Tom and Jerry were playing the 18th hole at Gosford Golf Club. Tom’s second shot went left and finished under the out of bounds fence. The posts on that fence are about 100mm thick. Jerry insisted that Tom’s ball was out of bounds as most of his ball was beyond the inside edge of the OOB posts, but Tom thought that he was still in bounds as part of his ball was still on the course side of the fence. How would you rule?
ANSWER: The line defining Out of Bounds is the imaginary line which joins one OOB marker to the next AT GROUND LEVEL. If any part of the ball is still on the course side of this line then the ball is NOT out of bounds, all of the ball must be out, to be out of bounds. In this case it would be obvious that the fence will interfere with Tom’s next stroke. Tom is not entitled to free relief from this situation, he must either play the ball as it lies, or proceed under the unplayable ball rule (rule 28 pp118 – 119 in your rule book).
If you don’t have a rule book, or need a new one, please get one at the Pro-shop or the office.