Rules Guy: Can an embedded ball be denied free relief?

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Teeing off, I drove my ball completely underground, eight inches forward. I said the ball was embedded, entitling relief. My opponent said it was unplayable, necessitating a one-stroke penalty. Rules Guy says… —Aaron Lowe, via email

…to consider a driver with more loft.

Rule 16.3a(2) says that a ball driven straight into the ground without becoming airborne is not embedded, and thus free relief for an embedded ball isn’t allowed.

That said, should the ball remain within the teeing area — on the off chance you teed up more than eight inches behind the markers so your ball is in the ground still behind the markers — you can lift the ball and tee it up again anywhere inside the teeing area without penalty, hitting 2, under Rule 6.2b.

For more guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

We have the world’s most unfair bunker fronting our 17th green. It’s seven feet deep, but that’s the easy part. Shaped like a funnel, there’s only .001 inches of sand sitting at the base. When I find myself in this abyss, can I lift my ball as unplayable, rake sand into the base from the walls and then drop my ball for play, one penalty stroke poorer? Thanks for listening. — Bill Herrick, East Moriches, N.Y.

Rules Guy always tries to be a sympathetic ear, and we were with you for a moment there — when you wanted to treat the ball as unplayable and take penalty relief. That’s kosher.

But like the sand in your cruel bunker — “world’s most unfair” surely is stretching things a bit — your request eroded once you contemplated raking the sand where you plan to drop the ball, which, by improving your relief area, is verboten.

You need to simply drop the ball under one of the four options in Rule 19.3, three of which (stroke and distance, back on the line inside the bunker, lateral relief inside the bunker) cost one penalty stroke and the other (back on the line of relief outside the bunker) two penalty strokes.

Other options: Try a sand wedge with less bounce or find a new home course.

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Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@golf.com. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.