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Originally Posted by straightshooter
I think the reason has to be that the unplayable lie exists only in the player's head, it is not defined in any other way. Because the unplayable lie exists only in the player's head, his perceived (and currently non-existent) "right" to take a "fair" re-drop after an unfortunate first drop cannot be verified.
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Exactly. It's the player's decision to declare his ball unplayable, and it's up to him to determine a drop point that will relieve him of that condition. If there is a real chance that when proceeding under Option c ("c. Drop a ball within two club-lengths of the spot where the ball lay, but not nearer the hole.") the ball might roll back to its original position, or into something even worse, then he should be considering...
Option a:
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a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5);
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or Option b:
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b. Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay, keeping that point directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind that point the ball may be dropped
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... instead of Option c. When in a difficult situation, it's wise to always give at least a momentary consideration to all of one's options before proceeding. Sometimes stroke and distance is the least costly in the long run.
