Ball hit into the ground - plug mark?

[dougajmcdonald]

I had a hole today where my drive found the soft rough. On my second shot I caught it super thin and with it being below my feet and steep swing I managed to fire it about 4 inches forward and 3 inches vertically downward!

The opposing team said I could drop it out as it was unplayable at a stoke penalty, which I did. I then stiffed the approach to 4 foot and holed the putt, it would have been a won hole, but with the stoke penalty it was a half.

I thought afterwards, if I had hit it from the tee and it had plugged 4 inches down and I had found it, I would have been able to lift clean and drop with no penalty.

Was I right to take a 1 shot penalty for this? or should it have been free?

 

[guest100718]

I had a hole today where my drive found the soft rough. On my second shot I caught it super thin and with it being below my feet and steep swing I managed to fire it about 4 inches forward and 3 inches vertically downward!

The opposing team said I could drop it out as it was unplayable at a stoke penalty, which I did. I then stiffed the approach to 4 foot and holed the putt, it would have been a won hole, but with the stoke penalty it was a half.

I thought afterwards, if I had hit it from the tee and it had plugged 4 inches down and I had found it, I would have been able to lift clean and drop with no penalty.

Was I right to take a 1 shot penalty for this? or should it have been free?

Yes 1 shot penalty

Your tee shot scenario wouldn't be a free drop either

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Sorry just re read your post - free relief from embedded ball can only be given if ball had landed in its own pitch mark as opposed to be driven straight into the ground - 1 shot pen

Rule 25-2

 

[atticusfinch]

You said "if" it was embedded. Was it?

The relief for an embedded ball is different from unplayable so you can't sub one for the other (assuming you could anyway) you did the right thing. If it was embedded you missed a chance to save a stroke.

 

[ruff-driver]

If a player strikes their ball straight into a fairway bank, i.e., the ball is never airborne, is the player entitled to relief for an embedded ball?
No, relief is only available if a ball is embedded in its own pitch-mark, which implies that the ball has to be airborne after the stroke (Decision 25-2/6).

 

[rulefan]

Was I right to take a 1 shot penalty for this? or should it have been free?

I'm pleased to see that you were aware of Decision 25-2/6

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Yes 1 shot penalty

Your tee shot scenario wouldn't be a free drop either

Depends on any local rules in place at the time

 

[dougajmcdonald]

To clarify we were playing rules whereby plugged balls on the rough could be lifted cleaned and dropped.

I wondered if my embedded ball counted as plugged in its own mark, or whether I was right to to take the penalty.

 

[guest100718]

Depends on any local rules in place at the time

?
I thought a ball needed to get airborne to embedded in its pitch mark. The shot the OP describes doesnt sounds like it went far at all

 

[Deleted member 15344]

?
I thought a ball needed to get airborne to embedded in its pitch mark. The shot the OP describes doesnt sounds like it went far at all

Sorry that remark was in relational to the tee shot scenario which he would have been allowed free relief

The thin shot he doesn't and is a one shot penalty as you rightly said

 

[rulefan]

To clarify we were playing rules whereby plugged balls on the rough could be lifted cleaned and dropped.

I wondered if my embedded ball counted as plugged in its own mark, or whether I was right to to take the penalty.

See

http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-25,d25-2-6

 

[dougajmcdonald]

That makes sense, I thought we were right to take the shot

 

[duncan mackie]

Depends on any local rules in place at the time

There shouldn't be any LRs that would affect the situation from the teeing ground.

The rules extend the application of 25-2 to teeing grounds, despite their not being TFG by definition.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

There shouldn't be any LRs that would affect the situation from the teeing ground.

The rules extend the application of 25-2 to teeing grounds, despite their not being TFG by definition.

Teeing ground ?

The player wasn't on the teeing ground

 

[guest100718]

Teeing ground ?

The player wasn't on the teeing ground

have a re read

 

[Deleted member 15344]

have a re read

He drive found the soft rough and there he topped his ball with his second shot

Then he mentioned if his tee shot had landed 4 inches down he would get a drop

Have I missed something ?

 

[guest100718]

post 7 causes the confusion

 

[duncan mackie]

Teeing ground ?

The player wasn't on the teeing ground

You wrote "Sorry that remark was in relational to the tee shot scenario which he would have been allowed free relief" in relation to the reference to LR highlighted by guest100718 ...

However, it's now clear the whole thing was simply a confusion; at least these posts should avoid it becoming an ongoing one for others.

 

[Slab]

How much airtime is required for it to be plugged in its own pitch-mark

I'm thinking a ball driven into a steep bank could easily leave contact with the ground and I cant find 'airborne' defined in the rules of golf

 

[Colin L]

How much airtime is required for it to be plugged in its own pitch-mark

I'm thinking a ball driven into a steep bank could easily leave contact with the ground and I cant find 'airborne' defined in the rules of golf

I read Decision25-2/6 to be about a ball that is already on a bank and your shot simply drives it into the ground. That is different from a shot that is played from a position short of the bank where the ball has time and space in which to travel through the air -even if a very little. I’d tend to go by distance rather than time ... but I heard that someone once hinted at a relationship between the two.