Rabbit Hole

Pitched to par 3 green and ball roolled thro green down bank and ended up between path and hedge.

I managed to get the club head to it and punched it up the slope only to watch it roll back down, across the path and down a near vertical rabbit hole.

So what is the ruling. I'm thinking unplayable lie - drop with 1 stroke penalty. Or is it GUR (no notices) or free drop (no local rule).

Or should I just shoot the bunny...

That is a free drop, Andy as it is a hole made by a burrowing animal. One can even get relief from rabbit droppings.

Excellent - I knew you'd know John.

An extra stableford point for the round then...

I'd better go and read up my R&A rulebook too.

Thanks 

LOL

Does that mean you can get relief from ANY sort of 'droppings'?

Knew about the hole but didn't know the ruling about the droppings.  Couple of courses I play suffer with geese on the fairways.  Can I take a free drop from those to stop me getting a faceful of something unpleasant?

Immovable Obstructions and Abnormal Ground Conditions (Rules 24-2 and 25-1)

An immovable obstruction is an artificial immovable object such as a building or an artificially-surfaced road (but check the Local Rules for the status of roads and paths).

An abnormal ground condition is either casual water, ground under repair or a hole, cast or runway made by a burrowing animal, a reptile or a bird.

From this I assume a cast is the polite term for..... well, you know what I mean!

Your assumption about cast is correct Chris.

I had a similar problem at my local course.  When I got to the hole I could hear the rabbit shifting around underground so I wondered if he had a special chamber underground where he stored the balls and then sold them to the pro shop before nipping into the restaurant for a salad.

Colin, a rabbit hole is pretty clear cut, but in order to get away with getting relief for a rabbit scrape it is essential that it is proven and this is done by the droppings that are usually associated with these. Without the droppings then it would be very unlikly that one could claim relief from a scrape as it could have been made  by anything.

One does not have to stand in droppings or hit where they are for obvious reasons.

If this rule has been changed then I was not aware of it.

And that's why you should always carry a pocket full of raisins..............

A Dog made that hole. i saw it.

Its not a natural inhabitant and not a burrowing animal so no free drop!

Colin , if there are droppings then one can claim a rabbit scrape, it does not have to be a hole.

John,

"Rabbit Scrapes" were taken out of the Rule Book a few years ago. The R&A concluded that it was impossible to determine what a golfers Hcp was by the Hole he left behind. They replaced it with "Burrowing Animal".

Rabbit Droppings or Dung is classed as a "Loose Impediment"

Thank you David, so the rule has changed, I thought it must have done because of the queries I was getting.

That is correct Paul.

So if your on dung and your in a hazard you really are in the  s............................