An update made in 2019 offers golfers additional free relief by CHRIS LANG
TheRules
The Nuances of Embedded Ball Relief
An update made in 2019 offers golfers additional free relief by CHRIS LANG
In March, at LIV South Africa, a familiar face was on the scene to help Jon Rahm navigate a tricky situation regarding an embedded ball.
The Rules official in question was Grover Walker, a longtime VSGA and USGA Rules official who spent 11 years on the VSGA’ s Board of Directors. The situation unfolded like this:
Rahm tried to drive the first green at The Club at Steyn City in Johannesburg, which had been drenched by rain all week. The teeing area was elevated some 100 feet above the fairway, and Rahm’ s drive flew to the left of the green and disappeared into thick Kikuyu rough. When Rahm finally got to the ball, he motioned for Walker, arguing that his ball was embedded in its own pitch mark, meaning he should be afforded free relief.
Had this scenario unfolded in 2018, Rahm would have been out of luck, since the ball was in an area that was not cut to fairway height or less. Fortunately for him, the rule was updated in 2019 to give a player a relief option if the ball was embedded anywhere in the general area.
Back to the situation, which was tricky for several reasons. For one, no one really saw the ball land. There were no spectators near where Rahm’ s ball dropped, and he couldn’ t see where it settled because the teeing area was so high and far away.
LIV’ s broadcast seemed to show the ball bouncing forward two feet in the air before it settled in the rough near a low creek bed.
The bouncing ball alone wasn’ t enough to disqualify Rahm from free relief. It certainly could have bounced straight in the air, came down, and plugged into the soil. It wasn’ t clear if Rahm’ s ball had landed in its own pitch mark, a requirement for free relief.
All Rahm could do was assess the situation as he found it, and it was clear the ball was embedded. Whether it was his own pitch mark was up to some conjecture, but Rahm’ s playing partner, Dean Burmester, hit his ball in the fairway. It made sense that any pitch mark in the area where Rahm’ s ball settled was probably his. Rules officials make decisions based on the information available, and Walker agreed with Rahm, allowing Rahm to lift the ball and drop it within a one-club-length relief area, no closer to the hole.
Rule 16.3 covers embedded ball relief. Relief is only given if the ball is in the general area. No such grace is offered for a fried-egg lie in a bunker or if the ball is embedded in a penalty area.
Rule 16.3( 2) notes that a ball is embedded only if it is in its own pitch mark made as a result of the player’ s previous stroke, and that part of the ball is below the level of the ground. If the player cannot tell for sure whether the ball is in its own pitch mark or a pitch mark made by another ball, the player may treat the ball as embedded if it is reasonable to conclude from the available information that the ball is in its own pitch mark.
That’ s the conclusion Walker reached; thus Rahm was afforded free relief.
Knowledge of Rule 16.3 is handy, especially in Virginia when courses can soften from heavy summer rains. It helped Rahm in this situation, and it may help you down the line as well.
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