Hi Linda,
I've been looking through your blog for an answer to my question, but haven't quite found it. My question is; If you hit a ball over a yellow staked water hazard, reach the other side but roll back into the water through red stakes, where do you drop? Should you cross the water again or drop near the red stakes?
Greetings from Spain,
Lulu
Dear Lulu,
It is not unusual to find a water hazard where one portion is marked with yellow stakes (indicating a water hazard), and another portion is marked with red stakes (indicating a lateral water hazard). This is most common when hazards are L-shaped. The key to understanding whether to take relief under the water hazard or lateral water hazard relief options is paying attention to where your ball LAST CROSSED the margin of the hazard.
If I’m reading your question correctly, your ball passed over the yellow stakes, landed on the other side of the hazard past the red stakes, and then rolled back into the hazard. This ball LAST CROSSED the margin of the hazard through red stakes, so you may drop the ball within two club-lengths of the red stakes, no closer to the hole (Rule 26-1c).
You still have the other two dropping options available to you under Rule 26-1a and b. You may play a ball from where you hit your last shot, or you may drop a ball anywhere behind the hazard on a line that goes from the hole through the point where your ball last crossed the margin of the hazard.
Please remember to assess yourself a one-stroke penalty unless you hit the ball where it lies in the hazard.
While we’re on the topic of water hazards, I would like to remind my readers that if they hit a ball over a water hazard that is marked entirely with yellow stakes and the ball lands past the hazard boundary on the other side and then rolls back into the hazard, you must drop that ball BEHIND the hazard. Perhaps the best way to remember this is to ask yourself: Where is the ball? In this case, it is in the water hazard. The relief options for a ball in a water hazard both require that you hit the ball across the hazard. The only difference when your ball crosses a water hazard and rolls back in is that your point of reference for taking relief is where the ball LAST crossed the hazard. Note where your ball rolled back into the hazard; draw a line from the hole, through that point, across the hazard and back as far as you wish; drop anywhere on that line.
Incidentally, Lulu, I spent my junior year in Spain studying at the Universidad de Sevilla. There are many wonderful golf courses in Spain, but I never played any of them since I didn’t start playing golf until many years later. I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your Spanish golfing experience.
Best regards from New Jersey,
Linda
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