Penalty Drops & Unplayable Lies

During our round at Copperhead, the issue of unplayable lies and penalty drops came up after Reid embedded a bunker shot into the side of a grassy hill. I'm by no means an expert in the rules of golf, but it's good to revisit the topic once in awhile so we all know how to handle each situation.

Red vs. Yellow Lines, Stakes and Hazards

Yellow lines indicate a water hazard. Red lines indicate a lateral water hazard. What's the difference? Well... lateral hazards usually run along side the hole. Regular water hazards run across it. A ball is considered in the hazard if ANY part of it is on the line (drawn or imaginary between stakes). For BOTH hazards, the golfer has a few options:

1) Attempt to play the ball from its current location in the hazard. You can't ground your club, so treat it like a bunker shot.

2) Take a penalty stroke and re-hit from the previous spot.

3) Drop a ball as far back as you'd like (no limit on this) but keep the point of entry into the hazard between you and the hole. Give yourself one penalty stroke.

Remember last year when Tiger should have been disqualified for taking an illegal drop at the Masters? He confused/combined options 2 and 3 above. He went back to the previous spot (option 2) but then dropped behind it two yards (option 3). What a bum.

However... lateral hazards (red) have two additional options you might want to use.

4) You can take a penalty drop from the entry point within two club lengths, no closer to the hole. During our rounds, we almost ALWAYS use this option. We guess where a ball goes in the hazard, then we drop a ball near it.

5) You can go to the other side of the hazard and drop a ball that is equidistant from the hole, also taking one penalty stroke. I've only seen pros use this option, probably because they play by the rules exactly and options 1-4 weren't very desirable.

It's also worth noting that our league plays a lost ball like a lateral hazard, unless it's lost near OB. So if you go into a bush (not near OB), choose option 4 and move along.

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Unplayable Lies

You are allowed to deem any ball at any time "unplayable." If you do this, you have a few options (all requiring one penalty stroke).

1) Play the ball where you last hit it.

2) Drop the ball within two club lengths of the unplayable spot, no closer to the hole.

3) Keep the unplayable spot on a line between you and the hole, and drop as far back on that line as you'd like (no limit on this).

If your unplayable lie is in a bunker, you must keep the ball in the bunker if you choose options 2 or 3 above.

Which brings us to Reid on #14. He was in the middle of a bunker next to the green and bladed the shot into a grassy hill. His ball was completely buried and unplayable. So he used option 3, and dropped behind the bunker on a nice flat area of grass, keeping the spot he was buried between himself and the hole. He was allowed to do this since his buried ball was no longer in the bunker.

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Here's a funny/interesting ruling on unplayable lies:

Let's you are just off the back of a green that slopes severely from back to front. The pin is all the way in the front... and just beyond it is a deep bunker. You choose to putt the ball, but you putt it way too hard (Geoff style) and it rolls off the green into the bunker.

You're now left with a bunker flop shot to a short-sided pin. But your bunker play that day has been terrible (Reid style).

Even though your lie in the bunker might be perfect... you are allowed to deem it "unplayable." This gives you the option of taking a one stroke penalty and re-putting from your last spot off the green.