Golfblogger

At our course we have a 90 degree dogleg right. 220 yards straight off the tee, at the dogleg is a lateral hazard of briars. Immediately in front of the lateral hazard is a bunker running the lenght of the “elbow” to help trap balls before entering the hazard. Of the 5 options available when in a lateral hazard: 1) the ball cannot be played from the briars; 2) there is no point equidistant from the hole on the other side of the hazard; 3) a straight line from the pin to the ball will only take you deeper into the briars; 4) a 2 clublength drop from the point of entry would have to be dropped in the bunker; 5: re-tee, hitting 3. We, including our pro and asst pro, can’t find the problem addressed in the rules or “Decisions”. We all agree that you can’t drop into the bunker, but also believe having to re-tee 220 back from a lateral doesn’t seem right. Can anyone point us in the right direction to find the correct solution? Thanks.

That’s an interesting conundrum and one that I’ve not encountered before as a coach. It seems to me that re-teeing is the only real choice here. I’m interested in #3, though. Since there is no limit to how far back along the line you can go, is it not possible to go back far enough to get behind the briars? You might be in another nasty position, but that’s the breaks.

Also, not seeing the actual place, I wonder if there is not a swath of grass or dirt between the briars and the bunker. If so, you could take your drop on that strip two clublengths away from the hole—this might be possible if you ran the clublength parallel to and between the bunker and briars.. If you dropped it twice and both times it rolled into the hazard on the third, you could PLACE the ball on the spot where it contacted (I haven’t looked that two drop-three place rule up, so it might be three drop).  Of course, this might mean that you would be hitting the ball left handed with your feet in the bunker, but that’s legit.

Finally, I’m wondering what sort of a sadist designed that hole

Thanks for the response. Taking the ball back in a straight line just puts you further into the woods and eventually, maybe 75 yards back you would end up in the water retaining pond for our sprinklering system. Regarding your second suggestion, there is a small, maybe 2 feet, of grass behind the bunker, but in order to hit the ball from there you would have to stand in the hazard which you can’t do because of the “complete relief” rule.

I’m don’t think complete relief applies with a lateral hazard ... I know that it applies with an immovable obstruction ... but I can’t find anything in the rules or decisions that say you would need complete relief in this case ( I have an electronic version and ran a search for the term “complete relief.”. I still believe that you could drop the ball in the swath. If it insists on rolling into either the briars or the bunker, then you can place the ball where it lands under 20-2-c: “If the ball when re-dropped rolls into any position listed above, it must be placed as near as possible to the spot where it first struck a part of the course when re-dropped.”

From that point, you could stand in the bunker and play it out from there.

Another thought—which doesnt’ solve the current dilemna, but solves things in the future. The club needs to put out of bounds markers in front of the briars. Then you don’t have the drop question. The ball goes past the stakes—its OB and you hit again.

Direct from the Decisions on the Rules of Golf put out by the USGA.

26-1/2 Player Proceeding Under Water Hazard Rule Drops Ball in Another Hazard

Q. A player’s ball lies in a water hazard. In applying Rule 26-1b, the player drops a ball in a bunker or another water hazard. Is this permissible?

A. Yes.

Why not just build a high wall behind that bunker?