When Should I Drop the Golf Ball? (Video) - by Dean Butler
When Should I Drop the Golf Ball? (Video) - by Dean Butler

When should I drop a golf ball in the game of golf? Well, there is only two situations when you can drop a golf ball; one is when you’re going to get that free drop and if you only think you have a penalty drop, and what you’re going to do is kind of weigh up that situation. If you are going to get a free drop, and let’s just imagine, this is GUR and that my ball is in the middle of it, and these white lines here are the area, and there is the hole down here. Lets juts imagine my ball is here and you think right, I’m going to get a free drop here because this is a compulsory drop at most golf courses, what is the nearest point of relief.

And the first thing you got to do is, you might think well, let’s make it easy, if I put that ball here, this is the nearest point of relief and you can clearly see that. If I put the ball here, you would say the nearest point to relief is on this side but it’s not, because you got to take relief from the situation. So if I go this way, I’m going to have to go and put my feet off the obstruction and take a drop, and now going well out for the pitcher. If I come this side the nearest point of relief is not where my feet is but here. So what you would do is you would tee peg in the ground, at the nearest point of relief, pick the ball up, stand facing the hole, and then drop the ball so it lands approximately where this tee peg is, but it’s not allowed to drop forward. So that’s what you would do to drop. Now let’s imagine your ball is in the middle the trees. You’ve got options, if the ball is in the middle of the trees, you got three options, we can actually play the ball. So rather than thinking I’ve got to take a penalty drop, I might think I can find my way out here, I can play a shot. The second one is you can go back stroking distance. Stroking distance means you go back to where you played the last shot from, under the penalty of one. And the third option, the next option sorry, is two club blends from where the ball is, well you think if I’m in the middle of the trees I take two club blends either side, I’m still in the trees, but it’s an option. And the third option is to keep the point where the ball is and launching your ball in the middle of the trees, you can go back as far as you want, keeping that point between you and the flag. So if the camera is the flag and my ball is in the trees, I can go back as far as I want, keeping that point between me and the flag under penalty one. So you got three options for dropping under the penalty and the other one is to play the ball as it lies. So when you’re talking about drops, so those are the only two situations in the game of golf where you can drop and really weigh up a situation is by dropping a ball at least three points better for me or not, weigh up your choices. One thing you will notice when you watch this pros in tour, is that they don’t rush into these decisions they think long and hard about what the best option is. So there you go, it’s either a free drop or a penalty drop and hopefully what we just touched on the situation the relief procedures that you need to take. 2014-05-16

When should I drop a golf ball in the game of golf? Well, there is only two situations when you can drop a golf ball; one is when you’re going to get that free drop and if you only think you have a penalty drop, and what you’re going to do is kind of weigh up that situation. If you are going to get a free drop, and let’s just imagine, this is GUR and that my ball is in the middle of it, and these white lines here are the area, and there is the hole down here. Lets juts imagine my ball is here and you think right, I’m going to get a free drop here because this is a compulsory drop at most golf courses, what is the nearest point of relief.

And the first thing you got to do is, you might think well, let’s make it easy, if I put that ball here, this is the nearest point of relief and you can clearly see that. If I put the ball here, you would say the nearest point to relief is on this side but it’s not, because you got to take relief from the situation. So if I go this way, I’m going to have to go and put my feet off the obstruction and take a drop, and now going well out for the pitcher. If I come this side the nearest point of relief is not where my feet is but here. So what you would do is you would tee peg in the ground, at the nearest point of relief, pick the ball up, stand facing the hole, and then drop the ball so it lands approximately where this tee peg is, but it’s not allowed to drop forward. So that’s what you would do to drop.

Now let’s imagine your ball is in the middle the trees. You’ve got options, if the ball is in the middle of the trees, you got three options, we can actually play the ball. So rather than thinking I’ve got to take a penalty drop, I might think I can find my way out here, I can play a shot. The second one is you can go back stroking distance. Stroking distance means you go back to where you played the last shot from, under the penalty of one.

And the third option, the next option sorry, is two club blends from where the ball is, well you think if I’m in the middle of the trees I take two club blends either side, I’m still in the trees, but it’s an option. And the third option is to keep the point where the ball is and launching your ball in the middle of the trees, you can go back as far as you want, keeping that point between you and the flag. So if the camera is the flag and my ball is in the trees, I can go back as far as I want, keeping that point between me and the flag under penalty one. So you got three options for dropping under the penalty and the other one is to play the ball as it lies. So when you’re talking about drops, so those are the only two situations in the game of golf where you can drop and really weigh up a situation is by dropping a ball at least three points better for me or not, weigh up your choices. One thing you will notice when you watch this pros in tour, is that they don’t rush into these decisions they think long and hard about what the best option is. So there you go, it’s either a free drop or a penalty drop and hopefully what we just touched on the situation the relief procedures that you need to take.