20 Rules for '19: #11 - Measuring for a Drop

The USGA has cleaned up how a player is to measure the the area for a drop in 2019.

In the past, a player could select any club from his bag to make a strategic choice about the size of the relief area. That made for varying reference points in the process.

For 2019, a player must now use the longest club in the bag (except putter) to measure the relief area. For most players, that’s a driver.

Using the longest club in a player’s bag (but not putter) for measuring minimizes inconsistency in the size of a relief area between players, and eliminates the past advantage gained by players who used a long putter.

(And no, the driver in the photo above is not legal…)

SERIES NOTE: our 20 Rules for ’19 Series will be on hiatus for one week while we visit the 2019 PGA Show in Orlando. The 20 Rules series will resume on Monday, January 28th, counting down the final ten…