Linda,
My son was in a stroke play tournament. He hit a ball left
towards a creek and 3 caddies and the other 2 players and my son said the ball
was in the water hazard. A couple of them said they saw it go in, the others
said they were pretty sure it went in. The ground just outside the hazard line
was light rough.
My son proceeded to take a drop at the assumed point of
entry. He hit the next shot that hit a tree and ended up in the rough. When
looking for the ball he found his original ball. He played the ball that he
dropped and the rules official said that that shot was 5 from the drop, a 4-stroke
penalty because his original ball was found. He only hit the ball a total of 5
times and they gave him a 9. Very confused on how someone gets a 4-stoke
penalty and he has only hit the ball once.
Lou from California
Dear Lou,
This is a difficult question to answer without knowing the
terrain or why everyone believed the ball to be in the hazard. I can only offer
general comments on the situation and the ruling.
In order to proceed under any of the relief options in Rule
26, a player must know or be virtually certain that his ball is in the hazard.
[Please read Decision 26-1/1 for a detailed explanation of what is meant by
“known or virtually certain.”] If two people claim they saw it go into the
hazard, and the others are “pretty sure,” it would be hard to fault your son
for believing his ball to be in the hazard and proceeding under 26-1c. Although
you don’t mention it, I assume he took a few minutes to search the area for his
ball. Since you state that the rough adjacent to the hazard was “light,” it is
not unreasonable to assume that a ball not found at the estimated point of entry
must be in the hazard.
I would think that if the Rules official interviewed the
boys and their caddies and learned that there was agreement that the ball was
in the hazard, he would allow play with the dropped ball to stand. However, he
may have had reason to mistrust their judgment, or he may have decided that the
area was such that a ball that was not found outside the hazard could not be
assumed to be in the hazard. Bearing this in mind (and remembering that I do
not have all the facts at hand), let’s take a look at the penalties.
1. If the official decides that the player was virtually
certain that his ball was in the hazard, the player is entitled to invoke Rule
26-1. The only penalty is the one stroke that is assessed to a player when he
takes relief for a ball in a water hazard. The fact that the original ball is
later found outside the hazard does not change this ruling [Decision 26-1/3].
2. If the official decides that there was no virtual
certainty that the ball was in the hazard (perhaps there are trees where a ball
might have ricocheted, or dense patches of rough outside the hazard where the
ball could be “hiding”), the player’s ball is lost. He is required to play
another ball under stroke and distance. By dropping and playing a ball at the
supposed point of entry into the hazard, your son played from a wrong place.
Stroke and distance is a one-stroke penalty; playing from a wrong place is a
two-stroke penalty. In addition, if playing from the wrong place gives the
player a significant advantage (which it does if his previous shot was a
considerable distance away), the player must play a second ball under the Rules
before teeing off on the next hole. “Under the Rules” here means that the
second ball must be played from the spot where he hit the ball towards the
hazard.
In summary, if the official accepts “virtual certainty,”
your son’s penalty is one stroke. If the official rules that the ball was lost,
the penalty is three strokes, with a possible disqualification for gaining a
significant advantage by playing from a wrong place.
Linda
Copyright © 2013 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
