Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotrod0823
Losing a ball in a lateral water hazard. The 18 hole on my regular course has lateral water on either side of the fairway. It's more of a wooded steam than a water hazard but it's red striped all the way out about 230 yards from the tee box.
On two occasions I've played in matches where my opponents hit drives that were to the left. On the first occasion the player hit a tree near the fairway but we weren't sure it made it to the hazard so he re teed a provisional. We couldn't find the original so he played the provisional. On the second it was clearly into the woods on the fly. He didn't hit another ball but rather played from where it crossed into the hazard. Even after not being able to find the original ball.
Who played the hole correctly? After reading the rules I think they both did.
Comments?
It's one of the gray areas in the Rules of Golf. You have to be sure (or pretty damn close) that the ball is in the hazard in order to take relief from such hazard. Otherwise it's a lost ball.
Now not knowing the course and markings, I have no way of knowing exactly how sure you can be in this situation. Is the stream small and marked on both sides in red, or is only the golf course side marked in which case the hazard continues indefinitely through the woods.
Ideally, a course should be marked so that it's not difficult to determine hazard from lost ball in rough terrain.
BO