Golf Drop Rules Explained — How to Take a Drop in Golf (2019 Rules)

Under the current Rules of Golf (2019+): (1) Determine your relief area — 1 or 2 club-lengths from the reference point, not closer to the hole. (2) Stand upright, hold the ball at knee height, and let it drop straight down. (3) If it lands in the relief area, play it. (4) If it rolls outside the relief area, re-drop once. (5) If it rolls outside the relief area a second time, place the ball at the spot where it hit the ground on the second drop. That is the complete procedure. The biggest change from the pre-2019 rules: drops used to be from shoulder height; they are now from knee height. This change was made to reduce the chance of the ball bouncing far outside the relief area.

The biggest change: before 2019, you dropped from shoulder height. Since 2019, you drop from knee height. This single change reduced the required drop height by more than half and significantly reduced how often balls bounce outside the relief area. Other 2019 changes: the relief area is now a defined-size half-circle (1 or 2 club-lengths from the reference point), rather than being determined in the moment; the ball cannot be placed by hand unless it rolls out of the relief area twice. The drop procedure is now simpler and more consistent — hold at knee height, drop straight down, and the ball must land and stay in the relief area.

1 club-length drops are used for free relief situations (no penalty): ground under repair, embedded ball, abnormal course condition, cart path, temporary water, etc. The idea is that free relief gives you just enough room to escape the condition, not a lot of runway. 2 club-length drops are used when you pay a penalty stroke: penalty area (red stakes lateral drop), unplayable ball with a lateral or backward option. The larger area compensates for the fact that you are paying a penalty and may need more room. For most recreational golfers, the practical difference is about 8-9 feet of additional drop width with the 2 club-length option, using a 45-inch driver.

Re-drop once, from the same knee height and approximately the same spot. If after the second drop the ball again rolls outside the relief area, you must place the ball at the exact spot where it hit the ground on the second drop — not where you were standing, not the reference point, but the spot where the ball first touched the ground on drop number two. This placement is done by hand, without penalty. If the placed ball won't stay in that spot (e.g., on a slope), you place it at the nearest spot where it will stay, no closer to the hole. In practice, most golfers never encounter the "place after two drops" situation because knee-height drops rarely roll far.

No — the ball cannot come to rest closer to the hole than the reference point (the spot from which you measured the relief area). This is one of the universal requirements of taking relief. The ball is allowed to roll and move after it hits the ground, but if it ends up on the hole-side of the reference point (closer to the pin), the drop is invalid. Re-drop in a spot that keeps the ball the correct distance from the hole. A practical trick: before dropping, pick a blade of grass or a twig to mark "the closest to the hole the ball can be" — if the ball rolls past that marker, re-drop.

The longest club in your bag except a putter. For most golfers, that is the driver. If you are carrying a 3-wood as your longest club, use that. The measurement is always with the physically longest club by shaft length — not necessarily the one with the lowest loft. A 5-wood that is physically longer than your driver counts as the longest club. You measure by touching the club head to the reference point and extending the shaft outward. You are allowed to hold the shaft near the grip end to get the full measurement. After measuring, you can use a tee or your foot to mark the edge of the relief area.

Ground under repair is any part of the course that the committee has marked as being actively worked on or too damaged to play normally. It is typically marked by white lines painted on the ground, white stakes, or signs at the entrance to the area. You are entitled to free relief from GUR: find the nearest point of complete relief (the nearest spot, not closer to the hole, where the condition no longer interferes with your stance or swing), then take a 1 club-length drop from that point. You do not have to take relief — you can play the ball as it lies from GUR if you choose. But you cannot take relief from just the stance while leaving the ball in GUR; the full ball must be in the relief area.

You may declare any ball in any location (except a penalty area) unplayable if you believe you cannot play it. There is a 1-stroke penalty for an unplayable ball, and you have three options: (1) Stroke and distance — return to where you last played and replay from there (same as OB). (2) Back-on-the-line relief — go back as far as you want on a line from the flag through the ball, drop within 1 club-length of any point on that line. (3) Lateral relief — drop within 2 club-lengths of the unplayable ball spot, not closer to the hole. You can choose whichever option gives you the best result — often the lateral drop is most useful for standard situations, but back-on-the-line can be better for unplayable spots on a slope near the green.