[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Bulls9999

Just curious... from another jr. tournament this past week I noticed a rules official being summoned to the group in front of my son's group, near where I was standing. The young man had hit into a stand of trees short & right of the green (par 3) and his ball was on the right side of a very large (2-3 ft diameter?) tree, against root outcroppings. He elected to take an unplayable lie and was granted permission to measure 'through the tree', even though he couldn't put his club in the tree, they eyeballed the club held up against the tree, whereby the club was positioned parallel to the line of the ball going through the tree and where the club head would end up with if extending through the tree, then another club length from there, giving almost clear shot to the green. Going the other way simply would have been blocked by more trees, or going back on a line from the hole further into the trees as well.

I couldn't find the section of rules that allows this.

Yes. Two clublengths is a straight line distance between two points, not a physical requirement for measuring. The only thing that needs to be ensured is that you drop within that distance. If you can meet that need just by estimating it, you don't actually need to measure at all. The only time that measurement is really needed is when you are dropping near the limits of the 2 clublengths, or there is some other potential for doubt that the drop is a legal one.

Also, in taking relief from an obstruction you can measure your one clublength from the nearest point of relief back across or through the obstruction as long as the drop ultimately meets the parameters laid out in the rules.