Rules School

Sprinkler heads
I noticed during a tournament in May that a player got relief from a sprinkler head even though his ball was not touching it nor did the sprinkler head itself interfere with his stance or swing. How was that possible?

Dennis Bracken
Orlando, Florida

1. That ruling was very questionable and actually debated by the television broadcasters. It involved Masters champion Charles Schwartzel who felt that because of the downhill lie, he had to go down and chase the ball, creating a longer swing track that brought the lip of the sprinkler head into the path of his intended swing. Essentially the PGA Tour Rules official left it up to Schwartzel – telling him if that he truly felt the sprinkler head or the lip around it would impede his swing, he was entitled to relief. Schwartzel took the relief and ended up with a flatter, better lie. He proceeded to hit a long iron onto the green and putt for eagle.

To be honest, the PGA Tour, with all its money and manpower, could avoid any situation like this by clearly and liberally marking all sprinkler head areas as ground repair. Most of these areas are in the middle of fairways and a player should not be penalized because his ball ends up in the depression where the sprinkler head lies and is often now mown evenly. By marking the area with a white circle, these questionable situations would be avoided. Even the PGA Tour official involved in the Schwartzel incident said he would have had no problem marking off the entire area where Schwartzel's ball was lying.