Major Change: Where a Dropped Ball Must Come to Rest

We will continue to keep golfers 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 ball will need only to be dropped in and come to rest in the relief area; and there will be no re-drop requirement if the dropped ball accidentally hits a person or object after hitting the ground but before coming to rest in the relief area.
• If the dropped ball comes to rest outside the relief area, it will be dropped a second time; if it comes to rest outside the relief area after being dropped a second time it will be placed where it first touched the ground.
• If the placed ball will not come to rest on that spot after two attempts, the player will then place the ball on the nearest spot (not nearer the hole) where it will come to rest.

Reasons for Change:

The new procedure avoids giving players more relief than necessary:

• A dropped ball is currently allowed to roll up to two club-lengths from where it hits the ground – so that, for example, it can end up being played up to three club-lengths from the nearest point of relief from a cart path or ground under repair, or up to four club-lengths from where the original ball went into a lateral water hazard or where it was unplayable.
• Requiring the dropped ball to come to rest in and be played from the same relief area where it was dropped will make it much more likely that the ball will be played from close to where it originally came to rest.

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.

It will be simpler for players to know when to re-drop a ball:

• A player currently needs to know the nine re-dropping scenarios in Rule 20-2c; these are difficult to understand and apply and this is a widely misunderstood Rule.
• Under the new Rule, the player will only need to know that the ball must be re-dropped if it comes to rest outside the relief area.

 

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