Rules query - unplayable

This didn't quite happened but it made me think. I managed to push (OK, slice) my tee shot into a bush so took an unplayable of two club lengths back out of the bush on to the rough. The trouble was that in this case it was a slope with no grass on it. I took my drop and the ball rolled back down and almost back under the bush. I could play it but it made me wonder what would have happened if it rolled back into a similar position under the bush that I'd found it and was again unplayable.

Two club lengths took me well away from being unplayable but I could see that I could have been there all day taking unplayable after unplayable or going back to where I had played before as a line to the flag was not an option.

I know with water hazards you get two drops if it rolls back into the hazard then a place but in this case there was no defined hazard.

I've been playing quite a while and this is the first time that I've come across this so I know it not common.

I think if you have declared an unplayable and your drop rolled back into the same bush the ball is in play again (unless the drop rolled more than 2 club lengths from where it first landed in which case re-drop). So, if you want to take relief you have to declare it unplayable again and take another penalty drop.

Anyone read the rules another way? (20 dropping and 28 unplayable)

I have often though you could in theory get stuck in a position on a hole.

Image there was an area of heather or gorse about 15m wide running up against OB and you hit a drive into it. For some stupid reason you take a swing at the ball and miss it or move it something like an inch.

Your options could look like this, depending on the line between your ball and the pin;

Drop within two club length: Still in the gorse

Play from same place as previous shot: Still unplayable in the gorse

As far back as you want on a line between your ball and the pin: Still in the gorse or OB.


What happens if you are playing strokeplay and can't just abandon the hole?

Anyone i am playing with i would say, move it away from the rubbish, and give yourself a shot. Golf is hard enough without having to hack around the trees. Take a drop and lets get moving.

But i play purely for fun.

Mac you would have to continue to take two club lengths under a one shot penalty each time, until you reached a position where the ball was playable. I like Ben's idea though

Good point, that could add up to the point where you may as well have given up.

McLaren wrote:I have often though you could in theory get stuck in a position on a hole.

Image there was an area of heather or gorse about 15m wide running up against OB and you hit a drive into it.  For some stupid reason you take a swing at the ball and miss it or move it something like an inch.

Your options could look like this, depending on the line between your ball and the pin;

Drop within two club length:  Still in the gorse

Play from same place as previous shot: Still unplayable in the gorse

As far back as you want on a line between your ball and the pin: Still in the gorse or OB.


What happens if you are playing strokeplay and can't just abandon the hole?

Didn't this or something very similar happen to (I think) Kevin Na a couple of years ago. Drove into woods (not Woods, much to Super's consternation) with OOB in a direct line back from the pin, so no option there. Think he tried to hit it from the trees the first time, thus removing the option of returning to the tee. Ended up just hacking at it again and again until it eventually came out. Ended up with a 16.

Quite possibly Mac, but I always like to work on the basis that a really high and bad score is always going to show you further up on the results sheet than all those fellow competitors who recorded a NR!

Roller on that occasion he ended up with a 16 because he lost his cool and behaved like a tw@t

Good call Roller

Maybe I was a touch harsh...

He certainly didn't give it much thought.

If your ball rolls back into the bush, then it's tough luck. You'd better hope it ends up closer to the hole than the original shot so you can drop again.

Generally it's better (if you can) to go back on the line of the ball and hole, rather than take two club lengths. That way you aren't trusting good fortune to keep your ball from rolling into more trouble.

Quite often, in big events like the Open, the organisers create a drop zone to prevent players getting 'stuck' when they can't drop within two club lengths, can't go back as far as they want and can't hit the shot over. The 11th at Troon - the Railway hole - is a good example.

Its pretty much as I guessed and I did wonder when I dropped it but it was matchplay, I was giving a shot and going back wasn't really an option with my oppo in the middle of the fairway.

I had not really thought about the idea of taking continuous drops until you can play.

I also think that Na's caddie was wrong about going back as he had already hit the ball in the trees as Mac suggested. It was rather like watching a round at my club than a PGA Pro! In fact he did well to get his 16! And it looked to me as though he played the hole about the same speed as he normally does!!

Further to this as I am now thinking. Is there any rule about what can be called as an unplayable lie? Obviously you lose a shot so it is unlikely that you would call it unless you had to. I've been trying to think of a scenario where you may use it to your advantage but for instance you may be awful out of bunkers and the unplayable may be able to get you out for one shot rather than the 2 that you were expecting. I know this would be more for high hc's but curious. Not very sporting though.

Only you can decide whether it is unplayable so even if someone else thinks it could be played it doesn't matter what they think.

twoeightnine wrote:

Further to this as I am now thinking.  Is there any rule about what can be called as an unplayable lie?  Obviously you lose a shot so it is unlikely that you would call it unless you had to.  I've been trying to think of a scenario where you may use it to your advantage but for instance you may be awful out of bunkers and the unplayable may be able to get you out for one shot rather than the 2 that you were expecting.  I know this would be more for high hc's but curious.  Not very sporting though.

If you declare your ball unplayable in a bunker, and you decide to drop it either on the line of ball and flag, or within two club lengths, YOU HAVE TO DROP THE BALL IN THE BUNKER. You could go back and play the shot over again, but that risks going back in the bunker again.

As I said I couldn't really work out a situation where it would really work. Maybe if you thinned a uphill chip miles through the green and were left with a horror back down the hill towards a watery grave then you may go back and retake the original shot but again it applies more to the high hc's.

There are a few rules where I think that you can get some very favourable drops but I think most of these are free ones like where you go from being totally blocked by a staked tree to having a great view. It always feels a little dishonest but I guess this is part of the luck of golf as discussed elsewhere.

Strangely enough, I had an altercation with a guy recently about an unplayable ball.

I hit a tree, and the ball rebounded backwards about 30 yards behind me into deep rough.

So I retrieved and dropped the ball and played the shot again. He claimed the hole because he said I'd dropped it closer to the hole than the ball was actually lying.

He was convinced I couldn't drop closer to the hole than where the ball was.

Err, no.

I am a high handicapper and it would never occur to me to take stroke and distance in the situation you describe, although I know it's legal.  I often hit a hideous shot from a decent lie, so the shot you describe holds no fear for me !  

Mr. P just reminded me that a few years ago at the Masters, Tiger was putting on the 13 th or 15 th and he missed the hole and the ball kept on going, off the green and into the hazard.  He took stroke and distance and re-putted.