Ok, in the 3rd round yesterday, I was watching as a golfer was taking a drop near the green where as best I could tell, the golfer's shot had gone into a water hazard and he was taking a drop on the bank beside the water. So his caddie was trying to prevent the dropped ball from going in the water by catching it after it landed and bounced toward the water. Apparently this is not as easy as it seems because he barely caught the first ball and when he handed it back to the golfer and the golfer re-dropped it, the second time, the caddie MISSED the ball and it went into the hazard. The golfer looked disgusted but the commentators said there was no penalty as the caddie fished the ball out and the golfer then PLACED the ball where it had bounced. Seemed fine. Well, later in the broadcast the commentators came back and said that apparently there is a obscure rule that affects the drops that goes something like: As long as the ball is immediately recoverable, there is no penalty but if the dropped ball is NOT immediately recoverable, the gofler incures a 2 stroke penalty. So they were adding that this golfer had to take a 2 stroke penalty because his dropped ball went into the water.

Anyone got any insight into this rule? I've never he

I know there's a rule that if you drop twice and the ball rolls out of bounds or into the un-hittable area, or closer to the green, you place it at the spot where it hit the ground. But I know I haven't read something about not recovering the ball. That's gotta hurt.

I heard about this on Sunday, it's a weird rule, which is what the commenator also stated. But then he said it is a rule, so it must be applied. Sounds like another rule that could be changed or just deleted. As I remember what was stated, in this case the golfer should have replaced the ball with a new one, and it would not have been a penality, but since he played the ball recovered from the water, there was a 2 stroke penality. It may be a rule, but I think it's a bit stupid. Must not be a rule many people know about since none of the guys on TV noticed a problem until it was brought up.