STAKED TREES
The stakes and wires supporting newly planted trees are
immovable obstructions. Under Rule 24-2, interference occurs
when your ball lies so close to the stakes or wires that
they interfere with your stance or your intended area of
swing. To take relief, you must lift your ball and drop
it without penalty within one club-length of and not nearer
the hole than the nearest point of relief (i.e., the point
on the course nearest to where the ball lies that is not
nearer the hole, and where, if the ball were so positioned,
no interference by the stakes or wires would exist). The
nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a
putting green if the ball originally lay through the green;
if the ball was originally in a bunker, the drop must be
in the bunker; if the ball was originally in a water hazard,
there is no relief from an immovable obstruction.
Note that there is no relief if the tree, stakes and wires
merely intervene on your intendee line of play. You will
have to hit around, over or through the tree.
Note also that you get no relief if it is clearly unreasonable
for you to play a stroke because of interference by anything
other than the stakes and wires. For instance, if you couldn’t
play the shot because of thick, low branches, regardless
of whether there are stakes and wires present, you get no
relief if the stakes and wires are there.
Furthermore, you get no relief if interference occurs only
through use of an unnecessarily abnormal stance, swing or
direction of play.
And finally, note that if only the tree itself (not the
stakes or wires) interferes with your stance, lie or intended
area of swing, there is no relief . . . unless the club
has published a Local Rule to protect young trees. In this
case, you must drop away from a tree the club does not want
damaged, usually identified by a brightly colored ribbon.
By: Warren Simmons
warnsimnn@aol.com
AWGA State Rules Committee
