Rules Guy: What do you do when it’s impossible to recreate your original lie?

The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.

In a recent tournament, my tee shot ended up in a fairway divot and touching the ball of one of my playing partners, with my ball in front of his. Obviously, I needed to mark my ball so he could play his approach shot — which I did, to the side of our balls. His ensuing shot made the original divot much larger and deeper. We agreed that since it wasn’t possible to recreate my original lie in the divot, I should place my ball next to it and play on. Right call? – Edward Kelly, Jr., via email

Though it doesn’t impact our answer, Rules Guy assumes that you played first rather than your drive hopping over or back-spinning against your playing partner’s ball … but we digress.

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So, did you make the right call? Maybe.

Rules

First off, recreating the lie actually would have been wrong; you only do that when your ball is in sand and the lie gets altered. Per Rule 14.2d and Clarification 14.2d(2)/1 (which is a very similar scenario), the correct procedure is to place the ball in the nearest-most similar lie to the original within one club-length, no nearer the hole and still in the general area. Even though that lie may have been worse after your playing partner’s shot, it is quite possible that the new divot may have been the most similar. Or perhaps there was a similar divot within a club-length you could have placed into.

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Needless to say, it usually isn’t the nice lie in the fairway that is the “nearest most similar,” but it’s not impossible. No more impossible than abutting-balls-in-a-divot …

For more lie-based guidance from our guru, read on …

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.

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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.

Want to find the right gear for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to [email protected]. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

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