Facts

Player BO sighed as his drive hooked into the bushes left of the 17th fairway at HCC.

“Is that a Penalty Area?”, he asked.

“Nope”, said Player PB. “The PA doesn’t start until the hole descends into the gully.”

“Ok, said BO. “I’m going to hit a provisional.” He then hit his provisional in the same spot in the same cluster of bushes. “Darn!”, he exclaimed. “Maybe we can find one of them”.

The players arrived at the bushes to begin the search. The first thing they noticed was a freshly painted bright red line which had been extended back from the gully ahead. Both of BO’s drives had clearly crossed the painted line.

“I’ve been playing this course for 25 years and I’ve never seen the “Hazard” marked up here”, said Player PB.

“It’s a ‘Penalty Area’”, said Foremost.

Neither ball was found.

Issues

(1) May a Player even hit a “provisional” for a ball lost in a Penalty Area?
(2) Upon discovering that his drives crossed the edge of the Penalty Area, was BO entitled to penalty relief?
(3) What is the status of the provisional ball? What did BO lie after dropping from the PA?

Ruling

Lest F or his Readers linguistically embarrass themselves, and before delving too deeply into the Ruling itself, F feels it is extremely important to highlight the “new” language of golf 2019. The Reader should note that the word “edge” replaces the word “margin”, so that a ball is “in” a PA if it last-crossed the “edge” of the PA. (R17.1d). “Margin of the hazard” language is gone. “Edge of the PA” language is in.

One should also note that a ball “touching” or “above” the edge of a PA is “in” the PA. A ball can only be in one area of the course at a time, and a Specific Area such as a PA prevails over the General Area. R2.2.

Even though neither ball was found, since BO knew with “virtual certainty” that his original drive crossed the edge of the PA, he was entitled to penalty relief from the PA. He elected to take two club-length lateral relief under R 17.1d(3) and was able to drop lying 2.

(A player is entitled to play a provisional if he believes his ball “might” be lost outside a PA or out of bounds. BO certainly felt he was nowhere near the PA. When he ultimately determined with virtual certainty that his original ball crossed the edge of the PA, he was able to abandon his provisional ball and disregard any stroke or penalty involved in its play). R18.3.

As BO dropped, however, F observed that the ball rolled well-beyond any two-club length relief area. F suggested that BO utilize R14.5 (the “Eraser Rule”) and re-drop to avoid the General Penalty which would be incurred by playing a ball from a “wrong place”. (R14.7a). BO dropped again, this time closer to the bushes.

Player FB then noted that BO still didn’t have full relief from the overhanging branches of the bush even with his two club-length drop. These NC bushes are healthy! He suggested that BO was entitled to consider stance, swing plane, and ball position and use that estimated ball position point as a point of reference before measuring his two club-lengths.

F quickly jumped in at this point before BO lifted his ball for a second re-drop (an action which would have warranted a second penalty assessment, since his dropped ball was in play. (Rs 14.4 and 9.4). F noted that while the process FB described was appropriate in determining “the nearest point of complete relief” (See, Def.”) from certain interferences, such as from an Abnormal Course Condition, it did not apply to “lateral relief” from a PA where the relief area had to be measured strictly from a reference point on the edge.(R17.1d(3).

Anxiously surveying the surrounding players to hear if there would be any further commentary relating to his drop, and hearing nothing, BO breathed a sigh of relief (his second sigh on the hole), and played his 3rd shot.

As usual, all comments or corrections are welcome!

Respectfully submitted,
F