Ask Linda #13 - unplayable ball

Dear Linda,
Please explain what to do when you want to declare your ball “unplayable.”
Lulu

Dear Lulu,

You may declare your ball to be unplayable anywhere on the golf course except in a water hazard. Water hazards have their own special set of rules (Rule 26).

Under Rule 28, if you decide to declare your ball “unplayable,” you must assess yourself one penalty stroke, and then (your choice):

a, Play a ball at the spot from which the original ball was last played (your best guess as to the exact spot); or
b. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, anywhere on the line-of-sight to the hole; 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, you may proceed under a, b, or c above, except that if you proceed under b or c you must drop the ball in the bunker. What this boils down to is if you want to take the ball out of the bunker, you will have to take it all the way back to the point where you hit your previous shot. Otherwise it must remain in the bunker.

Linda

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