seven instances when a dropped ball must be re-dropped: Rolls into and comes to rest
1
in a hazard. If the ball was dropped outside of a hazard, the rules are not going to force you to play a ball that then rolled into one. Rolls out of and comes to rest
2
outside a hazard. The flip side is that the rules won’t allow you to escape a hazard through a lucky bounce. Rolls onto and comes to rest on
3
a putting green. You can’t try to get onto the putting green through a well-placed drop. Rolls and comes to rest out of
4
bounds. Again, this is protection from the rules against an extremely unfair result. Rolls and comes to rest in a
5 position where there is interference by A re-drop is
required because the dropped ball struck the player.
the condition from which relief was taken under certain rules (immovable obstructions, abnormal ground condi- tions, wrong putting green or a local rule) or rolls back into the pitch-mark from which it was embedded. This ensures that the player gets complete relief from a condition. Without this clause a player could get stuck in an endless loop without getting relief. Rolls and comes to rest more
6
than two club-lengths from where it first struck a part of the course. The rules ensure that you stay within a reasonable distance of the area you were dropping in. Rolls and comes to rest nearer
7
to the hole than the reference point for relief (the original or estimated position, nearest point of relief, maximum available relief or the point
where the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard). The player is not entitled to advance the ball past where the relief procedure allows. If one of those seven things hap- pens a second time, the ball is then placed on the spot where it first struck the course on that second drop. In the unlikely event that the
dropped ball rolls and hits you, any other person or any player’s equipment, that ball also must be re-dropped. In this case, if the ball keeps hitting you, there is no limit as to how many times the ball is re-dropped. My recommendation— once it hits you the first time, make sure to stand uphill from the ball the second time!
Ryan Farb is the NCGA’s Manager of Rules Education A re-drop is required
because the player in this photo is taking more than the one club-length’s
relief from an immovable obstruction.
A re-drop is
required because the dropped ball struck the player’s equipment.
FALL 2015 /
NCGA.ORG / 65
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