Out of Bounds

One of the primary duties of tournament administrators is to define the boundaries of the course in clear cut terms. The Out of Bounds of the course definition is listed first in the Local Rules. In some courses, due to the nature of the course and various types of developments taking place,this exercise becomes a bit tricky. Sampathchari, the tournament director of PGTI, with whom I had the pleasure of working as a referee in the recent past,takes meticulous care in defining the out of Bounds of the course. I remember in the Tata open played in Golmori club, the left flank of hole no 7 was unmarked by the club, as some new construction was planned.Sampath took a practical decision to mark the bordering tree line as the OB line. Even though this burdened the green staff with extra work, this was a sound approach.
In the recently concluded Global Green Open conducted by PGTI in Karnataka golf Association, we had some problems in defining the OB. The club has erected tall towering fences supported by nylon netting on hole numbers 1 to 4.The club had defined the margin of the OB as the inside line of the base of the fence and drawn a white line. The club also posted white stakes along the white line. In some holes, only white stakes were posted, without white line.
Whenever there is a strong wind, the nylon net was intruding into the playing area of the course and caused interference to the intended stroke of the player. Since the club had defined the fence with net as the OB, we cannot give relief to the player as the fence with net is a fixed object and not an obstruction.Green staff found it difficult to tie the net, so that it does not intrude into the course. Sampath again found a practical solution.He moved the white line and white stakes marginally inside. For the tournament, he defined the OB margin as the white line and where both white stakes and white lines are present, the margin to be defined by the white line and the white stake to identify the OB. He specified that net will not define the OB and thus the player had the benefit of relief under R 24, if the nylon net interferes.
Still, we had one important incident involving definition of OB.On hole no 2,close to the OB white line, a player's ball was inside the course. But he had interference from a white stake identifying the OB. He called Mickey Zarra, one of the referees. Mickey allowed him to remove the white stake( movable obstruction under R 24-1). When Mickey discussed this ruling with me, I expressed my reservations with this ruling. Mickey felt that since OB was defined by the white line and not by the white stake, the stake can be treated as a movable obstruction.I pointed out that by definition even if white stakes identify OB and do not define the margin of OB, the OB stakes are fixed objects and not obstructions. We finally decided to settle our arguments by referring to R& A/ USGA.
I got a response from R & A confirming that such white stakes identifying OB are not obstructions.I am waiting for Mickey to tell me what is the answer from USGA. On many occasions, R& A and USGA interpret the rules differently.