YOUR QUERIES RESOLVED

A friend recently dropped from shoulder height when taking relief from a penalty area. He picked it up and dropped again correctly from kneeheight. If he had played it from the original shoulder-height drop would there have been a penalty? You must now drop the ball from knee-height, but the fact that your friend dropped incorrectly first time is okay as long as the error is corrected before playing the ball (Rule 14.5). However, had he played the ball that was dropped incorrectly from shoulder- height, the resulting penalty would depend on whether it was from within the relief area or not. For inside the relief area it would be one penalty stroke, and from outside it would be the general penalty (Rule 14.3b). What is the new ‘embedded ball’ Rule when a ball is embedded in a revetted bunker face, and what if the ball won’t stay in the relief area when you drop it?

Iang, GM website forum

Unless otherwise stated in the Local Rules, a revetted face above a bunker is part of the general area and you would be entitled to relief if the ball was embedded under Rule 16.3b. You must drop the ball into the identified relief area but if it rolls into the bunker when dropping in the right way, you must try again. If this happens when dropping a second time, you must place the ball on the spot where the ball first touched the ground on the second drop. If the placed ball does not stay at rest on that spot, you must try placing a ball on that spot a second time. If the placed ball does not stay on this spot, then you must find the nearest spot where it will come to rest in the general area.

accidental, and the ball is then played as it lies. If the action was deemed to be deliberate, the general penalty will apply if the person attending the flagstick was a player, or his or her caddie, with the penalty applying to that player. The stroke will not count and the ball must be replaced and the stroke taken again.

Another change is that if you, your partner or caddie cause your ball to move accidentally on the putting green, and only on the putting green, there is no longer a penalty – something already available via Local Rule since 2017. The ball must be replaced on its original spot before you make your next stroke.

Next up is damage to the putting green, and you are now able to repair not just pitch-marks and old hole plugs, but also wider damage including shoe damage (spike marks), animal damage and indentations made by a club or flagstick, perhaps carelessly dropped when conditions are soft.

The prohibition from touching your line of putt other than when removing loose impediments or movable obstructions, repairing pitch-marks or marking your ball has also been dropped from the Rules. There is no longer a penalty for just touching your line of play on the green as long as you do nothing to improve it.

Finally, the Rules have now addressed that unfortunate scenario on windy days where you mark and lift your ball on the putting green, then, when you replace it, it blows further away. Under the new Rules, marking and lifting of the ball on the putting green represents a ‘stop’ point.

If your ball then moves after you replace it, you must always replace it on that spot rather than playing it from where it ends up. Remember, this only applies if you have marked and lifted your ball on the putting green, so on very windy days make sure you do that to eliminate the risk of ending up playing from further away.