Are you entitled to relief if your ball is in a hole NOT CREATED by animals?

Sometimes you are entitled to free relief if your ball is found in animal scrapings, but what if there is no sign of an animal?

Matt Chivers's picture
Wed, 15 Sep 2021
Are you entitled to relief if your ball is in a hole NOT CREATED by animals?

As you will be aware, at GolfMagic we like to keep our readers informed on as many rules of golf as possible because we all know how grey they can be sometimes.

If you know as many rules of golf as you can, this will make your next game of golf much easier because you never know what situation can crop up.

From animals moving your ball on the green from your caddie helping you with your putting lines, we have covered a variety of rules which have caused confusion in the past.

Recently, a picture was posted on Instagram of a player's ball that had finished in a small hole in a muddy area of the golf course, with no real sign of animal presence.

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Also, as you can see in the image above, there is no evidence that the ball is in an embedded lie and it does not look as though it has been accidentally stood on by another player.

In this case, if your ball is in such a lie that has been unaffected by something, then I am afraid you must play it as it lies.

If you don't want to attempt the shot, you can take a drop and deem it as unplayable for a one-stroke penalty. This is a classic example of the extraordinary situations that golf can throw up.

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The player may take stroke and distance relief, back on the line relief or lateral relief and in each case, one penalty stroke is added.

This would be an extremely unlucky position to find yourself in on the golf course, however, it is important to be aware of the rules and on some occasions, you have to take your medicine. 

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