Full Relief From A Cart Path

[mikejohnchapman]

We have a lot of cart paths on our course which are made up of compacted limestone. Few, if any, are edged so the boundry can appear to move as stones get pushed to the side.

In a recent match a ball ended up on the path. The nearest point of relief was obvious and the ball dropped accordinly. In taking has stance the players heals were on stones that had been dislodged and hence he appeared not to have taken full relief. To have dropped it further away from the path would have involved him dropping it in a bush.

As it was only a friendly match there wasn't a problem. He argued that the natural line of the path should be used to determin relief rather than the path material.

Was he right?

 

[pogle]

We have a lot of cart paths on our course which are made up of compacted limestone. Few, if any, are edged so the boundry can appear to move as stones get pushed to the side.

In a recent match a ball ended up on the path. The nearest point of relief was obvious and the ball dropped accordinly. In taking has stance the players heals were on stones that had been dislodged and hence he appeared not to have taken full relief. To have dropped it further away from the path would have involved him dropping it in a bush.

As it was only a friendly match there wasn't a problem. He argued that the natural line of the path should be used to determin relief rather than the path material.

Was he right?

If I'm reading this right then the stones had become completely separated from the path and are now therefore loose impediments and not part of the path. We have a similar problem when occasionally stones get dislodged from dry stone walls - they are not now part of the obstruction.

I think the player was right about the dislodged stones not being part of the obstruction but I'm not clear what he means by the "natural line of the path".

 

[mikejohnchapman]

If I'm reading this right then the stones had become completely separated from the path and are now therefore loose impediments and not part of the path. We have a similar problem when occasionally stones get dislodged from dry stone walls - they are not now part of the obstruction.

I think the player was right about the dislodged stones not being part of the obstruction but I'm not clear what he means by the "natural line of the path".

There were not one or two stones - the carts and rain had pushed loads to the side so they covered the ground besides the path. Far too many to clear as loose impediments.

I referred to the natural line of the path as being the original line - if you stood away from the path and looked along the edge you could see where the original line was. This had been made ragged by wear so rather than being straight it was all over the place.

 

[Tarkus1212]

I'm not going to pretend to know the rule but I would be asking one question - if his ball had come to rest in the area he was standing on would he be wanting relief? If the answer is yes then he hasn't taken full relief and/or he hasn't correctly determined the nearest point of relief.

 

[duncan mackie]

I'm not going to pretend to know the rule but I would be asking one question - if his ball had come to rest in the area he was standing on would he be wanting relief? If the answer is yes then he hasn't taken full relief and/or he hasn't correctly determined the nearest point of relief.

Excellent approach. It does still require a decision to be made and, where doubt as to the margin of the obstruction creeps in the committee should take action and provide guidance (usually by marking the margin to be used).