Rules question

[ironman]

My friend's drive pulls left and lands right there by the rough side of a metal fence, touching the fence.
Does my friend get a Free Relief (one club length drop) or an Unplayable Lie (two club lengths drop) with a penalty?

fence is the only obstruction, but it mark the out of bound area of the golf course

[Sandpiper3]

I didnt quite understand, but if his ball is in bounds, he gets free relief, 2 club lengths no closer to the hole, if outside line (hazard) he must take unplayable, and if its white painted (OB), he has to go back to the place he hit the last shot from over again.

[Augster]

Your friend gets free relief due to an immovable obstruction, Rule 24-2;(nearest point of relief, no closer to the hole, plus 1 clublength) IF and only IF that fence you describe DOES NOT define out of bounds.

IF the metal fence DEFINES OUT OF BOUNDS, you get no such relief. Play it as it lies. If you can not play it as it lies, you can take an unplayable lie.

With an unplayable, under penalty of one stroke, he can go back to the teeing ground and re-tee (hitting 3). OR he can drop within TWO clublengths of the current position, no closer to the hole (hitting 3). Finally, another option would be to line up the position of the ball with the flagstick and drop behind on that line going backwards as far as he'd like.

Obviously, if we are talking about an OB fence on the left side, option 3 is not an option as your line would be out of bounds, over the fence.

[Pa Jayhawk]

I think they pretty much told you what you need to know. One thing to add further is if the fence is the only obstruction. If the fence is in his backswing or affects his stance he is entitled to relief. Although if there is another obstruction like say a tree or tree trunks, he may not be. For example, if his ball is between a tree and a fence, and he would not otherwise be able to play his ball because of the tree if the fence were not there, he doesn't get relief from the fence simply to move him away from what would otherwise be an unplayable lie from the tree.

[ezra76]

Not to jack this, but what is the deal with an unplayable? I have had a few shots the last 2 rounds that may have warranted this rule. One was a shot that got stuck in a huge mound of fescue that was on the front edge of a fairway bunker. I whacked it 10 yds. with a 7iron and lets just say that fescue will be less of a problem next time. The other shot was from under/in a tree and I could get no backswing whatsoever. I ended up knocking at it twice with a 4wood just to get it 3ft. back out into the rough. The first one cost me at least one stroke and the second cost me 2, as well as the fact I was hitting #4 from a crap lie 190yds. out.

[Mors Ab Alto]

Originally Posted by Sandpiper3

I didnt quite understand, but if his ball is in bounds, he gets free relief, 2 club lengths no closer to the hole, if outside line (hazard) he must take unplayable, and if its white painted (OB), he has to go back to the place he hit the last shot from over again.

Piper, I believe anytime you take relief where no penalty strokes are involed, you only get 1 club length. If a penalty stroke IS involved, you get 2.