Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2011 - 11

(rules primer
)
Getting in the (Dropping) Zone
The term Dropping Zone sounds ominous, but it may provide
you with the best relief possible in some cases.
)` 1VZLWO 6ILYSL
M
ost golfers have seen a Dropping
Zone (DZ). It's a marked
circular area on the course
for purposes of taking relief. In fact, most
golfers have dropped their ball in a DZ-
often because they don't want to make
another attempt to hit a forced carry over
200 yards of water. But it should be noted
that not all drop areas are the same.
In regards to Dropping Zones, Appendix
1 of the Rules book states:
" Establishing special
areas on which
balls may or must be
dropped when it is not
feasible or practicable
to proceed exactly in
conformity with Rule
24-2b (Immovable Obstruction),
Rule 24-3
(Ball in Obstruction
Not Found), Rule 251b
or 25-1c (Abnormal
Ground Conditions),
Rule 25-3 (Wrong Putting
Green), Rule 26-1
(Water Hazards and
Lateral Water Hazards)
or Rule 28 (Ball Unplayable). "
When
a player has
encountered one of
these rulings and a DZ has been created by
the Local Committee (which determines
all DZs), the player must proceed in accordance
with the relief options of those particular
rules-assessing a stroke (or taking
a free drop) wherever the case may be. In
most cases, the DZ is simply an additional
relief option.
It gets a little tricky in the verbiage regarding
" balls may or must be dropped. "
Some DZs are mandated, whiles others
are optional. According to MGA tournament
director Doug Hoffmann, most DZs
that golfers encounter on their favorite
golf course are of the " may " variety. The
" must " DZs primarily occur in tournament
golf, where grandstands are erected
for viewing the events (such as the completely
surrounded 16th hole at the TPC
of Scottsdale) and where determining the
proper point of relief is very difficult and
time-consuming.
" Most players don't want to get hung up
in that business, " says Hoffmann. " They
don't want to take
10 minutes to determine
where they can
drop. They basically
say, 'Tell me where I
can put this ball in
play and let's go.' "
A common mistake
that Hoffmann
sees players make
in DZs,
however,
pertains to the misconception
that a
dropped ball must
be re-dropped if it
doesn't stay in the
DZ.
" That's a mistake
that a lot of
people make. They
think their ball has
to come to rest in the DZ, and that's not
true, " Hoffmann says. " It just has to first
strike a part of the golf course within the
DZ. Once it hits the ground, it can roll
up to two club lengths from where it first
strikes the course. "
A player must make a re-drop if the
ball rolls more than two club lengths.
But if you don't like the spot where your
dropped ball ends up in the DZ-such as
in another player's divot-that's just how
the golf ball drops. Or, as Hoffmann likes
to say, " Play hard. "
( RULES SCHOOL
Q:
Playing in a league with three
partners, I hit a tee ball that
looked like it went out of bounds. I
was told to hit another [provisional]
in case it had. When I got to the
first ball, it was not out of bounds;
the ball [had come to rest] firmly up
against a white OB stake. One player
said I could move the ball, laterally,
one club length and hit from there,
but another disagreed. The third did
not want to get involved. The second
player said I had to pull the stake out
of the ground and hit the ball where
it lies, or move the ball and take a
stroke, or use the second shot. To
save an argument between players,
I chose to move the ball
and take the stroke
because that was still
better than my second
shot. How should I
have handled
this situation?
-Debora
Reimer,
Shoreview
No one was completely right,
Debora, but you followed one
of the correct procedures. There is
no free relief from an OB stake. It
is considered to be fixed. You can
either play the ball as it lies or
deem it unplayable (Rule 28). One
of the three options at your disposal
is to drop it within two club
lengths (no nearer the hole) and
tack on a penalty stroke.
A:
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Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2011

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