Rules or Spirit of the Game Question

[Region3]

On our 18th at the weekend my playing partner hooked his tee shot towards a lateral water hazard.

We found the ball about 6" inside the line of the hazard but it wasn't playable so he measured out his 2 club lengths drop area which would still give him a horrible lie as there is a big slope and trees to about 10' from the hazard.

There were quite a few rabbit holes on said bank. Would it be 'naughty' to deliberately try to drop the ball so that he got free relief from an animal scraping, allowing him to drop near the fairway and have a better lie, stance, and line to the green?

He didn't, but as he was dropping it did get me wondering.

 

[JustOne]

I 'think' it's OK to drop in a place that you then get relief from... I remember Mickelson dropping on a road and then getting relief from that. Sometimes the rules work in your favour.

 

[Junior]

Fine by me, you get enough tough calls in this game from the rules, try and make the most of them when you can.

 

[chrisd]

I said on a posting earlier today that the rules are there to help as well as hurt and in my opinion what you advocate would be absolutely fine with me as long as the drop was in accordance with the rules.

I dont see how, if the rules allow something, anyone can put forward an argument about "spirit of the game" - rules is rules!

Chris

 

[hovis]

after my tee shot landed in a stake tree nursery i dropped from one tree to another till i was pretty much on the 1st cut of the fairway a good 30 yrds

 

[ScienceBoy]

Dont you need to take "full relief" when you drop a ball?

or is that just full relief from the original problem or hazard?

 

[viscount17]

no, it's full relief on each occasion that you drop.
if you drop from GUR, for instance, and that drop puts you in a place from which you are, or local rules say that you are, entitled to relief, then you then have to take full relief from there. if that puts you in the cabbage, then so be it - those are the breaks.

 

[chrisd]

Dont you need to take "full relief" when you drop a ball?

or is that just full relief from the original problem or hazard?

You do have to take full relief from the original problem that led to the relief, that is for the ball and the player, so you cant have your feet etc in the hazard with the ball outside. If, when dropping you then get another problem you can take relief again, as I understand it



Chris

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

I remember Mickelson dropping on a road and then getting relief from that.

At the Masters, Mickelsons ball rolled into the water down the side of the green but he used the rules to his advantage and dropped his ball on the far side of the water away from the green as he felt he stood a better chance of getting up and down from there.

its just knowing how can manipulate the rules to your advantage

 

[DCB]

Dont you need to take "full relief" when you drop a ball?

or is that just full relief from the original problem or hazard?

You do have to take full relief from the original problem that led to the relief, that is for the ball and the player, so you cant have your feet etc in the hazard with the ball outside. If, when dropping you then get another problem you can take relief again, as I understand it



Chris

Think there's a bit of confusion as to relief from an abnormal ground condition as in Rule 25 where full relief must be taken and the procedure for Water Hazards, where no relief is given it's a penalty drop.

Under Rule 25 if you take relief, the nearest point of relief is the point that affords full relief from the 'problem'

Under Rule 26 you've got three options all with penalty stroke and the options define where the ball should be dropped

 

[sev112]

At the Masters, Mickelsons ball rolled into the water down the side of the green but he used the rules to his advantage and dropped his ball on the far side of the water away from the green as he felt he stood a better chance of getting up and down from there.

its just knowing how can manipulate the rules to your advantage

Errr yeah - that being the Rule !?

 

[kev_off_the_tee]

the rule doesn't state that you MUST drop it where it goes into the water, nor on the far side.

I was merely pointing out it is how you interpret the rules and manipulate them to suit your strengths. All of the Sky commentary team talked about how clever this was and how him and his caddy used the rules to suit their game.

Most golfers, myself included, would have dropped the ball green side of the water (where it went in) and removed the hazard for the next shot.

 

[Twire]

Most golfers, myself included, would have dropped the ball green side of the water (where it went in) and removed the hazard for the next shot.

You can't do that from a yellow staked hazard, only red, where you could use the 2 club lenghts from where it entered the hazard sideways no nearer the pin rule. With yellow, you need to keep the point of entry in line with the pin, which means you could never drop it greenside.