Did I take a drop correctly

[WGCRider]

This happened over the summer at the time I thought I was very clever but in hindsight not sure I was right. It was also in a tight matchplay comp where I had been dormie 4 up but we were now going down the 17th.

I'd hit a terrible tee shot into a bush - found the ball and was preparing to take a penalty drop from an unplayable lie. 2 club lengths would not have delivered any kind of relief. I believe that normally that would be my problem and I have 2nd take a second penalty drop. However in this instance going 2 clubs backwards meant I dropped it behind a retaining wall. So I did that. The scorecard said I get relief from the wall. Relief from the wall left an electricity box in front of me, so more free relief. Now I'm dropping in the semi-rough almost 10m from where I found my ball (but no closer to the pin). Was I okay?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Just to clarify; are you saying you took two penalty drops, equating to 4 club lengths. Then followed that up with a free drop from the wall, and a free drop from the electricity box?

 

[WGCRider]

No - just the one penalty cause I could drop behind the wall. 4 clubs to my right (2 drops the other way would have helped). But I went backwards 2 clubs.

 

[doublebogey7]

No - just the one penalty cause I could drop behind the wall. 4 clubs to my right (2 drops the other way would have helped). But I went backwards 2 clubs.

You could have gone as far back as you like as long as you kept the position of the unplayable ball between you and the hole.

 

[rulefan]

This happened over the summer at the time I thought I was very clever but in hindsight not sure I was right. It was also in a tight matchplay comp where I had been dormie 4 up but we were now going down the 17th.

I'd hit a terrible tee shot into a bush - found the ball and was preparing to take a penalty drop from an unplayable lie. 2 club lengths would not have delivered any kind of relief. I believe that normally that would be my problem and I have 2nd take a second penalty drop. However in this instance going 2 clubs backwards meant I dropped it behind a retaining wall. So I did that. The scorecard said I get relief from the wall. Relief from the wall left an electricity box in front of me, so more free relief. Now I'm dropping in the semi-rough almost 10m from where I found my ball (but no closer to the pin). Was I okay?

As said above, you could have gone back as far as you wanted on the the line from the hole thru the original position of the ball (or played from the spot you played last ie Stroke & Distance).
However, your actions in taking repeated relief from the obstructions was okay and may in fact have produced the better outcome.

That is why you should always examine all the relief option permutations before committing yourself.

Just one question. When you found the electricity box in front of you, did you take relief for actual physicalinterference or for line of play/sight?

 

[WGCRider]

As said above, you could have gone back as far as you wanted on the the line from the hole thru the original position of the ball (or played from the spot you played last ie Stroke & Distance).
However, your actions in taking repeated relief from the obstructions was okay and may in fact have produced the better outcome.

That is why you should always examine all the relief option permutations before committing yourself.

Just one question. When you found the electricity box in front of you, did you take relief for actual physicalinterference or for line of play/sight?

It was right in front. There was probably a 1m gap between the end of the wall and the box. So I could have dropped in the gap and punched the ball out, but my logic was that I was allowed 2 club lengths so went right up next to the box, dropped it there and then took relief.

For comedy context I would add that from the semi I found the water. Luckily so did my opponent - twice. So my 9 beat his 10 on a par 4. We are both single figure handicaps.

 

[rulefan]

It was right in front. There was probably a 1m gap between the end of the wall and the box. So I could have dropped in the gap and punched the ball out, but my logic was that I was allowed 2 club lengths so went right up next to the box, dropped it there and then took relief.

For comedy context I would add that from the semi I found the water. Luckily so did my opponent - twice. So my 9 beat his 10 on a par 4. We are both single figure handicaps.

I'm not sure you handled the relief from the wall and from the box correctly. These are Immovable Obstructions (IO) and the relief is not the same as penalty relief for an unplayable ball. For each you must find the Nearest Point of Full Relief (ie for stance, swing and ball position). You must then drop within 1 clublength from that point such that there is still no interference. You can take relief from either of the obstructions in any sequence but two clublengths is not part of the equation.

See Rule 16 and the diagrams
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/h...ons.html#!ruletype=fr&section=rule&rulenum=16