Rule of the Week – Relief from the Wrong Green

When your ball is on a wrong green or a wrong green physically interferes with your area of intended stance or area of intended swing, you must not play the ball as it lies. Instead, you must take free relief by dropping a ball in the relief area as shown in Diagram 13.1f.

• When there is interference by a wrong green, free relief must be taken and the player must take complete relief
• The diagram assumes a right-hand player
• Ball A lies on the wrong green, and the nearest point of complete relief for Ball A is at P1, which must be in the same area of the course where the original ball came to rest (in this case, the general area)
• The relief area is one club-length from the reference point, is not nearer to the hole than the reference point and must be in the same area of the course as the reference point, P1