Reply To: Lost Ball In Abnormal Ground Condition

[Jim Kavanagh]

There have been a few significant changes to this rule. You copied and pasted from the old decisions book that is now outdated.

Under the new 2019 Rules of Golf, the player may take relief from any hole dug by an animal. The requirement that it be a burrowing animal had been removed.

Temporary ( casual) water is a temporary accumulation of water. When the player takes a stance, the water must still be visible at his feet in order to take relief. If the water is absorbed back into the ground after the player takes a stance, then the player is no longer standing in temporary water. The old rule required that the water be visible either before or after taking a stance.

Mud itself is not considered temporary water. I think that it is too subjective to include it. When is it no longer mud? How wet does the ground have to be to be considered mud? That rule is not likely to be altered. The good news is that the Committee that is running the tournament has the right to declare such an area to be an ACC and put a white line around it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Jim Kavanagh.