Rules question · Rule 16.3a · Hard
Embedded ball under a bush: do I get relief?
In which case do you not get free relief for your embedded ball in the general area?
Answer
When it is so deep under a bush that you could not make a stroke anyway
In the general area you get free relief for a ball in its own pitch-mark, in the rough as well as on the fairway. It is enough that part of the ball is below the level of the ground. There is no relief if playing the ball is clearly unreasonable because of something else, such as a bush. In that case you may declare the ball unplayable with one penalty stroke.