RULE 28, which governs unplayable balls, is used on a regular basis by golfers of all skill levels, including the best players on the various PGA tours.
You are the sole judge as to whether your ball is unplayable. A shot that a professional or top amateur would have a go at might be unfeasible for the average B or C grader. You can decide to have a go or declare it unplayable. Even your caddie cannot declare it unplayable for you. If your caddie did this and lifted your ball before you declared it unplayable, you would incur a penalty stroke (see Decision 18-2a/15).
The ball does not have to be in a bad lie to declare it unplayable. Imagine hitting a short downhill putt too firmly on a very fast green. The ball might roll back down the fairway a considerable distance away from the green. You could declare it unplayable in the fairway and have another go at the putt; with a penalty stroke, of course.
Relief options
If you decide that your ball is unplayable, Rule 28 gives you three options to proceed; all with a penalty of one stroke:
(a) Play again from where you last played, as described above (see Rule 20-5). If your last shot was a tee shot, you can re-tee the ball from anywhere within the teeing ground.
(b) Drop a ball any distance behind the point where the ball lay keeping a straight line between the hole, the point where the ball lay and the spot on which the ball is dropped.
(c) Drop a ball within two club-lengths of where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole.
Other Considerations
• You can declare your ball unplayable without finding it, but only if you use option (a) (stroke-and-distance). Since options (b) and (c) require reference to where the ball lay, you must find and identify your ball in order to proceed under either of these options.
• If you declare the ball unplayable in a bunker, all three options are available, but the ball must be dropped in the bunker if you use options (b) or (c).
• Since the unplayable ball Rule allows you to drop “a” ball, you can substitute a ball when proceeding under that Rule.
• You may deem your ball unplayable at any place on the course except when it is in a water hazard. You can, however, drop the ball into a water hazard when taking relief under the Unplayable ball Rule.
So far, so good. These procedures are fairly straight-forward. After all, Rule 28 is the shortest in the book. However, there are a couple of things to be cautious about because danger lurks for the unwary.
Firstly, make sure before using the two club-length option that you will be in the clear after dropping, bearing in mind that the ball can roll up to two club-lengths from the spot on which it was dropped. You will not get a re-drop without penalty if your ball rolls back into this or another unplayable position (unless one of the provisions of Rule 20-2c applies, for example if the ball rolls nearer the hole than where it originally lay).
Note: If a ball that has been declared unplayable rolls back into the area from which relief was being taken, or another area in which it would be unplayable, it cannot be re-dropped without further penalty.
(Reference Decision 28/3)
Secondly, if you make a stroke at the ball before declaring it unplayable and have an air-swing, guess where you would replay the shot from if you elect to proceed under the stroke-and-distance option? That’s right – from where you had the air-swing, because it was where your last stroke was made from.
Being aware of all the options available under Rule 28 can also work to your advantage. If, for example, you play from the teeing ground and the ball ricochets from a ball washer or tree deep into the bush behind the tee, under the stroke-and-distance option of Rule 28 you can play again from the teeing ground, even though that is closer to the hole (see Decision 28/8).
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