In the final pairing of the third round of the Buick Invitational, Charley Hoffman hit his tee shot on the first hole in the direction of a pine tree. Upon arriving to the tree, his ball could not be located. The members of the gallery did not hear or see where his ball came to rest. According to the USGA Rules of Golf, “a ball is deemed lost if it is not found or identified as his by the player within five minutes after the player’s side have begun to search for it.” If the player does not find or identify his ball after the five minute period, he must play another ball under a penalty of one stroke, from the spot at which the original ball was last played (commonly known as “stroke and distance”), and in Charley’s case this would be the teeing ground.
When Charley and his caddie reached the vicinity of the tree, his five-minute search period began. He searched under and around the pine tree and even checked a nearby garbage can and found nothing other than a few beer cans and hot dog wrappers. At this point he deduced the ball must be lodged in the tree. However, knowing this is not enough — he is obligated to find and identify the ball in order to avoid the stroke and distance penalty. A spectator then noticed that there was a ball hanging on a branch within the five minutes, but it was out of the reach for Charley to identify it. He then borrowed a pair of binoculars from a gallery member to try to identify it, but the ball was positioned in a way that made it impossible.
At this point Charley’s five minutes had elapsed, but because a ball was found in the tree, he was given a reasonable amount of time to identify it as his. The next plan of attack was to try to knock it out of the tree. However, he needed to make sure he stated that if the ball falls out of the tree, he plans to deem it unplayable. This statement would allow him to avoid incurring a one-stroke penalty for moving his ball in play. Charley attempted to knock it down by throwing an umbrella at the ball, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, the ball finally fell to the ground. Surprisingly, the ball that came out of the tree was NOT his and he was required then to go back to the tee with his ball deemed to be lost.
Now, should the ball have actually been his, he would then have the following three options under Rule 28 (the Unplayable Ball rule):
A) He could still go back to the tee under stroke and distance as this option is always available no matter where the ball is located.
B) He could take the point on the ground directly under where the ball lay in the tree and keeping the position of this point between him and the hole and drop a ball on a direct line behind it.
C) He could drop a ball within two club lengths of this point as long as he doesn’t drop closer to the hole. Keep in mind that the reference point is on the ground, we calculate this because it would be nearly impossible to expect the player to climb the tree to determine their reference point for options B and C. Each of these options carry a one stroke penalty.
The trick I use to remember these options under Rule 28 is that we have three of them ““ “˜A’, “˜B’, and “˜C’. “˜A’ stands for “again” – we can always play the ball “again” under stroke and distance. “˜B’ stands for “behind” – we can drop a ball “behind” the point where the ball lay, keeping it between you and the hole. And “˜C’ stands for “club” – we can drop a ball within two “club” lengths from the point at which the ball lay no closer to the hole.
If Charley Hoffman had found his ball in the tree, and he knew his ABC’s of Rule 28, he could have saved himself a trip back to the tee. As it turned out, it wasn’t his ball.
Sorry, Charley.
