With the new local drop rule near green

Simple question, with the new local in place to give the option of a drop rather than stroke and distance on OB or Lost ball, is there anything stopping you from dropping on the fringe - if that drop location meets the criteria of being perpendicular to the lost/OB ball and no closer to the hole?

You seem to be referencing the Model Local Rule E-5 "Alternative to Stroke and Distance for Lost Ball or Ball Out of Bounds".

Assuming the rule is in effect, all the relief options seems to say the "relief area" must be in the "General Area" so the answer would seem to be yes, fringe is OK.

Thanks, that was my read of it too. I don't have much experience with this rule, our club decided not to make it a local rule, and if a playing competitive golf it is not in play.

Does anyone belong to a club that adopted the rule?

Yes, everyday players wanted it. The Director of Golf has, so far, used it for all play. At my course the out of bounds and lost ball hot spots all lent themselves to an easily locatable edge of a fairway. (Not all courses are so fortunate.) The trick was fitting the Local Rule onto a "bumper sticker" so they would know how to use it.

Yes, our club put that Local Rule in place last year. No issues have arisen with its use in the groups that I play in. Not used in our "high-level" competitions.

I know of a number of clubs that have in play for casual rounds, don't know of any that have it in place for competition. Some of the cubs that put it in, put just in place for certain holes. Our club said it was too confusing to members to have it in place for casual play and not for competition or to have in play for some holes and not others. The reality is in casual play, very few people are going back to the tee anyway at our club. If they know it is out they hit a provisional, if they think it is in and don't hit a provisional and then find it is out, they typical take their most likely handicap score and move on.

Our local strike rate is two from ten courses have it. Our District Golf Association tournament conditions override it when using those courses. Our district 'Vets' golf (which just means over 55s here) league, which rotates through all courses, applies it to all their events.

The rule is in play at our course for all rounds whether tournament or not. There are a lot of ob and lost ball opportunities and the rule speeds up play considerably.

The one difficult hole is the down hill par 3 ninth where a pulled left shot can catch a cart path and go ob onto the parking lot often ending up on the first tee. There is no defined fairway really as there is a creek diagonally in front and across to the left back of the green with the driving range right and short of the green and the practice green well to the right and long. I have had a couple of occasions where I thought my tee shot was fine and it ended up on the first tee. A buddy of mine was on the first tee one time and brought my ball to me and asked why I didn't yell fore. I explained that I can't see that far... He seemed good with that. Anyway to drop behind the green would be closer to the hole then where the ball crossed out and over where it did cross is rough as far as I can tell. I asked the pro about this and he said that others had asked him and he had no idea. I guess that there should probably be a drop area for the occasional ob long ball?

At any rate on par threes it is almost always best to hit a provisional ball if there is any danger that the ball might be lost or ob which is what I usually do.

Mostly Anytime you think you can hit the green, a par 3 is a good example, it is way better to hit a provisional than to take E5.

E5 is mostly for long drives that you don’t find or go OB. It’s better to not risk hitting one out again. Drop and play your 4th from the fairway.

The case that came up for us was a lost approach shot, that we thought we would have found. It was a time saver instead of sending the guy back to re-hit, but it was the first time I was faced with a drop that could be green side. Mind you the logistics of no closer to the hole was not the easiest. It was pretty hypothetical as we were just playing a friendly best ball for a few $ and his ball did not matter as we were all on the green putting for birdies.