Can I Play A Golf Ball From A Water Hazard? (Video) - by Pete Styles
Can I Play A Golf Ball From A Water Hazard? (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you find your golf ball in a water hazard there’s a couple of different options that you can do within the rules, but one of those options is you can play the ball from a water hazard. Now that might not sound like a great idea if it’s a four-foot deep lake and there’s crocodiles in there. But if you consider that most water hazards will have a bank around them and the posts are often a little bit higher up the bank to allow for the water level to go up and down, sometimes your ball will be on a dry area, the side of the water hazard, and it might not actually look that difficult to play.

You think, “Well I can get me feet in there, I’m not going to get wet, I can see the ball, I can play the ball out of this water hazard.” You are allowed to do that. A couple of things you need to know within the rules. Firstly, probably most importantly, you’re not allowed to ground your club. Consider it the same as when you’re in a bunker, you can’t ground your club in a bunker, you can’t do that in a water hazard. So you’re not allowed to go in there and put the club down behind the ball, you’re not allowed to have a couple of practice swings, chopping away all the long grass before you play your ball. You have to go in there very carefully. No practice swings, if there’s long grass behind the ball, you can’t really be clipping that in your back swing or your practice swing either. So you have to hover the club nicely up in the air. During the making of your stroke, you can hit the grass you can hit the ground before the ball during the making of your stroke but not before hand. Generally speaking: things to consider in water hazard when you’re playing the ball. You use plenty of loft to make sure you get it out, make a nice stable stance and just try and get the ball back into play. Let’s not try and play the hero shot from the water hazard, let’s get it back in play, take your punishment, you’ve already hit a bad shot, get it back on the golf course and carry on from there. If you understand the rules, you’ll often help yourself save a few shots. So in a water hazard you can play the ball out but play it carefully. 2014-08-13

If you find your golf ball in a water hazard there’s a couple of different options that you can do within the rules, but one of those options is you can play the ball from a water hazard. Now that might not sound like a great idea if it’s a four-foot deep lake and there’s crocodiles in there. But if you consider that most water hazards will have a bank around them and the posts are often a little bit higher up the bank to allow for the water level to go up and down, sometimes your ball will be on a dry area, the side of the water hazard, and it might not actually look that difficult to play.

You think, “Well I can get me feet in there, I’m not going to get wet, I can see the ball, I can play the ball out of this water hazard.” You are allowed to do that. A couple of things you need to know within the rules. Firstly, probably most importantly, you’re not allowed to ground your club. Consider it the same as when you’re in a bunker, you can’t ground your club in a bunker, you can’t do that in a water hazard. So you’re not allowed to go in there and put the club down behind the ball, you’re not allowed to have a couple of practice swings, chopping away all the long grass before you play your ball.

You have to go in there very carefully. No practice swings, if there’s long grass behind the ball, you can’t really be clipping that in your back swing or your practice swing either. So you have to hover the club nicely up in the air. During the making of your stroke, you can hit the grass you can hit the ground before the ball during the making of your stroke but not before hand.

Generally speaking: things to consider in water hazard when you’re playing the ball. You use plenty of loft to make sure you get it out, make a nice stable stance and just try and get the ball back into play. Let’s not try and play the hero shot from the water hazard, let’s get it back in play, take your punishment, you’ve already hit a bad shot, get it back on the golf course and carry on from there. If you understand the rules, you’ll often help yourself save a few shots. So in a water hazard you can play the ball out but play it carefully.