Course Status

Due to the amount of rain over the past week, combined with the large amount of bare areas across the majority of the fairways, the Lift, Clean & Place local rule will now be in place alongside Preferred Lies. This now means there are two options for cleaning the ball within the general area of the golf course. To clarify, the general area of the course is all of the course except for the following:

Bunkers
Penalty areas (which used to be known as hazards)
The putting green of the hole you're playing
The teeing area that you start from

Preferred Lies:
 
This rule allows players to mark their ball, clean, then replace the ball within 6 inches of the spot of the original ball, but not be placed nearer to the hole.  A full summary of the rule is summarised below.
 
 
Model Local Rule E-3 "When any part of a player's ball touches part of the general area cut to fairway height or less, the player may take free relief once by placing the original ball or another ball in and playing it from this relief area:
 
Reference Point: Spot of the original ball.
 
Size of Relief Area Measured from Reference Point: 6 inches from the reference point, but with these limits:
 
Limits on Location of Relief Area:
 
Must not be nearer the hole than the reference point, and
 
Must be in the general area.
 
 
Lift,clean & place:
 
Model Local Rule E-2 "When a player's ball lies in the general area, the ball may be lifted, cleaned, and replaced without penalty. The player must mark the spot of the ball before lifting it, and the ball must be replaced on its original spot.
 
 
 
So, to summarise, if your ball is in the general area and on a part of the course cut to fairway height or less, you can mark, clean and replace the ball within 6 inches from the spot of the original ball, taking advantage of both the preferred lies and lift, clean and place rules.
 
If the ball is in the general area but not on part of the course cut to fairway height or less, so for example in the rough or around a green but not on part of the course cut to fairway height or less, you can mark the ball, lift and clean, but you then must replace the ball on its original spot and original lie, you do not have the option to move the ball 6 inches and no nearer to the hole.  Preferred lies are not an option on areas not cut to fairway height or less, only lift, clean, and place can be used.