What happens if your ball is on a cart path?

The situation

Your ball comes to rest on the concrete, asphalt, or gravel of a cart path. You want to take free relief rather than risk damaging your club or the ball.

The rule

A cart path is an immovable obstruction under Rule 16.1. You are entitled to free relief when the cart path interferes with your lie, stance, or area of swing. Find the nearest point of complete relief (NPCR) — the closest spot where the path no longer affects your stance or swing, no closer to the hole, in the same area of the course. Drop within one club length of the NPCR. Crucially, the NPCR is the nearest point — not the best point. If the cart path runs along the edge of the fairway and the nearest relief is in the rough, that is where you drop. You cannot choose to drop on the other side of the path for a better lie.

Real example

Your ball is in the centre of a cart path that runs along the right rough. The NPCR is in the rough three feet off the path to the right. Drop within one club length of that spot — in the rough. Even though a relief point on the left side of the path would put you on the fairway, that's not the nearest point of complete relief, so you can't use it.

What to do on the course

• Find the NPCR by taking your normal stance and swing for the shot you intend to play — both feet and the swing must be clear
• Measure one club length (use your longest club) from the NPCR
• Drop from knee height in the arc between the NPCR and the one-club-length boundary
• You can always choose not to take relief and play from the path — useful if the rough alternative is very poor

Penalty

No penalty. Free relief from an immovable obstruction.