The question of “do you have to chip over a sprinkler head if it’s in the way of a putt from off the green?” is more complicated than it might look at first glance. The simple answer is no. Of course you don’t have to chip over it. You can putt round it, even putt through it. You might, but won’t necessarily, be entitled to a free drop away from it, and this is why:
Sprinkler heads are “Immovable Obstructions” and these are covered by Rule 16 in the Rules of Golf. In the definitions of the Rules, an Immovable Obstruction is described as an obstruction that: “cannot be moved without unreasonable effort or without damaging the obstruction or the course, and otherwise does not meet the definition of a movable obstruction.”
You are entitled to relief from an immovable obstruction if your ball touches or is on the immovable obstruction (in this case the sprinkler head.) You will also get relief if the sprinkler head interferes with the area of your intended stance or area of intended swing. So, if your foot is on a sprinkler head or the follow through of your putt would clip the sprinkler head, you will get a free drop.
If either of those things are the case, then you should establish the nearest point of complete relief (the nearest point, no closer to the hole, where the sprinkler head no longer interferes with lie, intended stance or intended swing.) You then have one club length from that point to create a Relief Area in which to drop the ball, no closer to the hole.
But. If your ball is lying in the General Area (not on the putting surface) and the sprinkler head is simply on your line of play, not affecting lie, stance or swing. You would not be entitled to free relief under Rule 16.1a. In that instance you would have to play the ball as it lies and would have to select whether to go over, round or through the sprinkler head.
The only time you would get relief from a sprinkler head in your line of play would be if your ball is actually on the putting green. That could happen on a particularly large green or an unusually shaped green where your line of putt from one section of green to another involves going over the fringe where a sprinkler head is located.
Basically then - do you have to chip over a sprinkler head if it’s in the way of a putt from off the green? Unless the sprinkler head interferes with the lie of the ball or your intended stance or swing, you have a choice to make, do you chip over it, putt round it, or try to putt through it? If it’s simply in your line, you will not get a free drop!
