What happens when your ball lies on a plastic paper bag?

By THE ALBATROSS

Plastic bags are a common form of packaging by both the market ladies and some of the well established Supermarkets. Plastic bags are not biodegradable and as they easily fly in the wind from the dumpsites one frequently encounters them on the golf courses.

All conscientious golfers are encouraged to collect such litter from the course and deposit it in the nearest dust bin.

But what happens if you find your ball, in play, sitting on one such plastic bag right in the centre of the fairway? Or anywhere else through the green, for that matter?

This situation is covered by Golf Rule 24-1b. The plastic bag is a ‘movable obstruction’ and the Rule covers the situation as follows: "If the ball lies in or on the obstruction, the ball may be lifted and the obstruction removed.

The ball must, through the green or in a hazard, be dropped, or, on the putting green be placed, as near as possible to the spot directly under the place where the ball lay in or on the obstruction, but not nearer the hole. The ball may be cleaned when lifted under this Rule."

That sounds straight forward enough. But what is a ‘movable obstruction’? Is a dry leaf in a hazard a movable obstruction? We’ll look at the definition of an obstruction first. "An ‘obstruction’ is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice, except: a) Objects defining out-of-bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes and railings; b) Any part of an immovable artificial object that is out-of-bounds; and c) Any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.

An obstruction is a movable obstruction if it may be moved without unreasonable effort, without unduly delaying play and without causing damage. Otherwise, it is an immovable obstruction."

Thus when Tiger Woods found his ball behind a large boulder while playing in a desert golf course, the boulder was declared a movable obstruction, even though it required more than five strong men to roll it off the path of the intended line of play.

Great fortune then that Tiger Woods is usually followed by such a large crowd of spectators. A lone golfer, accompanied only by his caddie, and faced with such a situation and the same decision would have been hard put to get the boulder out of the way.

There are often tractors working on golf courses as the game goes on. And it is possible that a ball could land on the back of loaded tractor trailer! The tractor is carting away rubbish for disposal. What is the application of the Rule in such a case?

The player would approximate where the tractor was when the ball landed in the trailer and drop a ball according to Golf Rule 24-1b.

Now let’s interrogate the second question. Is a dry leaf in a hazard a movable obstruction? Since a dry leaf is not "anything artificial", it is clearly not a movable obstruction and is therefore not covered by this rule.

Moving or touching a dry leaf in that situation would attract a two stroke penalty in stroke play or loss of hole in match play under Golf Rule 13-4. This rule prohibits, among other things, "touching or moving a loose impediment lying in or touching a hazard", when your ball lies in the same hazard.

But is a small stone in the bunker a movable obstruction? It may be movable but it is not artificial. However, many Golf Committees recognize the danger posed by a flying stone, hit from the bunker with the force of a full swing. The stone becomes a flying missile.

They address and remove that risk by making a Local Rule that allows a golfer to remove such loose stones from the bunker. It is a requirement, as always, that a player removing a stone from the bunker draws the attention of his fellow competitors in stroke play or his opponent in match play to the fact that he is removing a stone from the bunker.

Not all golf clubs have incorporated such a rule in their Local Rules though, and that is why it is imperative for every golfer to familiarize himself with the local rules in each golf course that he plays.

Remember the Rules of Golf comprise the 34 Golf Rules in the rules book, The Local Rules of the individual clubs and all the Golf Decisions.

There is an interesting twist to movable obstructions. If you should notice, after striking your ball, that it is rolling towards a plastic bag or any other ‘movable obstruction’, could you run ahead of the ball and remove the plastic bag? Presumably that sort of action would be informed by the fact that a movable obstruction will attract relief anyway.

Do not move in that direction. That is a no go zone!

That kind of situation is a much more likely scenario on the putting green. You strike your ball towards a certain direction and suddenly the wind blows an artificial object into the path of your ball so you get tempted to stop the impending accident!

You must never interfere with the path of your ball after a stroke.

Golf Rule 24-1b continues as follows: "When a ball is in motion, an obstruction that might influence the movement of the ball, other than equipment of any player or the flagstick when attended, removed or held up, must not be moved".

Thus when a professional golfer on the PGA Tour watched his ball rolling off the green, after a stroke, and he moved some pieces of obstructions from its path, he was assessed a two stroke penalty as stipulated by Golf Rule 24.