How must I drop a ball when taking relief?

Under Rule 14.3b of the 2023 Rules of Golf, you must drop in the right way:

1. You drop the ball. Your caddie or anyone else may not do it (except where a disability modification in Rule 25 applies).
2. Straight down from knee height. Let go from the height of your knee when standing, so the ball falls straight down without you throwing, spinning or rolling it, and without touching your body or equipment before it hits the ground.
3. Into the relief area. You may stand inside or outside the relief area. For back-on-the-line relief, you drop on the line in a location the Rule allows.

If the ball is dropped in a wrong way, you must drop again, with no limit on the number of times. A wrong drop does not count towards the two drops required before placing a ball. If you instead play from where it came to rest, you get one penalty stroke if you played from the relief area, or the general penalty if you played from outside it.

If a ball dropped in the right way comes to rest in the relief area, you have completed taking relief and play it as it lies. If it comes to rest outside the relief area, you follow the drop-again and place procedure in Rule 14.3c(2).