Written by: Darin Green, Senior Director of Rules & Competitions
We had a phone call come in to our office with a rules question that several of us had to discuss until we reached our answer.
A player’s ball was in a severely bad lie in a bunker near the edge of a small bunker and the player wanted to take unplayable ball relief. He measured two club-lengths from the ball no nearer the hole; however, he measured outside the bunker. He then proceeded to drop his ball outside the bunker (in the general area) and played the ball from that spot. Later in the round his actions were questioned.
As we began discussing the situation, our original thoughts went to a one-stroke penalty for the unplayable, and an additional two-stroke penalty for playing from a wrong place since he should have dropped the ball in the bunker and played from there. Then the debate started on whether or not it was a wrong place with a serious breach (a significant advantage) and we questioned if the player should be disqualified.
But, our thinking was incorrect.
Back in 2019, the Rules of Golf added an additional option when taking an unplayable in a bunker that allows the player to drop back-on-the-line of the flagstick outside bunker for a two-stroke penalty. Our conclusion to the rules question was that the player receives a two-stroke penalty for taking unplayable ball relief outside the bunker and an additional two-stroke penalty for playing wrong a place (since he did not drop back-on-the-line with the flagstick outside the bunker. We agreed that the wrong place was not a serious breach, so the player was not disqualified.
Click these links for more on unplayable ball relief in a bunker and playing from a wrong place.
