Hi Linda,
I am a fan of your site and am generally considered rules
savvy. As such, I am almost embarrassed to not know the rule, for sure, in the
following scenario. It concerns dropping for relief. If a player hits
into a water hazard, and then elects to take a drop as far back in line with
the hole and entry point into the hazard, what if his drop lands and rolls one
inch closer to where it first touched the course? Is that a re-drop?
Let’s say he has gone back sixty yards from where he entered the
hazard? The rules imply that it is a re-drop.
Is it always the
case that any drop, in any case, if it rolls closer to the hole, requires a
re-drop?
Thanks for your site and your help.
Lou
Dear Lou,
This is an excellent question, Lou. I suspect many players
will be surprised by the answer.
This is one of the very rare cases where a dropped ball that
rolls closer to the hole does not require a re-drop. While this drop is
still governed by Rule 20-2c (vi), which states that a ball must be re-dropped
if it rolls more than two club-lengths from where it hit the ground, it may
roll up to two club-lengths in any
direction.
Option “b” under Rule 26-1 allows a player to drop behind a
water hazard on the line-of-sight to the hole (one-stroke penalty). There is no
limit to how far behind the hazard the ball may be dropped, as long as the
player drops behind the hazard on the line that begins at the hole, goes
through the point where his ball last crossed the margin of the hazard, and
extends back to infinity. The player may drop a ball anywhere on that imaginary
line. Since there is no advantage to be gained if the ball rolls forward (he
will still have to cross the hazard), there is no need to re-drop a ball that
settles closer to the hole unless the ball rolls more than two club-lengths (in
any direction, including forward), or the ball rolls into the hazard.
Linda
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