The card and local rules state any Man made object is to be allowed free relief (paraphrasing can’t remember the exact wording)
D) Our card and local rules board state the staked wire fence running along the course boundary denotes the boundary of the course and anything beyond that is OOB (again can’t remember exact wording) so in our minds this is still the actual boundary until something is released to state otherwise and thus the man made sleepers inside that line should be free relief.
Pro was still adamant it should have been a penalty drop as it’s preventing balls from going beyond the boundary, one of committee members with him agreed but the rest of us think otherwise as there has been no communication which changes what is currently written in our local rules.
So whose right
