Relief From a Drop Zone

[Asheville]

 Sorry, had to try it. :)

Edited June 9, 2016 by Asheville

[Buckeyebowman]

It seems to me that if you are not entitled to relief from a divot in a fairway, why would you be considered entitled from relief in a drop zone?

[RickK]

On 6/8/2016 at 8:33 AM, David in FL said:

Yup.

I guess it's possible, but I can't think of ever seeing a drop zone other than on a par-3.  

In the past, I have seen a couple of par 4s in Myrtle Beach that had drop zones on par 4s.  I believe one of them was Diamond Back.  Possibly the other one was Legends Parkland.  I am guessing they were to speed up play and keep someone from wandering off into the crap. 

Edited June 15, 2016 by RickK

[No Mulligans]

On 6/8/2016 at 11:52 AM, sjduffers said:

I've got an example of a drop zone on a par 4. Hole #9 at Eagle Ridge in Gilroy, CA.

 

It's a downhill tee shot, in a canyon which funnels balls towards the middle of the fairway from the left side, with a LWH on the right side. Down there, for the second shot, there is a forced carry over a barranca (jungle, junk) which is a WH, but the width of the opening to fly over that barranca is small, and if one considers all the angles they could be coming from hitting that second shot, it becomes impossible to line up the 4th shot with the flag and the point of entry, unless you do it very near the WH itself. To alleviate that problem, there is a DZ near the middle of the opening, just past where the fairway ends.  So, someone a little too eager with their drive could well end up in the DZ (and call themselves lucky that the ball didn't roll out another 5 yards into the WH).

If you go into the lateral hazard to the right, what is to keep you from dropping on the other side of the hazard?  It looks like a decent percentage of the time this would leave you a clear shot to the green.  Even without a clear shot, at least you've taken the hazard out of play on your next shot.

This would result in a potential pace of play problem unless you're riding in a cart and possible put you in the line of fire of those playing the other hole.  But, if that's within the rules then some will do it.

Perhaps the drop zone is there to encourage players not to drop on the other side of the hazard.  From a course manager point of view, the DZ seems like a reasonable compromise.

On 6/8/2016 at 0:32 PM, iacas said:

Right. Courses over-use drop zones for pace of play reasons. If it's a tough shot and you fail, lay up or pitch out there next time.

That hole doesn't need a drop zone. Just my opinion.

 

[sjduffers]

3 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

If you go into the lateral hazard to the right, what is to keep you from dropping on the other side of the hazard?  It looks like a decent percentage of the time this would leave you a clear shot to the green.  Even without a clear shot, at least you've taken the hazard out of play on your next shot.

This would result in a potential pace of play problem unless you're riding in a cart.  But, if that's within the rules then I'd do it and make up time elsewhere.

Perhaps the drop zone is there to encourage players not to drop on the other side of the hazard.

It's not obvious from the satellite picture, but the water hazard on the right side is under those dense trees, and there is a very steep drop, maybe 50ft or more, where hardly anybody would venture to retrieve a ball, much less climb it back on the other side, and with 2 club lengths on the other side, you'd still be under those dense trees and you'd have zero chance to do anything but advance the ball towards the tee box of the adjacent hole at the bottom of the picture here (probably not a good idea in general given that other players would be coming that way)...

You're right that the other side of the hazard in a LWH situation is something that a lot of people never think about and it can be of immense help. But not here, sorry.

[Martyn W]

11 hours ago, RickK said:

In the past, I have seen a couple of par 4s in Myrtle Beach that had drop zones on par 4s.  I believe one of them was Diamond Back.  Possibly the other one was Legends Parkland.  I am guessing they were to speed up play and keep someone from wandering off into the crap. 

There are dozens of DZs on par 4's and 5's in Myrtle Beach. On our Hard Card (Golf Academy  of America) I added: "Disregard all Dropping Zones" since the vast majority are incorrectly situated.