You determine if your ball can be played
HAL LENOBEL
Contributing Columnist
golf@lbknews.com
Many golf purists will tell you that there is only one way to play the game, that is play the course as you find it and play the ball where it lies. However, the Rules were created through the years to actually help the player.
Without the Rules you would not be able to play from impossible positions, which would cost you innumerable strokes and render your score uncompetitive. Hence, Rule 28, “Ball Unplayable,” came into being. That Rule states that “the player is the sole judge as to whether his ball is unplayable.” Should the player declare his ball unplayable, he would have three alternatives, under penalty of one stroke.
a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played.
b. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole.
c. This is rarely used, though available to the competitor. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped.
The Rule continues on to state that if the ball is unplayable in a bunker, the player may proceed under clause ‘a,’ ‘b’ or ‘c.’ If he or she elects to proceed under clause ‘b’ or ‘c,’ a ball must be dropped in the bunker.
How about some unusual circumstances relative to this Rule:
May a player invoke Rule 28 if his ball is unplayable in a tree?
Yes, but the ball must first be identified. It may then be dropped within two club-lengths of the point on the ground immediately below the place where the ball lay in the tree. If he player is unable to identify the ball in a tree, the ball would then be a lost ball and the shot must be replayed from the original position.
If a ball is under a huge, spreading tree where two club-lengths would not provide the player with a shot. What can he do?
The player, in certain circumstances, might be forced to take two or three unplayables to completely clear the tree, each one costing a stroke penalty.
What if a player hits his tee shot into an area where it might be impossible to locate, may he declare his ball unplayable without finding it?
Yes. The player may proceed under clause ‘a’ in Rule 28. In order to proceed under clause ‘b’ or ‘c,’ the ball must be found and identified.
A few quotes
“If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.”
-Bob Hope
“Golf is like a love affair: if you don’t take it seriously, it’s not fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart.”
-Arnold Daly
“Obviously a deer on the fairway has seen you tee off before and knows that the safest place to be when you play is right down the middle.”
-Jackie Gleason
