What is TWO CLUB LENGTHS?

[BC MIST]

I declare my ball unplayable on a finger of rough adjacent to a bunker. In dropping my ball it barely rolls into the bunker, just under two driver length from where it hit the ground.

If I was to use my sand wedge to measure two club lengths the ball would have rolled more than the two wedge club lengths from where it hit the ground.

As I would prefer to play from the grass instead of the bunker, do I (the player) have a choice as to what club I use to establish my two club lengths?

[pvs1313]

any club in your bag can be used to measure it,

it does not have to be the clubyou are going to actually play, you can use putter right up to driver

[jvincent]

Also, the rule states that the drop must be "within" two club lengths, so you have a semi-circular area that you can drop in.

Use your longest club and pick any spot in the semi-circle not otherwise prohibited by the rules, i.e. must take full relief, etc.

[BC MIST]

OK let me modify the above. I mark my semicircular area and the ball hits the ground within that area. The ball then rolls more than two club lengths from the spot where it hit the ground which means that using 20-2c(vi), I would have to re-drop.

Can I use my driver to determine the 2 cub lengths "area" for the unplayable part, and then use my wedge for the two club lengths for the rolling part, if it is advantageous to do so?

The point now is that if I use the 46" driver for the rolling part and it rolls into a terrible lie, I can just use my 32" putter and declare that the ball rolled more than 2 club lengths, re-drop and then place if it is permitted.

From the responses above the obvious answer is "Yes." However, I would suppose that the newly formed, Ottawa Golf ETHICS committee, would disagree.

[jvincent]

IIRC, the correct procedure when you are taking a two club length drop is to mark the original position of the ball and the two club point.

If it rolls outside the marked 2-club point, re-drop using the same point.

[LobWedge]

See Decision 20/1.

[mpare]

Decision 20/1 says, in effect, that you cannot do that which BC MIST wonders about in his hypothetical. Aren't you happy, BC, that the Ethics Committee need not weigh into this?

Here is the decision:

"20/1 Club to Be Used in Measuring

Q. A player, taking relief under a Rule, uses his driver to measure the one club-length or two club-lengths prescribed in the relevant Rule. He drops a ball correctly and the ball rolls less than two driver-lengths, but more than two putterlengths,
from where the ball first struck a part of the course when dropped.
Under Rule 20-2c, a dropped ball must be re-dropped if it rolls more than two club-lengths. If the ball comes to rest in a poor lie, may the player opt to use his putter to measure the distance his ball has rolled, in which case he would redrop under Rule 20-2c and escape the poor lie?

A. No. The player must continue to use the club he originally used for measuring for all measuring in a given situation."

[BC MIST]

It is interesting to note that if I declare the ball unplayable, through the green:
1. if the ball rolls into the bunker/hazard, I must re-drop it, BUT
2. I can drop the ball in the bunker/hazard.