Dear Linda,
I recently played in a club event and a member of my
threesome called a penalty on me that I don’t think was right.
In taking relief from a cart path, I took a stance with a
club in my hand and my feet off the cart path. I dropped behind and within one
club-length of where my club head was. When my dropped ball hit the ground, it
rolled forward about four inches. Since it had rolled nearer to the hole, I
picked it up, dropped it again, and played to the green.
The person in my threesome said I was penalized two strokes
for moving my ball and not replacing it. He claimed that while my ball rolled
forward, it did not roll nearer the hole than the original position of the ball
or the nearest point of relief. I had never heard of this. I thought I was
doing the right thing.
We took this to the pro and he didn’t know the answer. Help!
Lou in Fort Branch, Indiana
Dear Lou,
Relief from an immovable obstruction must be within one
club-length and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. It is possible for a dropped ball to roll
forward yet still come to rest no closer to the hole.
Let’s walk through the relief process. You take your stance
off the cart path with the club you plan to use for your next shot. You mark
the spot where your clubhead touches the ground (this is not a requirement, but
it will help you avoid dropping in a wrong place). You measure one club-length
from this spot, angling your club slightly away from the hole to be sure you
will not drop closer to the hole. Mark the spot at the end of that club-length.
Now, leaving that club on the ground with the end of the grip held firmly at the
first mark, drag the clubhead back toward the cart path. Stop dragging when the
club is parallel to the path. The area circumscribed by your two marks and the ground
over which you dragged your club is the prescribed area in which you may drop
the ball. It will look like a portion of pie.
If you drop on the line between your two marks and the ball
rolls forward of that line, the ball is closer to the hole than the nearest
point of relief and you will have to re-drop [Rule 20-2c (vii) (b)]. If you
drop behind the line (contacting the ground in your portion of pie), and the
ball rolls forward but not past the line between your two marks, the ball has
not rolled closer to the hole than the nearest point of relief and it is in
play. Thus, if you lift that ball and re-drop, you have lifted your ball in
play. The penalty is one stroke if you replace it, two strokes if you re-drop
and play it from its new position. Your fellow competitor was correct when he
assessed you a two-stroke penalty.
Note that while the ball must hit the ground in the
prescribed area, it may roll as much as two club-lengths from where it hits the
ground, which will take it out of your portion of pie. As long as the ball does
not roll closer to the hole than the extended line between your two marks, and
you still have complete relief from the cart path, the drop is good.
Linda
Copyright © 2015 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
