2010 #5 LATERAL WATER HAZARD

THE SCENE:

You are playing hole #5 at Beech Mountain. You pull your tee shot. It shoots down the cart path then swerves to the left, hits a tree and bounces into the water. This is not the water hazard in front of the green. Your ball is in the fairly new water hazard between the 5^th green and the 6^th fairway. Oh, no! You tee up another ball and prepare to hit it, but your partner says, “Wait! You can hit from down beside the water, near the green.”

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

You know your ball is in a water hazard so you take a penalty stroke. Then you would:

A. Drop a ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball last entered the hazard, no closer to the hole.

B. Play again from the Tee.

A IS CORRECT because this is a lateral water hazard.

Have you noticed the bright red line recently painted on the grass near the water, both on the side of the hazard adjacent to the 5th green and on the other side of the hazard along the 6^th fairway? In fact the red line goes all the way around the hazard.

These lines get redrawn before any important tournament but then they fade as the grass gets cut. But remember them because what they mean is that this is a lateral water hazard.

What are your options when your ball is in a regular water hazard? You can hit another drive from the tee, or you can draw an imaginary straight line from the flagstick through the spot where your ball entered the hazard and on back as far as you wish. Unfortunately this straight line would just go further across the water and into the 6^th fairway. That wouldn’t help you a bit. So your only option would be to play again from the Tee.

However, you have more options if your ball is in a lateral water hazard. You can drop within 2 club lengths of where your ball last entered the hazard, no closer to the hole. So you would locate the spot where your ball crossed the red line. Then you would measure 2 club lengths from that spot, no closer to the hole. Then you would drop a ball within those 2 club lengths.

REMEMBER: When your ball is in a lateral water hazard you can drop a ball within 2 club lengths of where your ball last entered the hazard, no closer to the hole.