The laws of golf can be a little bit bewildering but this USGA video simplifies the available options when you have found your ball but declared it unplayable.
Put simply: you’ve got three well-known possibilities – and a less well-known one.
“If you are in a spot where you can’t or don’t want to play your ball as it lies, consider taking relief,” the video states.
“Unplayable ball relief can be taken anywhere on the course except when your ball is in a penalty area where the penalty area rule applies.
“If you decide to take relief, you have three options, but all come with one penalty stroke.
“The first option is stroke and distance, which means you go back to the spot where you last played.
“The second is to imagine a straight line from the hole through the location of your ball, and drop on that line behind it. Your ball can roll up to one club length in any direction from where it first struck the course, including forward.
“The third is to drop anywhere within two club lengths of your ball, no closer to the hole.
Bunker options
“In a bunker you have the same three relief options, all for one penalty stroke.
“The only exception is that you must stay inside the bunker if using either the two club length or the back on line option.
“There is however a fourth option that only applies when you decide your ball is unplayable in a bunker.
“It allows you to get out of the bunker by going back on the line as far as you’d like and comes with two penalty strokes.”
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