Dropping Basics

by haris on Mon May 04, 2009 4:04 pm

From GolfAsia magazine - Vol.15/issue 5

Who can drop?

Under the Rules only the player may drop his ball – not his partner, caddie or anyone else. One stroke penalty
if not corrected.

Why drop?

The idea behind dropping is that there is an element of chance involved in the bounce that means that the
resulting lie is a random selection.

How to drop?

You must stand erect and the ball must be held in the fingers, palm down with your arm outstretched at shoulder height. Just casually tossing the ball onto the ground from waist height is an incorrect drop and a free re-drop is required. Dropping from below shoulder height and above shoulder height are also incorrect drops.

One club length or two?

One club length from the nearest point of relief (NPR) is allowed when taking a free drop from obstructions and abnormal ground conditions (GUR).
Two club lengths are allowed when dropping under penalty – from where the ball last crossed the margin of the lateral water hazard or from the location of an unplayable ball.
No club lengths are allowed when dropping from an embedded (plugged) ball – drop as near as possible to the spot and drop again if it returns to the pitch mark.

Incorrect Drop

Incorrect drop must be corrected without penalty and includes the following:

Not using the correct technique (above or below shoulder height)
The ball hitting yourself or a fellow competitor either before or after striking the course
The ball landing outside the prescribed dropping area
The ball hitting your equipment (a club used to measure but did not remove)

The drop must be re-taken for any of these errors and there is no limit to the number of times an incorrect drop may be corrected without penalty.

Drop and re-drop

The ball must always be re-dropped if it strikes the course in the correct dropping area but rolls and comes to rest in any of the following locations:

Nearer to the hole than the nearest point of relief
More than 2 club lengths from where it first struck the course
Out of bounds
In a hazard (bunker or water)
Outside a hazard – if the ball was dropped within it
A putting green
Where interference still exists from the condition giving rise to the drop

If you don’t re-drop there is a two-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place. There is one unusual situation to watch out for and that is when you are using a dropping zone under a Local Rule. The dropping zone is not the NPR so the ball can roll forward out of the dropping zone towards the hole and as long as it does not go more than two club lengths it is still in play.

If the ball stopped before reaching any of these specified locations on the re-drop then it is in play. If the re-drop (second drop) also finished in one of the above locations then the ball must be placed on the spot where the re-drop first struck part of the course. You are only allowed two correct drops and if the ball does not remain in play then you need to place the ball. Remember – drop, re-drop, and then place. Incorrect drops do not count.

Happy Golfing!