Red stake interference

[jhogan50]

Hi all, after my round today, reflecting in a shot I hit into water😭, my drive landed in some heavy rough just inside a red stake. I didn't really know what to do so I just swung and it went straight in to water in front of my. My stance was o leaning over the stake to hit the ball. The stake was not moveable. I'm reading rules , I can't figure it out, was I entitled to a free drop back from the stake? Still inside the hazard area?

[gojoholo]

Rule 16.1a
There is no free relief from an abnormal course condition when the abnormal course condition is out of bounds or your ball is in a penalty area.

[sirish19]

So, do you mean your shot hit the stake and went into the water? I was wondering something similar before as I once hit the black and white striped yardage marker in the middle of the fairway with a shot. This was my own course and just in a local round so it didn't count for anything, but I was wondering about the placement of those course items. Although they look nice aesthetically (and are sometimes course accurate), the could pose problems when playing.

[jhogan50]

Cheers guys, my ball landed on d bank of a river, heavy rough, just inside a red stake. I could not swing my club properly with the red stake that was in The ground. I took. A swing but the ball just went straight into the water. I was just thinking after the round could I have done things differently!! Watching too much Bryson 😂 😅

[wbond]

Pretty certain you could have removed and replaced the stake if it was interfering with your stance or swing.

[gojoholo]

OP said the stake was not moveable. I took that to mean that they tried to move it , but it was stuck in the ground. They probably should have taken a penalty drop.

[jhogan50]

Ya the stake was well buried in the ground I didn't even attempt to distrupt it from its place, the format we were playing was better ball so to be of any assistance I needed to get ball moving towards the green without penalty.