Rules on the course

Preferred Lies: Where, How Far and How Often?

“Winter rules” is too vague to tell you where a ball may be placed. Read the adopted notice for eligible ground, distance and the placement procedure.

Competition

Competitive Play · Updated October 22, 2026

Fictional E-3 Notice A: original ball touching general area cut to fairway height or less; place once within six inches, not nearer the hole, in the general area. No real course adoption is represented.

Notice A: place within the defined area

The arrow points toward a hole outside this magnified plan; it is not the hole’s position. Scale: 10 units per inch. The edge between light and dark green changes original-ball eligibility, not the final general-area requirement.

B: Original ball touching eligible short grass. This is the six-inch reference point, not the nearest point of relief.
P: Permitted placement in rough: five inches from B, not nearer the off-plan hole, and still in the general area.
N: Nearer the hole: excluded even though within six inches.
L: Too far: 7.5 inches from B.
R: Alternative original ball wholly in rough, not touching eligible short grass: no entitlement under this sample E-3 notice.

Notice B: E-2 means replace on the spot

A separate fictional E-2 notice covers a named part of hole 6: mark B, lift and clean, then replace on B. It creates no six-inch circle. Under E-3, a later relief procedure under another Rule can create a new situation; “once” is not a universal once-per-hole restriction.

E-2 plan key: B is the unchanged ball spot; M is its marker. The small dotted ring only highlights B and is not a relief area. Marker and ball are enlarged teaching symbols.

The short version

E-3 must be adopted and its area and distance read.
E-2 cleaning and replacement is a different permission.
A chosen ball placed into play is not a series of trial lies.

Underline three parts of the notice

Start with the eligible location. Then identify the distance, measured from the original-ball reference, and the permitted final area. In fictional Notice A, Ben’s ball is wholly in rough and does not touch the eligible short grass, so it fails the original-ball test. An eligible ball may still be placed in rough when the final spot meets the notice’s general-area, distance and no-nearer limits.

E-3 allows relief once by placing the original or another ball under its conditions. It is not an automatic one-club-length allowance, and the ball must not finish nearer the hole. The named distance can differ between events.

Cleaning is not preferred lies

Notice B uses E-2. Cara marks, lifts, cleans and replaces on the original spot. A clean ball and a moved ball are different outcomes. Combining the two notices into “lift clean and place anywhere” would lose the essential boundary.

The Committee Procedures explain how E-2 and E-3 may be used and the restrictions on introducing them after stroke-play has begun. A player does not adopt a new condition for the group mid-round.

Choose one spot with intent

When a ball is set down and released with the intention that it be in play, the chosen-spot step has happened. The rules address a ball that will not stay through the specified replacement procedure, rather than permitting repeated searches for a preferred lie.

Compare drop versus place and the ordinary cleaning permissions. Weather, suspension and handicap acceptability remain separate questions.

Official sources

Official provisions checked October 22, 2026. Read their full wording and current event conditions.

Your next move

Read the governing source

Check the complete official procedure and your event conditions before acting.

Read the governing source(Official source)