Ball Unplayable

Can anyone clarify how you determine when a ball is unplayable.  In some cases it is quite obvious like down a rabbit hole or stuck in a tree (unless you are Bernard Langer), 

In my round last evening I badly pulled a tee shot and ended up in deep rough about 2 foot from a gorse bush.  The only shot I could play was a chip with a two foot swing onto an area that I could have dropped the ball if I had deemed it to be unplayable.

Because I could play it, I attempted the shot only for the club to twist and send the ball scuttling under a different gorse bush.  It was then completely unplayable.  I then dropped it on the area I had been aiming for and played four.  When I got home, I wondered whether I could have deemed the first lie to have been unplayable and dropped saving myself a shot. 

Also if it was permissable for me to have deemed the first lie unplayable under the letter of the rules I would also be interested if anyone thinks it is against the spirit of the game to take such an action.

Only one person can decide if the ball is unplayable, and that is the player whose ball it is.  They are the sole judge. 

So if I understand right a player can declare any lie unplayable as along as he is willing to take the appropriate penalty and it does not appear to be against the spirit of the game if the player gains an advantge by so doing.

The spirit of the game does not come into it, the choice is all down to the player himself, as laid down in the rules.

What if 2 club lengths comes outside of the bunker or using the anywhere on the line of the shot option, can the ball be removed from the bunker??

I'm afraid not Colin, the ball must be dropped in the bunker.

I think that is why it does not really make sense to use the rule in a bunker.  If you play the shot the worst you are likely to do is dislodge the ball and then it will rollback into the bunker to where you would probably have dropped.  There are also all the better options so the percentage shot is to play the shot. 

It would only be worth ruling it as unplayable if there was a risk of playing an air shot possibly if you had no stance or if it was completely buried and you might not bring it to the surface.

Guys, re unplayable ball in a bunker.

I am certain that if you invoke the "play the ball from where previous shot was played" then you CAN drop the ball out of the bunker. Any of the other 2 options means the ball must be kept in the bunker.

Only a lunatic would do that, Drew.

John,

I can think of one scenario where high handicappers might want to do what Drew has suggested.  If you thin a chip into a greenside bunker and you have no stance to hit the ball onto the green in might be safer to take the penalty drop than attempt the awkward sideways shot out of the bunker.

Only a lunatic would do that,Jon.................Thin a chip into the bunker!............I'm a luney.