2005 #3 What if you can’t play your ball?

THE SCENE:
You are playing from a tee on a high hill. It is a par three hole with a green far below. Your drive soars toward the green. Then it veers left, lands way short of the green and bounces down towards the street. It stops right in front of some rocks that hold up the bunker and the side of the hill. You walk down to the ball. It is in bounds but you can’t play it. You are facing the rock. And you can’t wedge yourself between the rock and the ball to hit it sideways.

What would you do?
A. Hit it left handed. You have to get it out of there to a spot from where you can hit it onto the green.
B.  Declare the ball unplayable. Take a one stroke penalty and hit from the tee again.

Of course you are allowed to hit the ball left handed (A.) but it would still be hard to reach the green from down by the street. So the most reasonable thing to do would be (B.) Hit from the tee again.

Look at Rule #28, below.
Rule 28. Ball Unplayable
The player may deem his ball unplayable at any place on the course except when the ball is in a water hazard. The player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable.
If the player deems his ball to be unplayable, he must, under penalty of one stroke:
a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); or
b. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped; or
c. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole.
If the unplayable ball is in a bunker, the player may proceed under Clause a, b or c. If he elects to proceed under Clause b or c, a ball must be dropped in the bunker.

You can deem your ball unplayable anywhere except in a water hazard. You don’t have to prove it’s unplayable. If you don’t want to play it from wherever it lies, just say it’s unplayable. Take one penalty stroke.

Then you have 3 options:
1) Play from where you played before, in this case, the tee.
2) Drop your ball on an imaginary straight line that starts at the hole, passes through the ball and goes back as far as you wish. In this case that would put you out in the street.
Drop within 2 club lengths of where the ball lies, no nearer the hole. In this case that wouldn’t help very much, so hit from the tee again.

REMEMBER:You can deem your ball unplayable almost anywhere. So, if you get in trouble and know your next shot is going to be very difficult, just take a penalty stroke and use one of the Unplayable options above