In January of 2019, the USGA/R&A revised the required procedure that players must follow in taking a drop. USGA Rule 14.3b(2) states: The player MUST let go of the ball from a location at knee height.
This Rule has caused a lot of heartburn for numerous professional players because shoulder-height drops are no longer allowed. Despite these complaints, there are some very good reasons for this new restriction.
As to why this new guideline was introduced, Thomas Pagel, USGA’s Managing Director of Governance, states: “Under the old rules, there were nine different times you had to re-drop. We wanted to eliminate all those complications. If you drop it from knee-height, that ball is going to bounce a little less.”
Under the pre-2019 Rules, the 9 different reasons forcing a player to re-drop were almost impossible to fully understand and/or remember, so they were commonly ignored or misapplied. In trying to simplify this situation, the USGA created the idea of the “Relief Area”, which is kind of like a target for the drop. For any drop, as long as the ball doesn’t hit your body before it hits the ground and the ball comes to rest in the Relief Area, there is no need to re-drop under any circumstance (including if your ball then goes on to strike your body, your equipment, or any other thing).
Simply put, a shorter drop distance was mandated to maximize the chances of your ball coming to rest in the right place on the FIRST drop.
In combination, the new guideline produces at least three big advantages for players:
It speeds up play.
It results in players incurring far fewer penalties (relative to super-strict adherence to the old rules).
It’s easier for players to take a more “strategic” drop.
On the downside, it’s hard to let old habits die (even bad ones), and some players have complained that it looks silly. But in my mind, the pros far outweigh the cons. My guess is that the USGA is going to stick to their guns on this one, so we might as well go ahead and make the best of it.
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