The rules of golf are hard! Fortunately, we have the guru. Ours Rules Guy know the book front to back. Do you have a question? He has all the answers.
In a league match, my oblivious opponent hits a wooden marker on the next tee forward, with his ball bouncing into a pond 40 yards behind us. Where should he get his next shot from? – Gary Drolet, via email
Probably from a bar stool – and do a double take!
Bank shots like the one described here are enough to grate on anyone’s nerves, never mind deflate one’s ego. Your opponent can take penalty area relief based on where his ball last crossed the board, 40 yards in the wrong direction, if he chooses.
However, he must only take a stroke and distance relief (also a penalty area relief option) and play again from the teeing area by hitting his third, according to Rule 17.1. And, yes, he can actually throw his ball again…maybe a little higher this time.
For more ricochet guidance from our guru, read…
This really happened. Imagine a flow through the middle of the dogleg and into the inside curve of the fairway. A player hits his shot and easily carries the water, but the ball hits a tree on the side of the fairway and ricochets backward into the water without touching the ground. No one knew where the drop should be – on the side of the water closer to the green because the tree is there, or behind the stream because it never touched the ground before going into the water? – Dennis Thomas, via email
Rules Guy believes you, Dennis. Indeed, you often receive variations on this request. The first thing is, you have to identify where the ball was last time in the penalty area.
Here is something that might surprise a few people who are not familiar with the Definition of a penalty area: The edge of a penalty area goes vertically, that is, up and down. So where the ball entered the penalty area can be, and in this case it is very different from where the ball entered the water itself – it entered the air. It is the point that you use as a reference to take relief.
Now, you didn’t say if it was a red or yellow penalty area. If it is yellow, the options (stroke-and-distance or back-on-the-line relief) require you to drop on the side of the road; if it’s red, you get the same options plus side relief, which might allow a drop on the green side if you can get relief from the point where the ball was last entered with two club lengths or less, no closer to the hole.
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Have a question about the rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your questions, confusion and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise not to throw the book at you.
