Monday, February 12, 2018

Ask Linda #1697-How to use a Dropping Zone (DZ)

Linda,
I have noticed over the years that the suggested local rules in Appendix I, Part A, regarding dropping in a drop zone are often misunderstood or probably never read; especially when a drop in a zone results in the ball rolling out of the zone and moving less than two club lengths towards the hole.  Declaring that the ball is in play after such a drop usually results in disbelief.
I even saw in a Golf Rules Guide on display in a bookshop that on the page explaining how to use a drop zone someone had put a hand drawn cross over the page and stated it was wrong.
Have you any description in your own straightforward style that covers dropping in a drop zone?
Thanks and regards,
Lou from Sydney, Australia

Dear Lou,

You make a good point, Lou. I suspect there is a healthy amount of 
misunderstanding regarding how to properly use a DZ. The procedure is spelled out in the Appendix of the rulebook (page 152 in my edition). I suspect any ignorance is due to its location in the Appendix, where it receives less attention than it might if it were in the main body of the rulebook. I find the provisions very clearly stated, so rather than try to reinvent the wheel, I will copy it verbatim below, adding only a helpful note to (e). Pay particular attention to provision (g), under which no re-drop is required for a ball that rolls nearer the hole than its original position (subject to some limitations); this provision is in direct contrast to Rule 20-2c (vii), which would require a re-drop.

Appendix I, Part A, Local Rules, #6. Dropping Zones
Note: When using a dropping zone the following provisions apply regarding the dropping and re-dropping of the ball:
(a) The player does not have to stand within the dropping zone when dropping the ball.
(b) The dropped ball must first strike a part of the course within the dropping zone.
(c) If the dropping zone is defined by a line, the line is within the dropping zone.
(d) The dropped ball does not have to come to rest within the dropping zone.
(e) The dropped ball must be re-dropped if it rolls and comes to rest in a position covered by Rule 20-2c(i-vi). [My note: The positions referred to are if the ball rolls: into a hazard; out of a hazard; onto a putting green; out of bounds; into a position where there is interference by the condition from which relief was taken from an immovable obstruction, abnormal ground condition, wrong putting green, or into the pitch mark from which it was lifted because it was embedded; more than two club-lengths from where it first struck the course.]
(f) The dropped ball may roll nearer the hole than the spot where it first struck a part of the course, provided it comes to rest within two club-lengths of that spot and not into any of the positions covered by (e).
(g) Subject to the provisions of (e) and (f), the dropped ball may roll and come to rest nearer the hole than:
   its original position or estimated position (see Rule 20-2b);
   the nearest point of relief or maximum available relief (Rule 24-2, 25-1 or 25-3); or
   the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or lateral water (Rule 26-1).

Linda
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