Major Change: Measuring the Size of the Relief Area Where a Ball Must be Dropped and Played

We will continue to keep members informed of the Rules of Golf taking effect January 1, 2019.  From now, through to the end of the year, there will be a series of instructional videos that are expected to have the most impact on the game and to be of most interest to golfers.  Remember to keep an eye on the Rules Hub page on the website.

2019 Rule: Players will continue to drop a ball when taking relief, but the dropping procedure will be changed in several ways as detailed in Rule 14.3:

• The focus of the dropping procedure will be on a specific “relief area” set by the Rule under which relief is being taken and will be either one or two club-lengths from a reference point (and may have certain other limitations).
• The relief area is a fixed size for each player and is pre-determined based on the clubs the player has selected for play.

Reasons for Change:

The new procedure will mean there will be greater consistency across all relief procedures, making it simpler for players to know where and how to drop a ball:

• For example, many times today a player is required to drop a ball as near as possible to a certain spot (such as where the previous stroke was made or where a ball was embedded) and questions can arise about whether it was dropped near enough to that spot.
• The new procedure when dropping with reference to a spot will be to drop a ball anywhere in a relief area measured one or two club-lengths from (but not nearer the hole than) that spot.

The definition of a club-length as the longest club other than a putter will mean that a player cannot choose which club to measure with based on the situation.

For example, players will no longer be able to make a strategic choice about the size of the relief area by choosing a longer club so that the player can reach a location that is farther from the nearest point of relief or other reference point.

Using the longest club for measuring will minimize the inconsistency in the size of a relief area between players (including eliminating the advantage for players who currently can use a long putter for measuring).

 

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