Daily HolesAlpine · terrain · up to 4 per hole
Boulders — How Rocks Deflect the Ball in Daily Holes
Granite rocks on Alpine courses. A rolling ball that hits one glances off and loses 40% of its roll.
By the numbers
- Where
- Alpine courses, from 6 October 2026
- How many
- up to 4 per hole; none on the crossing
- Roll kept after a hit
- 60%
- Bounce
- leaves at the angle it arrived
- Penalty
- none — play it where it stops
- Most affected
- driver and woods, which roll furthest
What it is
From 6 October 2026 every Alpine course has granite boulders: up to four per hole, along the landing areas and short of the green, never on the water-crossing hole. They are the large grey rocks with a pale highlight and a crack; the small pebbles in the scenery are decoration and do nothing.
What it does
A boulder is not a lie — the ball never rests on top of one. When a rolling ball reaches a rock it stops at the rock’s face and bounces off like a ball off a wall, leaving at the same angle it arrived, and keeps only 60% of the roll it had left. A ball that pitches straight onto a rock drops at the face nearest where it landed and glances off the same way. There is no penalty stroke; you play from wherever it finishes.
Why it matters
A boulder rarely costs a whole stroke on its own. It takes distance — a head-on hit sends the ball back the way it came — and it changes direction, which can turn a ball on the fairway into one in the rough, a bunker or the water beside it. Long rolling shots suffer most: the driver and woods roll furthest, wedges barely at all.
How to play it
Look along the line you are about to lock, not only at the flag. If a rock sits in the roll-out just past your carry, either take less club so the ball stops short of it or more carry so it lands beyond. Wedges and short irons, which hardly roll, are the safest way past a boulder guarding the green.
Worked example
A pure drive carries about 300 yards and would roll about 39 more on the fairway. Put a boulder 10 yards past the landing spot, dead on the line. The ball rolls 10 yards, hits the rock head-on and keeps 60% of the roll it had left — about 17 yards, straight back towards the tee. It finishes about 7 yards behind where it landed instead of 39 ahead: some 46 yards lost. A glancing hit costs less distance but sends the ball off at an angle.
Common mistakes
Aiming the driver through a gap between rocks without allowing for roll — the carry clears them, the roll does not. Treating the scenery pebbles as hazards. And forgetting that a deflected ball can run into water beside the fairway.