I was saving a blog entry for this week on the changes to taking relief under the new rules, and I’m glad I waited until after the Waste Management Open in Pheonix this past weekend. Ricky Fowler unwittingly opened a Pandora’s Box of stupid rules that are still on the books even after a complete rewrite of the rules of golf. More on that later.
Under the 2019 rules, you may still take FREE relief (primarily Rule 13) under the following circumstances: encountering an abnormal ground condition (ground under repair, temporary water, immovable obstructions (cart paths are the most common) presence of dangerous animals, and animal holes), finding your ball on the wrong putting green, or dropping away from a no-play zone.
Under the 2019 rules you may take PENALTY relief (primarily Rule 14) under the following circumstances: drop after hitting a ball into a penalty area, dropping a ball after declaring it unplayable, and two new rules for dropping outside of a bunker (more on those later).
The USGA has sought to try to make taking relief via drop from these circumstances as uniform as possible (but there are still slight differences) by establishing a relief area which (in general) is a semi-circular or quarter-circular fan of one club length (radius determined by the longest club in your bag that is NOT your putter (thus excluding long putters) no closer to the hole (see the diagram below which is right out of the player's rule guide (GET IT!)).
The only times you use a two club-length relief area are for a ball played from the edge of red penalty area (shown above), or for a ball dropped away from an unplayable condition. Everything else is one club length. In general, you will drop the ball when seeking relief, but there are exceptions (when you’re on the green and seeking relief from something like temporary water, you will PLACE the ball). You’ll also place the ball when taking relief from a movable obstruction (your ball ends up on under a rake or on top of a bench that you could move. You will also place the ball if it’s been moved during search.
This relief fan is also applicable when you take back-on-the-line relief for penalty areas. Using the previous set of rules, you would establish a line from the flagstick going through the point at which the ball last crossed the margin of the penalty area and drop somewhere back on that line. The new rules allow you to drop to the right and left of that line in the one-club length fan (again, this is shown very well on the drawing above).
All drops are now from KNEE HEIGHT. Not knee height when you’re squatting, but knee height when you’re standing straight. Nobody’s clarified whether that’s top of the knee cap, middle of the knee cap or at the bottom of the knee cap, but I don’t think anybody really cares. Don’t apply spin to the ball when you drop it – just let it fall to the turf. If the ball strikes the general area and rolls outside the relief fan, re-drop. If it rolls outside the relief fan a second time, you may place the ball where it struck the general area during the second drop. Once your ball comes to rest after drop or placement, the ball is in play.
The possibility of getting relief from a red penalty area by going across to the other side of the red penalty area has been eliminated from consideration under the new rules. For a red penalty area (again, covered nicely in the diagram above), you may drop within two club lengths (no closer to the hole) from the point of entry into the penalty area, play the ball as it lies in the penalty area, play another ball from the previous spot, or draw that line between the flagstick and the point where you entered the red penalty area and drop within one club length of that line going as far back as you like on that line.
You always have the option (unless a local rule applies or you’ve put your ball into a no-play zone) to play the ball as it lies in areas of the course that are not out of bounds – you are not required to take relief. One of the advantages in the new rules is that in a penalty area, you’re now allowed to ground your club and take practice swings (as long as you do not move your ball in doing so). You can also move loose impediments in the penalty area (that used to be a penalty). However, you’re still not allowed to take relief in the penalty area from embedded balls or an unplayable lie in there.
There are at least three situations with new relief rules for balls in bunkers (also in Rules 13 and 14). The normal options are presented in the diagram above (again, right out of the player's guide). Number one is, if you don’t want to play out of the bunker, you never have to. I don’t mind playing from most bunkers, but I know there are people who (try as they might) will spend a lot of time and a lot of strokes trying to get out of one. For the price of 2 penalty strokes play from outside the bunker, treating it like a yellow penalty area, drawing a line between the flagstick and where your ball laid in the bunker and going back along that line outside of the bunker and dropping your ball within the one club-length relief zone to the right and left of that line. Secondly, if you want to declare your ball unplayable in a bunker, for the price of one penalty stroke you can back up along the line between where your ball lies in the bunker to the flagstick and drop your ball in the same bunker on that line (again within the one club-length relief zone). That might be a bit better for you than having to try to play backwards out of a bunker (if it’s under the bunker lip for instance).
The third new relief rule for bunkers has to do with temporary water in a bunker (again, the diagram above is great and is right out of the player's guide). You can still seek relief from the temporary water, but under the old rules (unless you wanted to declare the ball unplayable and go back to your previous position), you had to play your ball out of that same bunker. Now, for the penalty of ONE PENALTY STROKE you can drop outside the bunker (again on the line between where the ball came to rest and the flag) and play your next shot.
Back to Ricky Fowler who has come up short of the green on his approach to number 11 at the Waste Management (great article on the whole debacle here: https://progolfnow.com/2019/02/04/rickie-fowler-physics-defying-penalty-exposes-usga-flaw/ which includes video). Flagstick is in the back of the green, red penalty area behind the green that’s full of deep water. It’s cold in Pheonix, been raining all day, greens are soft but slow. Ricky hits a chip that trickles by the flagstick, rolls off the green, around a bunker and finds the pond. Ricky now has four options open to him under the new rules. He can 1) play the ball as it lies (he’d need scuba gear to do that), 2) replay from the previous spot, 3) drop along the line between the flagstick and where the ball entered the penalty area (this would mean playing from over the pond, or 4) dropping within two club lengths of the spot where the ball entered the penalty area as long as that spot is no closer to the hole. (The only option that doesn’t incur a penalty is the impossible #1). Ricky apparently wants to take the water out of play and selects option 4. The drop (from knee height) requires him to drop onto a slope that runs right back into the water, which is right where the two dropped balls end up. Ricky then gets to place his ball where the second drop hit the relief area. After placing the ball (and seeming to be stable), Ricky and his caddie go up to the green surface to survey the best line to the hole. While they’re up there the placed ball decides it would also rather be in the pond and trickles into the penalty area. What do the new rules say about that? Well, the only thing germane is a provision in Rule 9.3 which states that if your ball at rest is moved by natural forces (unless the ball is on the green and you’ve already marked it), you must play from the new position.
The intent of the rewrite of the rules of golf was to 1) speed up play, 2) make rules easier to employ, and 3) remove penalties that seem to be inherently unfair. Unfortunately, the ball that decides to move on its own and ends up in a penalty area was not addressed in the rewrite, and Ricky now has to take a penalty to get the ball back out of the penalty area to be replaced right back where the placed it before going up to the green. He played it quickly from that position and made a long putt. 5 strokes on that hole plus 2 penalty strokes – triple bogey 7. He was 5 strokes ahead going into that hole, and combined with a birdie from Branden Grace on #12, Ricky’s lead was down to one stroke (which ended up being enough to win).
This crazy situation may be addressed in the next rewrite of the rule book (to be published in 2023). Until then, I have the following advice:
1) Considering where the drop will occur at the back of the green should make you think long and hard about maybe replaying from the previous spot instead of dropping behind the green on that steep slope.
2) Once a ball is in play on a steep slope that runs right into a penalty area, it might behoove you to work out how you want to play a shot from that location prior to the drop so you can play that ball quickly after it’s put in play.
So, what happens if the ball on the slope decides to move but doesn’t go into a penalty area and instead rolls into the general area after being placed? You will play that ball (without penalty) from its new location.
Similar situation on the putting green. Your ball is on the green (hasn’t been marked) and you’re surveying your options when a gust of wind blows your ball a couple of feet from its position at rest. Since you haven’t marked it yet, you will have to accept the new position of the ball and you’ll have to play a stroke from that position (no penalty applies). Slightly different … Your ball (after being marked) decides to roll away (not being induced to do so by you). Because you are on the green, different rules apply, and you’ll re-position the ball where you marked it before to make your next stroke. Play it from the new position in this case would incur a two-stroke penalty for playing from the wrong spot.