Dear Linda,
Thank you for your posts; they are greatly appreciated!
At our club we have a par 3, which, apart from the first 30
yards, is all carry over water, yellow staked.
There is nothing for being short so most people play it
long. If too long there is a chip back to the green and toward the water
hazard.
The other day one lady thinned her chip from behind the
green. The ball ran over the green and into the water hazard. Uncertain what to
do, the lady played another ball from where she had played her previous shot, which
seemed reasonable at the time.
However, reading your post the other day, I am now thinking
that perhaps the lady concerned should have walked back toward the tee and the
other side of the hazard and played her next shot over the hazard.
Please can you clarify which would be the correct procedure?
Kind regards,
Lulu from England
Dear Lulu,
One of the options for relief for a ball in a water hazard is
to play another ball under stroke and distance [Rule 26-1a]. The lady in your
narrative proceeded correctly when she played another ball from the spot behind
the green where she hit her previous shot.
If she preferred not to play another ball under stroke and
distance, her other choice would be to drop behind the hazard (on the tee side
of the hazard) on the flagline [Rule 26-1b].
Linda
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