So I got in a somewhat heated discussion with another cardmate at a tournament this weekend. The course we were playing has a small and shallow OB creek running thru several holes on the course. The banks of said creek are IB, but extremely steep. This discussion is mostly hypothetical, as it didn't really directly pertain to our play. The discussion was as follows:
Player A's drive is OB in the creek. marking his lie 1m from the last point in bounds would leave him attempting to take an extremely difficult, if not impossible, stance on the steep bank of the creek. Player A claims that because his lie is unsafe and unplayable he is allowed to take relief to the top of the bank without an additional penalty and play from there. I politely pulled out my rule book and asked him to show me what rule gives him that option, and he not so politely told me "I don't know where it is but I know its a rule and that's how we've always played it". In this hypothetical situation, the only option I can think of for player A if he cannot take a stance he is comfortable with on his lie is to invoke optional relief, relocate the lie back along the line of play and take a 1 stroke penalty.
Do I have the correct interpretation of this? I looked everywhere in the rule book, and I cannot see any place where players are allowed relief from a lie for anything other then the following (803.01B):
I could not find an option for unsafe or unplayable lies anywhere, other then in reference to solid objects like trees.
Do I have this correct?
Player A's drive is OB in the creek. marking his lie 1m from the last point in bounds would leave him attempting to take an extremely difficult, if not impossible, stance on the steep bank of the creek. Player A claims that because his lie is unsafe and unplayable he is allowed to take relief to the top of the bank without an additional penalty and play from there. I politely pulled out my rule book and asked him to show me what rule gives him that option, and he not so politely told me "I don't know where it is but I know its a rule and that's how we've always played it". In this hypothetical situation, the only option I can think of for player A if he cannot take a stance he is comfortable with on his lie is to invoke optional relief, relocate the lie back along the line of play and take a 1 stroke penalty.
Do I have the correct interpretation of this? I looked everywhere in the rule book, and I cannot see any place where players are allowed relief from a lie for anything other then the following (803.01B):
casual water, loose leaves or debris, broken branches no longer connected to a tree, motor vehicles, harmful insects or animals, players' equipment, people, or any item or area specifically designated by the Director before the round
I could not find an option for unsafe or unplayable lies anywhere, other then in reference to solid objects like trees.
Do I have this correct?