Plugged lie?

[thekid65]

Now that the season is finally starting to get going here in I-dee-ho, I hope to be posting here more often.

I had a new one come up yesterday, and wasnt clear on the rule. I stripped a nice drive down the middle of the fairway, when the ball landed, it became "plugged" in between good fairway, and someones patched divot. So technically, I think the ball was in a divot, but wedged in between the patch, and the "good" part of the fairway. Only about 1/4 of the ball was visible above the top of the ground. So, my question is:

Would I have been allowed to remove the divot patch of old grass (loose impediment?), and as long as the ball didnt move, play the shot? Or, would that be improving my lie. Or was the ball "plugged" and I should have been allowed relief?

I wasnt sure of the rule, and thought my ball would possibly move if I tried to remove the patch, and I played the shot as it lay, damned near broke my wrist, and managed a par...so all was good.

 

[floggerrushmd]

So a divot that has been replaced is deemed to be part of the fairway again. Thus it follows all the normal rules, so if greater than half of your ball is below the surface of the ground you get to lift clean and I think it is drop (but it might be replace the ball) and play on as normal. No need to almost break the wrist.

 

[thekid65]

So a divot that has been replaced is deemed to be part of the fairway again. Thus it follows all the normal rules, so if greater than half of your ball is below the surface of the ground you get to lift clean and I think it is drop (but it might be replace the ball) and play on as normal.

I guess what was puzzling me was that it was indeed, in part of a divot, in which case I didnt think I would get relief.

No need to almost break the wrist.

Wish I woulda know that yeasterday!

 

[Wi-Golfer]

My way of thinking is that unless you are playing in a tournament, who cares? Dig the ball out, clean it up & drop it. No sense breaking a wrist or a club trying to cleave out a 3" deep hole.

 

[thekid65]

My way of thinking is that unless you are playing in a tournament, who cares? Dig the ball out, clean it up & drop it. No sense breaking a wrist or a club trying to cleave out a 3" deep hole.

Ya, understandable..my thinking was that..I was on my way to a killer round (ended up with a 75) and I just didnt wanted it tainted (even if it was only tainted in my mind). And rule #1 in our sport is "play the ball as it lies".

 

[gwlee7]

From the USGA website:

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=505 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>Rule 25-2</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>
Embedded Ball Rule</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>
Q. On what part of the course is a player entitled to relief from an embedded ball?</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>
A. Under Rule 25-2, a player may only take relief from a ball that is embedded in a closely-mown area through the green. A closely-mown area is any area that is mowed to fairway height or less. However, the Committee may adopt a Local Rule that allows for relief from an embedded ball anywhere through the green. This Local Rule can be found in Appendix I; Part B. </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=4>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[thekid65]

From the USGA website:

Hence therein lies the question. Of course it was closely mown, being in the fairway, however, it would have not been plugged, or embedded, had the partially repaired divot not been there.

Like I said, technically, I believe the ball was in a divot. But it was indeed, buried below 50% of the ball. I'm not sure if my textual description is easy enough for ya'll to visualize what I'm talking about.

 

[LyleG]

Doesnt matter, its in the fairway, it embedded, you get relief, end of story.

 

[Fourputt]

Doesnt matter, its in the fairway, it embedded, you get relief, end of story.

You get relief only if the ball is "embedded in it's own pitch mark". It must not only be embedded, but it must be in the pitch mark made by your ball. If that is the case then he gets relief, if not he doesn't. And embedded does not have to be half the ball or 3/4 of the ball in the ground. Even if the ball is only setting down 1/4" in a pitch mark of it's own making, then the rule still applies. If the pitch mark is in an unrepaired divot, it's still a pitch mark, and still qualifies for relief. If there is no pitch mark, then play it as it lies. You are allowed to mark and lift the ball to determine its status after first informing your fellow competitor, but you are not allowed to clean the ball unless it IS in its own mark.

Keep in mind too that you aren't allowed to repair the pitch mark before you drop. You are required to drop in the same spot, no clublength relief. If the ball rolls back into the pitch mark, then you redrop. If it rolls back into the divot, but not in the pitch mark, then you're stuck.

 

[thekid65]

You get relief only if the ball is "embedded in it's own pitch mark". It must not only be embedded, but it must be in the pitch mark made by your ball. If that is the case then he gets relief, if not he doesn't. And embedded does not have to be half the ball or 3/4 of the ball in the ground. Even if the ball is only setting down 1/4" in a pitch mark of it's own making, then the rule still applies. If the pitch mark is in an unrepaired divot, it's still a pitch mark, and still qualifies for relief. If there is no pitch mark, then play it as it lies. You are allowed to mark and lift the ball to determine its status after first informing your fellow competitor, but you are not allowed to clean the ball unless it IS in its own mark.

Keep in mind too that you aren't allowed to repair the pitch mark before you drop. You are required to drop in the same spot, no clublength relief. If the ball rolls back into the pitch mark, then you redrop. If it rolls back into the divot, but not in the pitch mark, then you're stuck.

So, using that rules description..it really wasnt it's own "pitch mark". But wedged in between a repaired divot, and good fairway. I did a google img search to try and find something remotely resembling the lie, but came up blank.

Picture a 6 inch long, 1 inch deep divot out of the fairway, then picture that 5 " of it had been patched by the grass that came from the original divot. Then picture my ball "wedged and partially buried" in between the patch and the end of the divot, which hadnt been repaired.

I'm kind of a stickler (but not an A-hole) when it comes to playing by the rules with my buddies (we always play for a few bucks), and they'll normally ask me if there's a question. So part of the quandary yesterday was that I didnt want to appear two-faced by improving a lie that was obviously in a divot, which had one of my buddies tried, under normal circumstances, would have resulted in my objection.

 

[Fourputt]

So, using that rules description..it really wasnt it's own "pitch mark". But wedged in between a repaired divot, and good fairway. I did a google img search to try and find something remotely resembling the lie, but came up blank.

Picture a 6 inch long, 1 inch deep divot out of the fairway, then picture that 5 " of it had been patched by the grass that came from the original divot. Then picture my ball "wedged and partially buried" in between the patch and the end of the divot, which hadnt been repaired.

I'm kind of a stickler (but not an A-hole) when it comes to playing by the rules with my buddies (we always play for a few bucks), and they'll normally ask me if there's a question. So part of the quandary yesterday was that I didnt want to appear two-faced by improving a lie that was obviously in a divot, which had one of my buddies tried, under normal circumstances, would have resulted in my objection.

If there was nothing identifiable as a pitch mark then I'd say that under the rules you wouldn't get relief. Certainly no tournament rules official would see it as a relief situation.