Direct Water Hazard

Direct Water Hazard

Direct Water Hazard
Knowing the rules of golf for a direct water hazard can save you strokes. The area or margins of a direct water hazard are marked with yellow stakes or lines. If not marked, generally it is a water hazard which lies in front of you as you face the hole looking down the fairway. Your ball is in the hazard if it comes to rest between the defined margins of the hazard even if it is not in water. If the margins are not defined by yellow lines or stakes your playing partners need to agree upon the location of the margins.

If your ball rests in the hazard you have several options.You may play out of the hazard without penalty. You may replay your shot from the original position and add one penalty stroke. Finally you may drop a ball using the following procedure. First find the last spot where the ball crossed the margin of the hazard. Keeping that spot between yourself and the hole you may move back away from the hole as far as you want. You then drop the ball at the selected location and add one penalty stroke. One popular misconception is that you may drop the ball along the line of flight the ball took as it approached the hazard. There is no such rule or terminology within the rules called “line of flight”. Knowing the rules of golf can save you strokes. In a hazard you may not ground your club. Grounding of your club in the hazard adds an additional an additional two strokes.