2009 #1 Drop Outside Bunker

THE SCENE:

You are playing hole #2, a par three. You hit a great drive and your ball is on the green near the hole. You are going to have a birdie! You arrive at the green and as you stand over your ball with your putter you see the break. You decide to hit the ball through the break and for that you will have to hit it firmly.

You do. In fact you hit it so firmly that it flies by the hole, speeds up as it goes down hill, runs off the green and drops into the bunker. Oh, no! There goes your birdie. What are you going to do now?

What would you do?

A. Chip out of the sand, cross your fingers and hope that your ball lands on the green and stops close to the hole.

B. Deem your ball unplayable. Take a 1 stroke penalty and place the ball on the green, near the hole - at the spot from where you putted it.

B is correct.
Look at the following rule:

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.

In the past I have told you that the only way you can get an unplayable ball out of a bunker is to play it from where it was played before. Well, this is one of those times when that is exactly what you want to do. You want to deem your ball unplayable, take a one stroke penalty and putt again. Hopefully this time you will make your putt.

REMEMBER: Any time that your ball lands in a bunker, if you are willing to take a penalty stroke you can play your next shot from where you played before.

2008 #18 Niners’ Water Holes

THE SCENE:
You are playing #7, a par-three hole, over a water hazard. You club tops your ball and sends it bouncing towards the green. But it stops short of the water. You walk to your ball and hit it again. This time it splashes into the water hazard. With a penalty stroke for the water hazard you are now lying 3.

What Would You do?

A)  You would climb back in your cart, drive to the green and play from the Niners’ ball drop, lying 5, hitting 6.

B)  You lie only 3. You could be on in 4 so you hit another ball. If that ball goes into the water, too, you would add a penalty stroke to your score and cross over. You would be lying 6, hitting 7. 


(You hit your ball 3 times = 3 strokes; 
 

         2 balls in the water = 2 penalty strokes; 
 

                  To cross over = 1 penalty stroke.
                             Total = 6 (lying 6, hitting 7)
Both A & B are correct

To speed up play, the Niners have a special non-tournament rule for water holes:

If you have not gotten across the water after two tries, drop a ball on the other side, lying 5, hitting 6. (2 shots plus penalty strokes, plus one for the carry over the water.)

This means that if you are not across the water hazard after hitting the ball two times (whether the ball went into the water or not), you can cross to the green side of the hazard and play from the Niners’ ball drop, lying 5, hitting 6.
So, A) is correct.

However, you don’t have to cross over then. If your ball didn’t go into the water, your score is still low. You may want to hit again. If you do hit another ball, and if you still are not across the water, you can count all of your strokes, add a penalty stroke and cross over.
So, B) is also correct.

No matter how few times you hit the ball, if you cross over using this rule, your minimum score always would be lying 5, hitting 6..

REMEMBER: If, after 2 tries. you have not gotten across the water, take advantage of this special rule to speed up play. Cross over and drop a ball. You will be lying 5, hitting 6.

2007 #10 Measuring relief for an Unplayable Lie

THE SCENE:
A player’s ball lay in the rough between an out-of-bounds fence and a cart path. She backed up against the fence, trying to take her stance, but the ball was just too close. It was between her feet. She couldn’t hit it, so she deemed it unplayable. She took a penalty stroke, lifted the ball, walked across the cart path and dropped it on the adjacent fairway.

One of the other players said, “Hey, you can’t do that! You have to drop your ball within two club lengths.”

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

A. You would say, “It was lying between the fence and the cart path in an unplayable lie. I don’t want to drop it on the cart path so I’m dropping it on the fairway.”
B. You would walk back to your cart, pull out your driver, walk back and measure two club lengths from where your ball lay.

B IS CORRECT
There are only three options for an unplayable lie.

Hit from where you hit before; Go back as far as you wish on a line from the flag through the ball; Drop within 2 club lengths, no closer to the hole.

See
Rule #28 Unplayable Ball

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.

Since what you really want to do is to drop your ball on the fairway, neither a nor b would help you to do that. But c might. This option allows you to drop your ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball lies, no closer to the hole. You are allowed to use any club in your bag to measure it.

When dropping two club lengths from where the unplayable ball lies, it is permissible to use a long club such as a driver or a long putter for measuring those two club lengths. If that doesn’t get you to the fairway, you might consider dropping the ball on the cart path, itself. The ball might roll or bounce to the fairway side. (Of course you have to make sure it doesn’t roll more than two club lengths from where it was dropped. If it does, re-drop it.) And, if the ball stops on the cart path, or close enough to it so that when you take your stance, your feet are on the cart path, the player is allowed free relief from there. The nearest point of relief might be on the fairway side of the cart path.

REMEMBER: When you have an unplayable lie, you can use any club in your bag to measure two club lengths. Then drop within those two club lengths to take your relief.

2005 #7 Where should you drop?

The Scene:
You are on the tee on hole #3. You wind up and hit a huge drive. Your ball soars over the water headed for the fairway just short of the green. Can it make it? “Go!” you shout. But the ball drops short of its mark. It hits the bank just short of a red stake and bounces back into the water. You sigh and say, “At least I’ll get to drop over there.” But your fellow competitor disagrees. “You should drop right out here where your ball first crossed the water.”

What would you do?
You know your ball is in a lateral water hazard. You will take a one stroke penalty and drop a ball within two club lengths of a spot. But which spot?

A. Your ball made it to the other side of the hazard and bounced back in. Your spot is where it entered the water. After all, it is a lateral water hazard.
B. When your ball hit the bank it was short of the red stake. The spot where it landed was still in the hazard. So the last place it crossed the margin of the hazard was back near the tee where it first entered the hazard. That’s your spot. Drop within two club lengths of there.

B is correct.
You may drop within two club lengths of where your ball LAST crossed the margin of the hazard – that imaginary line represented by the red stakes.

If your ball had flown all the way across the hazard and landed BEYOND the red stakes and THEN bounced back into the water, that bounce would have taken it across the margin, back into the hazard again. The spot where it crossed the margin would be the last place it entered the hazard. That would be your spot.

But in this case your ball fell short. It didn’t clear the hazard. So you drop near the spot where your ball entered the hazard (back near the tee).

26-1 c. As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard

REMEMBER: If your ball is in a lateral water hazard just think about where it LAST entered the hazard. That’s your spot. Take one penalty stroke and drop within two club lengths of there, no nearer the hole.