Hi Guys,
First, Happy New Year to you all.
The weekly rules slowed down over the Holidays, but I will still be checking in periodically when someone
has a question or when I see something really stupid happening on the course.
As most of you know, with all the renovation underway at CMR, there have been a lot of drops being
taken from the Ground Under Repair (GUR). Some of them have been very liberal…
Anyway, I believe that many of you are under the impression that anytime you take a drop and your ball
rolls closer to the hole, you need to take a re-drop. That is not always the case. Rule 20-2a details seven
situations when a drop isn't satisfactory and the player should take a do-over:
RE-DROP: If the ball is dropped in a hazard but rolls out and comes to rest outside the hazard.
RE-DROP: If the ball is dropped outside a hazard but comes to rest inside a hazard.
RE-DROP: If the ball rolls onto a putting green and stops.
RE-DROP:If the ball rolls and comes to rest out-of-bounds.
RE-DROP: If the ball rolls and comes to rest where there is interference by the condition from which relief
was taken, such as a cartpath (immovable obstruction), an animal hole (abnormal ground condition),
another green, or if the ball rolls back into its pitch mark.
RE-DROP: If the ball rolls and comes to rest more than two club-lengths from where it first struck a part of
the course. If this happens twice, you then place the ball where it struck the ground on your second
attempt.
RE-DROP: If the ball rolls and comes to rest closer to the hole than its original spot or estimated spot,
nearest point of relief, or maximum available relief, or where the ball last crossed the margin of a water
hazard.
So, for example, lets say that you hit your second shot on 17 into Jensen’s Pond. Because it is Yellow
Staked, you can take a drop (penalty of one stroke) anywhere on a line, keeping your point of entry
between you and the hole. Let’s assume you walk back 10 yards from where it went in so that you can
drop on a flat lie and avoid the duck shit. When you take your drop, your ball hits the ground and bounces
forward (closer to the hole) a few inches. Because your ball did not roll more than two club lengths, and it
is not closer to the hole than the point where it crossed the hazard, your ball is in play and there is no
need to re-drop. In fact, if you do re-drop it is a penalty!
NOTE: You don't get to re-drop because your ball came to rest in a worse lie or because it rolled outside
the drop zone after landing.
As a final note, you do not have to take a drop from the GUR. However, the course does not want us to
mess up any of the new bushes planted in the waste areas. So, please use your head (I know that is
difficult for some of you).
We will have a smaller group of guys playing sweeps over the next six weeks as many of the “regulars”
are involved in Team Play matches. If you have not been playing regularly on Saturday mornings, please
try to come out and support the Club and see the new course!
- Chris
Swing Thought for Tomorrow:
“It is surprisingly easy to hole a 25-foot putt when you lie 8.”