unplayable and full relief

[Papa Steve 55]

I know when taking relief you must take full relief, no feet on cart path etc. There was a situation in a round today though that had me wondering. A player was hard against some bushes and declared the ball unplayable. Two club lengths put him on a cart path, by far the best lie he was going to get w/o going back to the original lie in the fairway. Could he drop it on the cart path in that situation? Does 'full relief' count for an unplayable ball?

[Dormie1360]

Yes he could have dropped on the cart path.

Dropping under the unplayable rule is not the same as taking relief from an obstruction or an abnormal ground condition.  With the latter, the player gets relief without penalty and MUST take full relief.

Taking relief under the unplayable ball rule, DOES NOT guarantee relief.  It just lets your drop away from the ball's original position, with 1 penalty stroke.  The ball could still be in a bad position.

In your situation, you are combining two different things.  Once the player dropped using the Unplayable ball rule, his ball is in play and he now has a new situation.  His ball is resting on an obstruction which he is entitled to relief without penalty.  So a second drop, without penalty, is available to the player if he so chooses.  If he does take relief from the cart path, he must take full relief.

I hope this helps.  Also see this decision.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2016 by Dormie1360