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| PREFERED LIES-WINTER RULES |
| January 21, 2008 |
| By Doug Schwab |
Rules 1-33 of the Rules of Golf do not inclued any mention of "winter rules" or "prefered lies." However, in Appendix 1 of the Rules of Golf there is a sample local rule that can be used if the Committee believes playing conditions are so poor and so wide spread as to prevent the fair playing of the game. Since this sample local rule gives the Committee some latitude in the specific language that it uses the Pacific Northwest Golf Association has adopted for play in our area the following text:
The following Preferred Lie Local Rule may be used by clubs for various reasons during the inactive or winter handicap freeze period when scores are not being posted for handicap purposes or when extreme abnormal course conditions dictate.
However, the USGA and the PNGA strongly recommend that during the active period when scores are being posted for handicap purposes, the ball should be played as it lies in accordance with the Rules of Golf.
1. A ball may be moved through the green* with the following restrictions: A ball must not be moved when it lies: Within 36 inches of the base of a tree, stump, shrub or out of bounds.
2. Before lifting, the player must mark the position of the ball; it may be cleaned; and must be placed no more than 6" from its original lie, no nearer the hole. Use of the clubhead in the movement and placement of the ball is prohibited.
A. A ball so lifted is deemed to be back in play once it has been placed.
B. If the ball fails to come to rest on the spot on which it was placed, Rule 20-3d applies.
C. If the ball when placed comes to rest on the spot on which it is placed and it subsequently moves, there is no penalty and the ball must be played as it lies, unless the provisions of any other Rule apply.
D. A player is entitled to exercise this preferred lies option one time only per stroke.
3. The Embedded Ball Rule shall be in effect through the green*.
A. Anywhere "through the green," a ball which is embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground, except in loose sand, may be lifted without penalty, cleaned and dropped as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole.
B. When an embedded ball is lost "beyond a reasonable doubt" in wet, soft turf, another ball may be put into play as near as possible to the spot the original ball was lost without penalty.
Exception: A player may not obtain relief under this Local Rule if it is clearly unreasonable to play a stroke because of interference by anything other than the conditions covered by this Local Rule. (Unplayable lie, etc.).
*Definition
Through the green is the whole area of the course except:
The teeing ground and putting green of the hole being played and all hazards on the course.
General Penalty for Breach of this Rule:
Stroke Play - Two Strokes
Match Play - Loss of Hole
PNGA RULES COMMITTEE
Revised – December 2007
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