Ball in a drain - qualifies for relief?

Hi guys,

Need help again on rules..

I was on a par 5, hit my 2nd shot which landed on the fairway but rolled into an uncovered drain in the rough. The drain was not marked as a hazard, and was not in OB.

Do i take a penalty stroke? Or does this qualify as relief?

In the end we decided i should get a free lift since it's an immovable man made obstruction. Where i usually play at Sembawang, all the drains are marked as lateral hazards so it's quite straight forward.

need to know house rules, which shd be stated in the score card..........

if you dun see any red stakes lining the drain on the side of the hole in play, it's a free drop.

FP is right, the stakes are dead giveaways

oh, so if you are not beyond red stakes or if there isn't any stakes around, it shall be a free drop for ball in long kang ah..

Does this rule remain no matter wat long kang?
Sometimes there are slighly bigger long kang, for example, 2nd hole of Mandai Par 4, there is long kang on the right. Can that be free drop?

TheFocalPoint wrote:

if you dun see any red stakes lining the drain on the side of the hole in play, it's a free drop.

Not really, slinger was right first time, it will be on card, sometimes the drains are part of the cart path. So the local rules will cover it.

Sometimes it is a free drop sometimes they decide.. "well you should not have hit it there" always read the local rules, as they can override the "rules of golf"

Roystonnn wrote:

Does this rule remain no matter wat long kang?
Sometimes there are slighly bigger long kang, for example, 2nd hole of Mandai Par 4, there is long kang on the right. Can that be free drop?

I think the long kang is hazard for mandai hole 2 left and right of the fairway

Something relevant:

Always check the scorecard of the particular course you are playing. You never know some peculiar local rules that may not apply elsewhere.

An eg will be if your ball is in the groove of the fringe between the green and apron. Keppel allows a free lift and place within 6" of the spot but this is a local rule oni. It doesn't mean it might be the same for lets say SICC, TMCC or whereever.

Most impt, read them. They might always play to ur advantage.

Nothing was mentioned on the card, we checked. And like i mentioned in the first post, it wasn't marked, ie no stakes, nothing.

This being the case, it was a free drop right?

I guess if thats the case, no stakes and no local rule you would just take relief........