To keep from falling farther down into the hazard I used my club
and hand to brace myself. Regaining my balance I took my stance. I
remembered you can not ground your club while your ball lies within
the hazard, rule 13/4.
Recently I played in a golf tournament at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz. Playing the eleventh hole, which is a difficult uphill par four with a long demanding second shot over a water hazard.
I unfortunately hit my second shot into the hazard. The good news I was able to attempt to play the shot out of the hazard without a penalty. When I arrived at my ball, I took my stance, but before I could make a swing I lost my balance.
To keep from falling farther down into the hazard I used my club and hand to brace myself. Regaining my balance I took my stance. I remembered you can not ground your club while your ball lies within the hazard, rule 13/4.
I made a swing. The ball came out and landed two inches from the hole. After I tapped it in for a par and patted myself on the back, I was making my way to the next tee when my playing partner came up to me and toId me that I should add two more strokes to my score.
I asked what for. His response was that I grounded my club while my ball was lying in the hazard. I argued that I didn’t think this was a rule violation.
When the round was over and before I signed my scorecard, we confirmed it with a rules official. In the decisions rule book, the rule13-4/6 states that if a player preparing to play a stroke from a water hazard slips and looses balance or falls and his hand or club touches the hazard there is no penalty provided nothing was done which improved his lie.
Obviously this can be a tricky ruling, and there’s not always an official on hand. If you have an ruling your not sure of, ask you’re local PGA professional. Plus keep a rulebook in your golf bag. It saved me two strokes!
