What is the golf rule on water hazards?

Question

My opponent and I both tee off and sink our shots in the water hazard which is 10 yards from us (150 to get it over). I tee up again and claim it my 3rd shot under rule 26-1. He brings his ball up 110 yards to where the ball went into the water and goes 2 club lengths away from his point of entry and claims it his 3rd shot also. That doesn't sound right...is this correct?

Also he shot a provision on a different hole. He found his first ball up against the fence. He said he didn't like his lie so he said he would play his provision. a) can he shoot his provision even though he found his original ball? b) if so is that a one stroke or 2 stroke penalty?

Answer 1

OK obviously you and your fellow competitor need a rule book.

There are two kinds of water hazards.  One is known as a "water hazard" and that sounds like what you were playing across. (They are marked with  yellow stakes)  When your ball comes to rest in a water hazard you must drop behind the hazard under a one stroke penalty and play from there.  Or you can replay the shot which is what you did so you were within the rules.  He was not, he dropped in the wrong place.  The second type is a "lateral hazard" which is any hazard where it is not practical to drop behind it (ie a creek that runs parallel to the hole), marked with red stakes.  If your ball comes to rest in a lateral hazard you drop within two club lengths of where the ball last crossed the hazard, (with a one stroke penalty) or on the opposite side of the hazard equidistant from where it last crossed.

As to the provisional, you have to play the original ball if you find it.  If he didn't like where it was he could declare it "unplayable" and proceed under the rules regarding that situation.  So he basically played a wrong ball and that would be a two stroke penalty.

Answer 2

The first scenario sounds like a par 3.  Most of the time the lakes around a par 3 is lined by red stakes making it a lateral hazard.  In most cases there is a designated drop zone, or if there isn't the ball is dropped 2 club lengths from where the ball crossed the hazard.  The only time you must play a second shot from the original position is if your ball went OB indicated by white stakes.  If it is a lateral hazard, by all means take the distance.

The second scenario it seems that the fence would have been a man made object obstructing his swing which should have given him a free drop 2 club lengths no closer to the hole, no penalty.  This is unless there are white stake before the fence indicating OB.

Answer 3

LSU Man is correct except for one tiny detail.

When you go into a hazard, you drop on a line between the hole and the point where the ball *last* crossed the margin of the hazard, not where it first crossed the water.

Answer 4

If a ball goes into the water, then it is a one stroke penalty, and you can bring the ball back as far as you want from the first point where is crossed the water, he can bring it back 2 club lengths and drop it and you can too, or as far back as you want.

If he hits a provisional ball and then finds the first ball, he must play the first ball, So a provisional ball is a timesaver. Rather than first going forward to search, the player announces he is hitting a provisional. If the original ball is then found, the original ball is played. If the original ball really is lost or OB, the provisional is played with a one-stroke penalty.

Rule 27

Answer 5

in the water - 1 stroke

take ball and place on grass - 1 stroke

hit that replaced ball - 1 stroke

so if he was on a par 3 and did that that would mean that his third shot better get in the hole otherwise he bogey's