Hi Linda,
Just stumbled on your rules questions blog whilst looking for clarification on a rules question I have.
Firstly let me say your blog is very good and informative and I have enjoyed reading through the questions and your answers.
Question:
On a par 5 a player hits his ball from the tee into the middle of the fairway. He then hits his second shot towards the green but misses the green to the right into some semi rough. Pretty confident he will find his ball in the 3 minutes allowed, he decides not to play a provisional ball and walks up towards the area of where he believes his ball came to rest.
Unfortunately he failed to locate his ball and returned to where he had last played his ball, i.e., stroke and distance.
He decided NOT to mark his reference point with a tee peg or similar and dropped a ball from knee height which first touched the course in the relief area but rolled forward and came to rest six inches nearer to the hole than where the ball first struck the course, i.e., outside the relief area
Normally under these circumstances the ball would be re-dropped, but I have heard that a rules clarification has been released recently saying you would NOT be penalised under these circumstances.
I have researched the internet but not found anything to support what I am being told. Can you assist?
(The question would be the same for any rules situation when a player does not mark a reference point and the ball comes to rest outside the relief area.)
Thank you.
Lou from England
Dear Lou,
You must re-drop if your ball comes to rest outside the relief area [Rule 14.3c(2)].
There is a Local Rule that may be adopted that allows a ball dropped back on the line that hits the ground within the relief area and rolls outside the relief area but is still within one club-length of where it hit the ground to be played without penalty, no re-drop required. This Local Rule was included in the April 2019 Clarifications. I have copied it below for you. Note that this Local Rule applies only to back-on-the-line relief, and that it must be adopted by the Committee. If this Local Rule has not been adopted, you will get the general penalty if you play a ball that has rolled out of the relief area.
Linda
Copyright © 2019 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
Model Local Rule E-12 Ball Played From Outside Relief Area When Taking Back-On-the-Line Relief
Purpose. A Committee may choose to introduce a Local Rule to provide for no penalty in specific circumstances when a ball is played from outside the relief area after taking back-on-the-line relief.
Under this Local Rule, a player will not be penalized for playing from a wrong place so long as the ball is dropped in the relief area and comes to rest within one club-length of where it first touched the ground.
For example, a ball rolls slightly forward of the reference point after having been dropped in the right way and in the relief area, but is still within one club-length of where it first touched the ground when dropped. In such cases, the player can either proceed under Rule 14.3c(2) or the player can play the ball from where it came to rest.
This Local Rule is for use only in relation to the Back-On-the-Line relief procedure.
MLR E-12
“When taking Back-On-the-Line relief, there is no additional penalty if a player plays a ball that was dropped in the relief area required by the relevant Rule (Rule 16.1c(2), 17.1d(2), 19.2b or 19.3b) but came to rest outside the relief area, so long as the ball, when played, is within one club-length of where it first touched the ground when dropped.
This exemption from penalty applies even if the ball is played from nearer the hole than the reference point (but not if played from nearer the hole than the spot of the original ball or the estimated point where the ball last crossed the edge of the penalty area).
This Local Rule does not change the procedure for taking Back-On-the-Line relief under a relevant Rule. This means that the reference point and relief area are not changed by this Local Rule and that Rule 14.3c(2) can be applied by a player who drops a ball in the right way and it comes to rest outside the relief area, whether this occurs on the first or second drop.” (Added 4/2019)
