Rules Guy: If you choose to play the ball off a cart path and hit it OB, can you take relief on your next shot?
What do the rules say about taking relief from a cart path when you opted not to on your first shot?
John McAlley
The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.
A friend’s drive comes to rest on a paved cart path. He plays the ball as it lies… and hits it OB. Does he have to hit again from the cart path or can he take relief from it? —Matt Lonegan, via email
Interesting question, albeit not quite as hard as the cart path itself.
Playing by the book, you do need to put the ball in play again based on the spot on the cart path.
However, playing from the previous spot (such as under stroke and distance) gives you a one club- length relief area to drop into, per Rule 14.6. If, post-drop, you still have interference from the path, you would be allowed to take free relief under Rule 16.1.
For more cart-path related guidance from our guru, read on …
Rules Guy: Is it legal to take a free drop from a dirt cart path with a concrete curb?
Due to rain, our club decided to use preferred lies during the club championship. On the 4th hole, a competitor took the one-club length relief allowed under the Local Rule for preferred lies, then claimed relief from a cart path that now interfered with his stance. His original lie was behind a tree, and the relief provided him a clearer path to the green. Was he clever or all wet? — Paul Hinz, Sartell, Minn.
Paul, this is precisely why the Rules recommend that preferred lies not be used in the entire general area and instead be limited just to parts of the general area cut to fairway height or less — otherwise, there is definite potential for a player to sashay out of golf jail.
If the Committee indeed enacted the Local Rule in the entire general area, once the player uses his free club-length and then has interference from an abnormal course condition such as a cart path, he would be allowed to take relief under Rule 16.1b.
Once finished doing so, he could then prefer his lie under the Local Rule again if so desired. We thus prefer that the Local Rule be done in the recommended fashion.
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