Quote:
Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan
Great answer; I played with a person the other day at EP that seemed to think he had a free drop from the left side of #8 Killdeer. After a few moments of discussion, he took the penalty (but still continued to remain apprehensive about the ruling, until we made it to the clubhouse and got clarification).
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The other way to look at it is that the environmental area is out of bounds, EXCEPT you don't have to take the full distance penalty, just to the point it last crossed the margin of the hazard, but you still have to take the stroke penalty. (The other difference being that you can stand out of bounds to hit a ball that is in bounds, but you can't stand in the environmental area, hence the free drop)
Now here is a question back. Local rules state you cannot hit a ball out of a FLOWER bed (not sawgrass), and get a free drop. It is clear you hit your ball into the flower bed, but some people say you can't go in and look for it. The rules state it is a lost ball if you can't identify it, but you can't identify it if you cannot look for it. Someone even said that if all 4 golfers agree it is in the flower bed, you get a free drop even if you don't find it. Last time I looked, there was no rules provision for rulings by the players by vote. So what is the correct procedure? There is no local rule on the card that prohibits looking for the ball in a flower bed, but common sense would dictate extra care be taken, which we all know will not happen, especially facing a 2 stroke penalty.