This question came from one of our website visitors.  If you have a question about the rules of golf, submit your question to Les Duer, CGC's resident rules expert.

Question from David S.

I'm not sure if this is a rules questions or a local custom question. I play a lot in the evening, just casually, when the sprinklers are often running, so I'm constantly dodging them and wait for them to clear - annoying but, hey, it's golf. The other night I hit in the middle of three sprinklers, all running and out of phase so that there was only about a 5 second window to line up, set up, and hit before one of the the (very high pressure!) streams clobbered me, so naturally it's tough to hit a good shot under those conditions. Is there relief for this situation?

Les' Answer 

The Rules don’t provide relief for this situation. If a sprinkler was broken and there is no way of knowing how long the situation was to continue, then Rule 1-4, “Points Not Covered by Rules”, would apply. The conditions would have to be fairly severe and measures such as propping a stick or club against the sprinkler couldn’t work. But, if you are playing to record a score or having a friendly competition and no measure will work then be quick about hitting your ball.