H Head wrote:

Many good answers here...but here is what went down...or should I say I was made to do by consensus. First of all it was a stroke play match with 2 foursomes... front, back, total, skins on par 3's, etc.. JFURR hit it pretty much right on, as to what I was told to do, when someone pulled a rule book out. I went back to the drop area about 30 yards in front of and to the left of the teebox, hitting 5 ... I hit it on and 2 putted for a 7. It was explained by the head pro later that "had the ball gone over land after my double hit, I would have been entitled to a drop there'....BUT since I basically was standing up against the hazard when I double hit it, it did not go over any land that was not marked with a red line....ergo...must go to drop area back over the water. A very strange shot to say the least ... Has anyone ever had a shot as weird as that !!!

Did the pro say why you weren't allowed to drop from where you last hit the ball? that seems very strange that the drop zone was your only option.

Yes, he told me since it did not pass over land after the double hit, ( I hit it standing basically right on the hazard line) I was not entitled to drop on the green side of the hazard. Very unique indeed...and looking through the rule book, it does not address "over your head backward shots"

Hmmn. If this happened to me in a tournament and with the option to drop from place last played I would have likely argued that point... But with the Head Pro saying back across the water was the only correct play guess it wouldn't have mattered.

I'm not sure why going over land has anything to do with it, but I'll look it up in the rules maybe I'll learn something.

This brings up another point, something I see when playing with guys in casual rounds. Ball is hit short, hits land then rolls backwards downhill into the water *yellow stake*. "oh it hit the other side, I'll drop from there". The correct options are drop in line with stick in line where it entered water back across other side, or re-hit. Right? There is an illustration in my rules guide that indicates this.

You guys ever seen this - golfer take the drop where the ball hit on the other side?

jfurr wrote:

This brings up another point, something I see when playing with guys in casual rounds. Ball is hit short, hits land then rolls backwards downhill into the water *yellow stake*. "oh it hit the other side, I'll drop from there". The correct options are drop in line with stick in line where it entered water back across other side, or re-hit. Right? There is an illustration in my rules guide that indicates this. You guys ever seen this - golfer take the drop where the ball hit on the other side?

I agree with you. A water hazard (yellow stake) does not allow a two club length drop at the point where the ball last crossed the hazard line. That option only exists for lateral water hazards (red stake). That is why at the TPC Sawgrass players go to the drop area when they spin their ball backwards into the hazard. The pond is yellow staked and dropping somewhere around the green complex is not allowed.

Do you think that in my case, since this was a yellow staked water hazard....that is why I had to go back to the drop area?

you could have played from where you last hit

H Head wrote:

Do you think that in my case, since this was a yellow staked water hazard....that is why I had to go back to the drop area?

Actually, no and I'm sorry I didn't mean to muddy the topic by discussing another scenario...

Your tee shot was in play (2 ft from hazard). Your second shot happened to go backwards into water (amazing shot, by the way ). I agree with birdieXris, the option to re-hit that second shot from the same spot should have been an option, but the Head Pro apparently said it wasn't an option but I don't know why...

I was bringing up a sub-topic of the case where the tee shot actually does run backwards back into the water after hitting clear on the other side - where the options would be drop on the vector line w/stick back, or re-tee.

jfurr wrote:

H Head wrote: Do you think that in my case, since this was a yellow staked water hazard....that is why I had to go back to the drop area? Actually, no and I'm sorry I didn't mean to muddy the topic by discussing another scenario... Your tee shot was in play (2 ft from hazard). Your second shot happened to go backwards into water (amazing shot, by the way ). I agree with birdieXris, the option to re-hit that second shot from the same spot should have been an option, but the Head Pro apparently said it wasn't an option but I don't know why... I was bringing up a sub-topic of the case where the tee shot actually does run backwards back into the water after hitting clear on the other side - where the options would be drop on the vector line w/stick back, or re-tee.

Yea. I'm still curious. I still want to know why. I don't think the direction of travel should influence the actual rule. If you weren't in the hazard to begin with, i think you got boned by the decision.

I wonder if, because of the double hit, the hit that went into the hazard was in mid-air, there was no place to play from last hit?

srogers13 wrote:

I wonder if, because of the double hit, the hit that went into the hazard was in mid-air, there was no place to play from last hit?

I would say maybe, but thesecond hit isnt a hit, its a penalty not a stroke. The original stroke would be thw first hit.

Birdie....I always believed from when it happened that I got boned

You can always hit from where you last played