Dear Linda,
I have enjoyed reading your explanations on golf rules, and
I have the following question for you.
Player A drives his ball into a dry section of a Water
Hazard. He then discovers that his ball is in an area that has been marked as
GUR within the water hazard. He had an option to play the ball, but there was
interference from a stake.
He then takes relief from the GUR outside of the Water
Hazard, which he thought was his nearest point of relief, and then played his
next shot.
His marker then points out to him that he cannot take relief
from an Abnormal Ground Condition (GUR) when it is in a Water Hazard and he has
incurred a 2-stroke penalty.
The question was then raised, because he took an illegal
drop outside the water hazard, which was not his correct point of relief from
the water hazard, does he incur another 2-shot penalty for playing from the
wrong place?
Lots of discussion among the group concluded that if he had
said his ball was unplayable in the water hazard and dropped his ball within the
rules he would only have a 1-shot penalty. But because he declared his ball in
GUR and took an illegal drop, a 2-stroke penalty was correct.
We were not sure of the further 2-shot penalty for playing
from the wrong place (the NPR from the GUR) after dropping his ball.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Lou
Dear Lou,
Given how confusing this scenario is, I’m going to review
what happened as I answer your question.
The player’s ball is lying in ground under repair (GUR) in a
lateral water hazard. There is no free relief from GUR in a water hazard; the
player’s only options are to play the ball as it lies or take relief under one
of the options provided in Rule 26-1, the Water Hazard Rule [Rule 25-1b, Note 1].
He is unable to play the ball as it lies, due to interference from a hazard
stake.
The player decides to find the nearest point of relief (NPR)
from the GUR, which leads him outside the hazard. While he is not entitled to
such relief, he is entitled to add a
one-stroke penalty to his score and drop outside the hazard within two
club-lengths of where his ball last crossed the margin of the hazard.
Unfortunately, the NPR that he found was not within two
club-lengths of the spot where his ball entered the lateral hazard. When he
dropped and played his ball outside the hazard in an incorrect spot, he played
from the wrong place.
The penalty for playing from a wrong place is two strokes.
The player does not need to correct this error unless he feels he has committed
a “serious breach.” It would be a serious breach if the player gained a
significant yardage advantage, for example. He would have to play a second ball
from the correct place and leave it to the Committee to decide which ball to
count [Rule 20-7c]. I am going to assume the player did not gain a significant
advantage when he hit the ball from the wrong place.
So what has happened? We have a player who took illegal
relief from GUR in a water hazard, dropping and playing a ball outside the
hazard in the wrong place. With one act (dropping the ball outside the hazard
is one act), he has violated two Rules (the prohibition against taking relief
from GUR in a water hazard and dropping in the wrong place). When one act results in two Rules being
breached, one penalty is applied [Decision 1-4/12, #2]. The total penalty
for the player in your scenario is two strokes.
Linda
Copyright © 2013 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
