After Ricky Fowlers ball at rest rolled into a Penalty Area at the beginning of the month have you heard what happened to him at the WGC-Mexico Championship last Friday? He shanked his second shot of the day out of bounds, instinctively dropped a ball from shoulder height, hit it on the green and two-putted for what he thought was a 6. However, because he had dropped the ball in the wrong way he incurred one penalty stroke making it a triple bogey 7. If Ricky had realised before playing the ball he could have avoided the penalty by picking it up and dropping it in the correct way (as Rory McIlroy did later in the day). As soon as Patrick Reid told Ricky there might be an issue he immediately realised his mistake.
Even though a mistake like this can cost a significant amount of money the Pros accept them with good grace (usually) and also will have a bit of fun on the course at each other’s expense. Here is a link to video from this week with Ricky trying some unusual poses to drop correctly. Also note that he had marked out his relief area with 3 tees to make it obvious that the ball stayed within it.
So, remember – drop from knee height and avoid a needless penalty.
Golf Rules Guru 