It’s always fun when rulings come up at your home course. My home course is Ptarmigan Country Club in Fort Collins. The 15th hole is a neat par 3 with the Poudre River in the background and an old homestead silo short and right of the green. You wouldn’t think that this silo should come into play off the tee however, many players who are a member of the “Silo in One Club” will disagree. So what do you do if a ball is hit into the silo? As is often the case, the answer is, “It depends.”
The silo is an immovable obstruction and Rule 24 helps us out. If it’s known or virtually certain that the ball is in the silo (the sound of the ricochets as the ball finds its way to bottom always confirm that), there are two relief procedures depending on whether the ball can be seen inside the silo or if it’s lost. If the player can see and identify his ball in the silo, the procedure is to determine his nearest point of relief for the lie of the ball, stance and area of his intended swing from that spot that is not nearer the hole. From there, he can drop within one club-length without penalty and hopefully play onto the green.
If the ball can’t be located or identified inside the silo, the player still gets relief. The ball is deemed to lie directly below the outermost limit of the silo at the point where it entered. From there, the player again determines the nearest point of relief for the lie of the ball, stance and area of his intended swing from that spot that is not nearer the hole. Once that is determined, he gets to drop the ball within a club-length without penalty.
Most times this provides line of play relief to the green but sometimes it doesn’t. The obstruction rule will get you out of the silo for free but doesn’t guarantee that your drop will give you a clear shot to the green.
