Hi Linda,
Scenario is: I am taking a drop from a yellow-staked penalty area on the flag line and I go back 25 metres. When I drop the ball from knee height the ball drops to the ground and rolls forward 6 metres. My ball is now 19 metres from where it crossed the penalty area and not nearer the hole. It has rolled forward from the drop area though by 6 metres.
Question is: Is the ball in play under the new rules?
Kind regards,
Lou from Dubai
Dear Lou,
No.
When you take relief from a penalty area, and you choose the back-on-the-line relief option, you must choose a reference point on that line and measure a one-club-length relief area from that point, no closer to the hole [Rule 17.1d]. Your ball must be dropped in and come to rest in this relief area [Rule 14.3c(1)]. If your ball rolls out of this relief area, you must drop it a second time, and then place it if it rolls outside the relief area after the second drop (see Rule 14.3c(2) for specifics).
If the Committee wants to allow back-on-the-line drops to roll forward of the relief area, it must adopt Model Local Rule E-12, which I have copied below for you as it was a Clarification in April and does not appear in the Official Guide. Keep in mind that this is a Local Rule that is only in effect if adopted, and that while the ball may roll outside of the relief area, the limit on roll is still one club-length, which would require a re-drop in the situation you describe in your question.
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)
Linda
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