Unplayable lie mis-play?

[Dag]

803.06A
...The unplayable lie may be relocated to a new lie that is: (1) No closer to the hole, on the line of play and within five meters of the unplayable lie; or (2) The previous lie...

The line of play referred to here is that between the marker denoting the lie deemed unplayable and the target?

Left hand side of the fairway up near the basket had a very steep drop-off covered in thick brush. My disc was located about 5' off the fairway but 8' or so below the level of the fairway. It was difficult to maintain position on the slope without sliding and there was no room for a throwing motion, much less an opening to throw through, so I called the lie unplayable. I checked with my group and moved my lie laterally onto the fairway, much as one would do with OB, and finished the hole from there. Being a little uncertain I had played this correctly, I checked in with the TD and a couple of the more experienced players and they confirmed my play but now I'm not so certain. Assuming the answer to the question with which I started this post is "yes", the only option I would have had was that of previous lie (re-tee in this case) as any lie behind the lie deemed unplayable simply was not possible, placing me further into the mess downslope. My lateral relocation was illegal?

Considering the round in question was my worst rated round to date, I'm not particularly concerned about what has happened, I just want to avoid future mistakes.

[Parks]

It sounds like you did not go back within 5 meters "on the line of play," so it was illegal.

Draw a line from the basket through your disc, and you can relocate on that line within 5 meters back for an unplayable lie.

Otherwise, its from the previous lie.

Lateral movement is never allowed, except when its perpendicular to the O.B. line when you're out of bounds.

[Thatdirtykid]

It sounds like you did not go back within 5 meters "on the line of play," so it was illegal.

Draw a line from the basket through your disc, and you can relocate on that line within 5 meters back for an unplayable lie.

Otherwise, its from the previous lie.

Lateral movement is never allowed, except when its perpendicular to the O.B. line when you're out of bounds Or within a meter of OB.

Fixed

[mark12b]

agreed, i would have argued for a retee. sounds like you moved back along the line of flight instead of the line of play.

any time i've seen unplayable lie used, it's had to be a rethrow-with-penalty, because moving the lie backwards didn't improve anything. a lot of times it's pretty obvious how bad the shot was and it makes sense to just go ahead and throw a provisional.

[krupicka]

Lateral relief used to be allowed (2003 rules?) for an unsafe (now unplayable) lie. This would be why some more experience players confirmed your play. Current rules (2006) limit relief for an unplayable lie to 5m on the LOP or the previous lie.

[Chuck Kennedy]

Older rules allowed up to 5m relief in any direction no closer to the target for unplayable (unsafe) lies and even relocation anywhere on the fairway no closer to the target with a 2-throw penalty.

[Smigles]

I'd say you have to retee, too.

On the other hand, even though we have rules, in the end it is a group decision. They all agreed with you, so dont feel bad. Obviously they all didnt know the rule either