Linda, I hope you can help me with what the proper drop options are in this situation. Imagine this hole similar to the 12th at Augusta National but the water fronting the green is marked red for lateral and is situated only on the front right side. Golfer hits his approach shot over the green and ends up in the back green side bunker.
He then skulls his next shot from the bunker and hits it into the water in front of the green. The water hazard is marked red for lateral. What are his drop options?
This is what I thought was correct:
1. Replay the shot from the bunker.
2. Drop 2 club lengths from point of entry no nearer to the hole.
3. Drop on the other side of the water hazard equidistant to the hole.
Another golfer in the group insisted that the 2 club drop was not an option because any drop will be closer to the hole because the point of entry is between the green and the water hazard.
Is he correct?
Lou Lou
Dear Lou Lou,
It is usually possible to drop a ball on the green side of a lateral hazard without violating the prohibition against dropping closer to the hole by dropping close to the margin of the hazard. If that is not possible, then the player must use one of the other relief options that you listed: replay from the bunker or drop on the opposite side of the hazard at a point equidistant from the hole [Decision 26-1/18].
The Committee has another option when a lateral hazard adjacent to a green is so configured that there are sections of the hazard where it is not possible to find an area to drop that would not be closer to the hole. They can mark those specific areas and provide one or more dropping zones for a ball that enters the hazard in those designated sections. The option to use the dropping zone would be written as a Local Rule [Decision 33-2a/9].
The reasoning of the other golfer in your group is incorrect. A ball entering a lateral hazard adjacent to a green will often enter the hazard at a point between the green and the hazard. The determining factor in whether the player may drop on the green side of the hazard is whether a point can be found within two club-lengths of the hazard margin that is no closer to the hole. There is no requirement that you measure the two club-lengths perpendicular to the hazard. If you measure away from the hole and relatively parallel to the hazard margin, there is a good possibility you will find an area in which to drop a ball that conforms to the Rules.
Linda
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