Linda,
A friend asked the following and I’m pretty sure I know the answer with Rickie Fowler having done the same just recently.
But friend asks:
After hitting 2nd shot out of bounds (from the fairway) a drop was taken incorrectly at shoulder height (at the correct relief area).
The hole was completed and the incorrect action was only identified at end of the next hole.
Penalty in stroke play? Penalty in match play?
In match play, if the opponent saw the drop being made from the wrong height but did not say anything until the hole was completed knowing he would automatically win the hole, is the opponent breaching any rule for deliberately allowing a breach of the rules?
Lou from Wellington, New Zealand
Dear Lou,
The player must drop the ball from knee height. If he drops from shoulder height, he has dropped in a wrong way. If he does not correct his mistake, he gets one penalty stroke (in both match play and stroke play) if he plays the ball from within the correct relief area. If he plays the ball from outside the correct relief area, he gets the general penalty [Rule 14.3b(3)]. The general penalty is loss of hole in match play, two strokes in stroke play.
Regarding your second question, there is no Rule that requires a player in a match to warn his opponent that he is about to breach a Rule other than common decency. Some match players are comfortable withholding information that would help their opponent avoid a penalty. I am not. I prefer to teach my opponent than profit from his ignorance.
A player may choose to ignore his opponent’s breach of a Rule in match play. If he does so, there is no penalty, provided there is no agreement to ignore a breach. (“Agreement” would go something like this: “I saw you drop from the wrong height back there, but I do not want to call a penalty on you, so let’s agree to ignore it and play on, OK with you?” “Yes.”) If the player decides not to ignore the breach and his opponent does not agree with the penalty, the player must request a ruling about the incorrect drop before either player makes a stroke on the next hole.
Linda
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