2010 #9 Water Hazard Tee Shot

THE SCENE:

You are playing hole #3 on the Charger. Your Tee shot flies low across the cart path then veers right into the water. You mentally mark where your ball crossed the red line and entered the hazard.You are climbing back into your golf cart when your fellow competitor says, “Where are you going? You have to hit from the Tee again.”

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

A. Point out that this is a lateral (red staked) water hazard and you can drop close to where the ball went in.

B. Tell her that even if it were a regular (yellow staked) hazard you would still have other options.

A  AND B ARE BOTH CORRECT

Your ball is in a lateral water hazard so you can drop within 2 club lengths of where your ball actually entered the hazard.

There are two kinds of water hazards, regular and lateral. The regular water hazards are surrounded by yellow stakes or lines. The lateral hazards have red stakes.

Your options, when your ball is in a water hazard are described in Rule 26:

under penalty of one stroke: a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); or b. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped; or c. As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.

Basically what this says is that if your ball is in either a regular or a lateral water hazard, and you want to take relief, it will cost you a penalty of one stroke. Then you have two options. Now, suppose the water is a great distance from the tee, like on hole #7.  You can walk down towards the water and drop your ball on an imaginary straight line. Mentally draw  that line, starting at the flag, coming straight back across the water, across the point where the ball entered the hazard and on back as far as you wish. You can drop your ball anywhere on that line. Or as another option, you can re-hit from the tee.

If your ball is in a lateral water hazard (with red stakes) there are additional options available. Note where your ball entered the hazard (last crossed the line which defines the margin of the hazard). You can drop within two club lengths of that spot, no nearer the hole.

REMEMBER: When your ball goes into the water, there are a lot of options. You never have to hit again from the teeing box.

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.

2008 #18 Niners’ Water Holes

THE SCENE:
You are playing #7, a par-three hole, over a water hazard. You club tops your ball and sends it bouncing towards the green. But it stops short of the water. You walk to your ball and hit it again. This time it splashes into the water hazard. With a penalty stroke for the water hazard you are now lying 3.

What Would You do?

A)  You would climb back in your cart, drive to the green and play from the Niners’ ball drop, lying 5, hitting 6.

B)  You lie only 3. You could be on in 4 so you hit another ball. If that ball goes into the water, too, you would add a penalty stroke to your score and cross over. You would be lying 6, hitting 7. 


(You hit your ball 3 times = 3 strokes; 
 

         2 balls in the water = 2 penalty strokes; 
 

                  To cross over = 1 penalty stroke.
                             Total = 6 (lying 6, hitting 7)
Both A & B are correct

To speed up play, the Niners have a special non-tournament rule for water holes:

If you have not gotten across the water after two tries, drop a ball on the other side, lying 5, hitting 6. (2 shots plus penalty strokes, plus one for the carry over the water.)

This means that if you are not across the water hazard after hitting the ball two times (whether the ball went into the water or not), you can cross to the green side of the hazard and play from the Niners’ ball drop, lying 5, hitting 6.
So, A) is correct.

However, you don’t have to cross over then. If your ball didn’t go into the water, your score is still low. You may want to hit again. If you do hit another ball, and if you still are not across the water, you can count all of your strokes, add a penalty stroke and cross over.
So, B) is also correct.

No matter how few times you hit the ball, if you cross over using this rule, your minimum score always would be lying 5, hitting 6..

REMEMBER: If, after 2 tries. you have not gotten across the water, take advantage of this special rule to speed up play. Cross over and drop a ball. You will be lying 5, hitting 6.

2008 #8 How to ID Your Ball

The Scene:
Your ball is lying in a bunker. You have marked all of your balls with one small red dot for identification purposes. But now that red dot is not visible. So, you lift the ball, make sure it is yours, replace it and hit it out of the bunker. But another player challenges you. She says, “Hey, wait just one minute. That’s a one-stroke penalty.”

What Would You do?
A. You are allowed to lift your ball in a hazard if that is necessary to identify it. So she is wrong.
B. There is a procedure that you must follow when lifting a ball you think is yours for the purpose if identifying it. You didn’t follow that procedure. So you incurred a penalty of one stroke.

B is correct
This is new. Up until January 1st, 2008, you couldn’t lift your ball in a bunker to identify it. So this procedure was not needed. The procedure is the same one used anywhere on the course when you need to identify your ball, except on the green. It is described in the following rule:

Rule 12-2.
…Before lifting the ball, the player must announce his intention to his opponent in match play or his marker or a fellow-competitor in stroke play and mark the position of the ball. He may then lift the ball and identify it, provided that he gives his opponent, marker or fellow-competitor an opportunity to observe the lifting and replacement. The ball must not be cleaned beyond the extent necessary for identification when lifted under Rule 12-2.
If the ball is the player’s ball and he fails to comply with all or any part of this procedure, or he lifts his ball in order to identify it when not necessary to do so, he incurs a penalty of one stroke.

REMEMBER: Before lifting a ball you think is your own, announce your intention, mark your ball, and then lift it while allowing the other players to watch.

2008 #7 Ball in Bunker

The Scene:
Laura hit her drive on a par three hole. Her ball landed in a bunker short of the green. She climbed down into the sand, planted her feet and blasted the ball out and onto the green. It rolled up close to the hole. She raked the sand, climbed out of the bunker and eagerly walked across the green to tap in her ball for a par. But then she discovered that the ball was not hers.

What should she do?
A. Laura hit a wrong ball. She should abandon that ball, take a 2 stroke penalty and go find her own ball.
B. Laura hit a wrong ball out of a bunker. There is no penalty because you are not allowed to identify your ball in a bunker.

A is correct
This is new. Up until January 1st, 2008, ‘B’ would have been correct. But Rule 12-2 has been changed. Now you will be allowed to lift a ball for identification in a bunker or in a water hazard. And because rule 15-3 also has been changed, if you fail to identify your ball and hit someone else’s ball – a wrong ball – you will be penalized 2 strokes (Loss of hole in Match Play).

Open your Rules of Golf Book to the following two rules:

Rule 12-2 Searching for and Identifying Ball
Last year the rule said:
… if he lifts his ball for identification (in a hazard), he incurs a penalty of one stroke.

This year the rule says:
…. if he lifts his ball in order to identify it (when not necessary to do so), he incurs a penalty of one stroke.

Rule 15-3 Wrong Ball
Last year the rule said:
If a competitor makes a stroke or strokes at a wrong ball (that is not in a hazard), he incurs a penalty of two strokes.

This year it says:
If a competitor makes a stroke or strokes at a wrong ball, he incurs a penalty of two strokes.

REMEMBER: You are now allowed to identify you ball in a hazard. But, if you hit a wrong ball, you will be penalized.

2008 #3 Why Can’t You Drop on the Green Side of the Water Hazard?

The Scene:
You are playing hole #7 on the Charger. Your tee shot soars over the water (whew!) and lands on the green. But then it starts rolling back towards you. It rolls into the grass. You arrive on the green and discover that your ball is in the water hazard. It didn’t fall down to the sand or water; it is not in the rocks; but it is within the margin of the hazard. And you can’t play it because there is a rock behind it. You know you have to take a penalty stroke and then…

What would you do?
A. Drop a ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball last entered the hazard, no closer to the hole?
B. Go all the way back to the tee and hit another ball from there?

B is correct.
The water hazard on hole #7 is a regular water hazard, (marked by yellow stakes). It is not a lateral water hazard (marked by red stakes). (A), above, is an option for a lateral water hazard such as the one on hole #2. It is not an option for a regular water hazard.

Open your Rules of Golf book to Rule #26 WATER HAZARDS. Look under 26-1 in sections a and b. You will see:

Rule 26-1 Ball in Water Hazard
If a ball is in or is lost in a water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:
Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played or
Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped.

Basically what this says is that you have two options but both require you to hit from behind the hazard. You can hit from where you hit before as in (B) above or you can draw an imaginary staight line. Start at the flagstick, draw it straight through the spot where your ball LAST entered the hazard (on the green side of the hazard) then straight back across the water for as far as you want to go. Then you can drop the ball anywhere on that line BEHIND THE HAZARD.

REMEMBER: Even if your tee shot hits the green first, if your ball finally comes to rest in a water hazard (yellow stakes) you have to play your next shot from behind the hazard.

2006 #4 Lateral Water Hazard

THE SCENE:
You are playing hole #4 at Beech Mountain. You slice your tee shot. It lands on the cart path and bounces right, into the water hazard on hole #5. What would you do? See diagram below.

To drop a ball outside the hazard, you know you have to take a penalty stroke.
But where should you drop your ball?
 
A. Drop a ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball last entered the hazard. See       X, below.

B. Draw an imaginary straight line from the flagstick through the spot where your ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard (X) and back as far as you wish. We will refer to the part of that line that is behind the hazard as (Y-Y). Drop a ball behind the hazard anywhere on line Y-Y.


A is correct because this is a lateral water hazard.


This side of the water hazard (adjacent to hole #4 fairway) is marked by a red line or stakes indicating that it is a lateral water hazard. So, You can drop within 2 club lengths of where your ball last entered the hazard, no closer to the hole.

If this were a regular water hazard, marked by yellow lines or stakes, your only options would be to play again from the tee or to drop a ball on your imaginary line behind the hazard (line Y-Y).


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.

2004 #4 Searching for your ball in a hazard.

The Scene:
You hit a long ball which seems to just hang in the air before finally dropping into a green-side bunker. When you arrive you can’t see the ball. You think it might be buried or it might be under some of the leaves in the bunker.

What would you do?
A. You would use your club to brush away the leaves and dig holes in the sand, trying to find your ball. Once found you would replace it and re-cover it so that you could barely see a part of the ball. Then you would hit it.
B. Your ball is lost. You would take a one stroke penalty and hit from where you hit before.



A is correct. 

You are allowed to use your hands, your club, anything to find your ball. If you uncover it too much, that’s okay. Just replace the sand and leaves so that you can barely see a part of the ball.

Open your Rules of Golf book to:
Rule #12 Searching for and Identifying Ball.
12-1 Searching for Ball;
In a hazard, if a ball is believed to be covered by loose impediments or sand, the player may remove by probing or raking with a club or otherwise, as many loose impediments or as much sand as will enable him to see a part of the ball. If an excess is removed, there is no penalty and the ball must be re-covered so that only a part of the ball is visible.

REMEMBER: If you can’t find your ball in a hazard you can do almost anything to find it as long as you replace it and cover it back up before hitting it.
 

2004 #3 Relief from Immoveable Obstruction in Bunker

The Scene:
You are playing your third shot on hole #11. There are people working in the bunker short of the green on the right. You aim for the middle of the green. The ball takes off straight then begins to bend to the right, hits the ground and bounces into the bunker where it rolls under the equipment used by the men.
But wait! One of the men reaches down, picks up the ball and tosses it out of the bunker.

What would you do?
A. The man is an outside agency, right? Can’t you play the ball where it lies?
B. You get free relief from the immovable obstruction but you must drop the ball within the bunker.

C. You can pay your way out of the bunker with one penalty shot.

C. is correct.
It is true that the man is an outside agency. If the ball had bounced off him you would be allowed to play the ball as it lies. But since he lifted it you have to replace it. THEN consider your options.

You get free relief from the immovable obstruction. That means that you can drop the ball within one club length of the nearest point of relief (no nearer the hole). But the ball must be dropped within the bunker.

You can get out of the bunker but it will cost you. Draw an imaginary straight line starting at the flagstick. Draw that line through your ball and back out of the bunker as far as you wish. You can drop your ball anywhere on that line behind the bunker under penalty of one stroke. This is a new 2004 Rule.

Open your Rules of Golf Book
Turn to rule #24 Obstructions. You will see:

24-2. Immovable Obstruction
b. Relief
Except when the ball is in a water hazard or a lateral water hazard, a player may take relief from interference by an immovable obstruction as follows:
 (ii) In a Bunker: If the ball is in a bunker, the player must lift the ball and drop it either: (a) Without penalty, in accordance with Clause (i) above, except that the nearest point of relief must be in the bunker and the ball must be dropped in the bunker; or (b) Under penalty of one stroke, outside the bunker keeping the point where the ball lay directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the bunker the ball may be dropped.

REMEMBER: You can pay your way out of the bunker when taking relief from an immoveable obstruction.