I was speaking to a few members the other day after I heard them laughing about a situation that arose with another member during a Medal round.

The situation

Player A is short of a bunker & on his 2nd shot hits it thin & straight into the mound of grass on the bunker. The ball is not in the bunker but is now embedded & unplayable.

He asked his playing partners what he should do & they told him he had to drop it in the bunker & take a penalty shot. He didn't think he had to but his partner were adament so he did. It duly took him 3 shots to get out of the bunker & he ended up carding a 9 on the 2nd par 4 which resulted in him walking off the course.

I was under the impression that he could of taken a free dop as his ball was embedded 'through the green', not in the hazard & he could drop it without penalty no nearer the green?? As he would of been dropping on a down slope I would imagine that he would have had to place the ball after 2 attempts to a place where the ball would come to a resting point without moving??

Can anyone clear this up for me?

Thanks,

John.

25-2. Embedded Ball

A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green. "Closely mown area" means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.

25-2/5 Ball Embedded in Grass Bank or Face of Bunker

Q. Are grass banks or faces of bunkers considered to be “closely mown areas” under Rule 25-2 (Embedded Ball) and may relief be taken from them under that Rule?

A. No, not unless they are cut to fairway height or less.

John,

thanks for the quick response.

This situation occured in a fairway bunker so I suppose that it could be interpreted as fairway height?

If we take the other scenario & he wasn't allowed a free drop, where should he have dropped it?

Thanks.

John,

Visit the R & A website and under the rules section there is a video for this type of rule. See the below link.

http://www.randa.org/node/13365

2 clubs no nearer the hole, back as far as he likes keeping the mark between him and the flag and from where he had last played from.

Cheers guys,

My mate is going to be gutted

Some Golf Clubs have a Local Rule that states that relief for an Embedded Ball is totally 'Through The Green', i.e. the whole course including rough.

The free relief is within ONE Club-length and MUST NOT be in a hazard (bunker).

The Rules are not simple to read and understand, so don't be frightened to ask what you may think a trivial question. It may save you a shot some time.

TheLyth

Agree David, another tip is to play what you think is the correct rule then check it with the Pro after, that way not only do you learn but your playing partners do also

John,

Was it in strokeplay? if so he could have used rule 3-3 and played out the hole with two balls.

see http://www.barryrhodes.com/2009/04/when-may-you-play-second-ball-rule-3-3.html