Ask Linda #251-Re-tee option, ball in lateral hazard

Linda, if you hit your tee shot and your ball goes into a lateral (red-staked) hazard, do you always have the option to re-tee, or are you limited to either dropping the ball on the line of sight to the hole or dropping it within two club-lengths of the hazard boundary? Thanks, Lou Lou

Dear Lou Lou,

When you are taking relief for a ball in a water hazard, you always have the option to hit a ball from where you played your previous shot [Rule 26-1a]. If the previous shot was your first shot on the hole, you may return to the teeing ground and re-tee a ball. This is true for all water hazards, whether regular (yellow-staked) or lateral (red-staked). Don’t forget to include the one-stroke penalty in your score for the hole.

Linda
Copyright © 2010 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.