This is one of those that makes people think the Rules of Golf are silly. You’ve hit a nice shot to the green, you get there, and your ball is sitting in one of those aeration holes punched in by the greenkeeping team.
They’re an essential part of golf course maintenance. You’ll see them in the spring, or the late summer, and sometimes in the winter if the rain has been hammering down on the course for weeks at a time. They keep your greens healthy.
You would just assume you can lift and move your ball out. It is what ground under repair was designed for, right? And we know we’re allowed to repair damage on the green too.
There is just no way you might have to play your ball from the bottom of an aeration hole. Is there?
Do I get relief from aeration holes in hollow tined greens?
This is where your club need to be on the ball, because they can make your golfing lives a misery here if they are not alert.
You do not get relief from an aeration hole. Cue outrage. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you.
Aeration holes are considered in the Rules of Golf to be just part of the normal conditions of the course. They are not ground under repair and are explicitly excluded as such in the definition of GUR.
They’re not classed as damage either, with “normal practices for maintaining the overall condition of the putting green” not included as stuff you are allowed stick a pitchfork into and sort out.
So you can’t fix aeration holes and you can’t take relief from them. Do the first and you’ve improved the conditions affecting the stroke. Stick two shots on your scorecard.
Do the second, and fail to put the ball back where it was, and you’ll add two strokes for playing from the wrong place.
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But it just doesn’t feel right, does it? Here’s where your club can get you out of jail.
There is a Local Rule available for this exact purpose – Model Local Rule E-4 Relief from Aeration Holes. It allows, “where recent aeration holes may significantly interfere with the lie of the ball or area of intended swing”, for committees to give relief as they would for GUR.
If that’s in the general area, use Rule 16.1b. Find the nearest point of complete relief and then drop in a one-club length relief area. If you’re on the putting green, you place the ball at the nearest point of complete relief using Rule 16.1d.
The Local Rule excludes stance relief, as well as line of play relief on the putting green. It is also meant to be withdrawn when the holes have healed enough to stop significant interference. Although in practice, I’ve seen some clubs just keep this rule going for the entire winter.
What if you take relief from an aeration hole in the general area and, when dropping, it rolls into another hole? Don’t panic, just take relief again.
Now is the time to scan your club’s Local Rules. If they’ve got this one in place, rejoice. If they haven’t, get in touch with your competition committee and ask them to consider it.
Or you might just find yourself stuck in a great big hole.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think about these rules on aeration holes? Should relief just be part of the rules of golf? Let me know on X.
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