USGA RULE OF THE WEEK

WEEK 12 — WATER HAZARDS: PART ONE - REASONABLE EVIDENCE

Your friend has invited you to play as his partner in his club's invitational four-ball stroke-play competition. You arrive on the first teeing ground and discover that there is a water hazard crossing the fairway approximately 200 yards from the teeing ground. You hit your drive down the middle of the fairway and begin walking down the fairway. As you arrive at the water hazard, you do not see a ball on either side of the hazard and believe that your ball may have come to rest in the hazard.

Since the evidence is preponderantly in favor of the ball being lost in the water hazard; you, your partner and fellow-competitors agree that you have reasonable evidence that your ball is lost in the water hazard (see Decision 26-1/1). You elect to proceed under Rule 26-1b, and drop a ball behind the hazard on the line that extends from the hole, through the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard (see Decision 26-1/1.5).

On the final hole of the round, your partner hooks his tee shot towards a lateral water hazard to the left of the fairway. You hear the ball hit a tree but do not see the ball after it hits the tree. The area between the fairway and the hazard is covered by heather and six-inch rough. After searching for five minutes, your partner asks how he should proceed. Since no one saw the ball after it struck the tree, reasonable evidence that the ball is lost in the water hazard does not exist (the ball could be in the heather, rough or even stuck in the tree). He must treat the original ball as lost and return to the teeing ground to put another ball into play under Rule 27-1.

As indicated above, the concept of reasonable evidence plays an important role in determining whether a player may proceed under Rule 26-1 (Water Hazards) or must proceed under Rule 27-1 (Lost Ball). When determining whether reasonable evidence exists, consideration should be given to the area surrounding the hazard where the ball could have come to rest. Ask the question "Is there any place other than the water hazard where the ball could be lost?"

Reprinted with permission from the USGA.