OB bordered by lateral hazard

I recently played a course where there were houses along the right side of a par four, with a fence separating the houses from the course.  Clearly, the houses are OB.  Inside the fence, there is a ditch, and the ditch is marked with red stakes.  Along the ditch, there are shrubs, trees, undergrowth, etc.  The problem is that there's no real way to be sure whether a ball hit over there went into the hazard or went OB.  Clearly, you'd prefer to take it as a lateral, but if you don't find the ball, it could be hiding in the undergrowth in the hazard, or could have gone over the fence into OB territory.

So what is the ruling?

You need knowledge or virtual certainty that the ball is in the hazard.  To explain that, you need to ask yourself, "Given all the factors of the ball flight, trajectory, surrounding terrain, etc, is there any place this ball could be other than in the hazard?"

If the answer is "Yes" - then you must treat it as a lost ball and replay under stroke and distance.  The fact that you want it to be in the hazard or that it possibly could be in the hazard doesn't matter.  If you do not have KVC the ball is in the hazard, and the ball cannot be found then it is a lost ball.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave T

I recently played a course where there were houses along the right side of a par four, with a fence separating the houses from the course.  Clearly, the houses are OB.  Inside the fence, there is a ditch, and the ditch is marked with red stakes.  Along the ditch, there are shrubs, trees, undergrowth, etc.  The problem is that there's no real way to be sure whether a ball hit over there went into the hazard or went OB.  Clearly, you'd prefer to take it as a lateral, but if you don't find the ball, it could be hiding in the undergrowth in the hazard, or could have gone over the fence into OB territory.

So what is the ruling?

Welcome to the board!

If you find it in bounds you play it.

If you find it out of bounds you re-hit or, preferably, go play your provisional.

If you find it in the lateral, use the relief options for a lateral.

If you do not find it it is a lost ball and either re-hit or, preferably, play your provisional.

The way you describe the layout I doubt if it would even be possible to not find the ball yet have knowledge or virtual certainty that it is in the lateral.  The very fact that you can write: " but if you don't find the ball, it could be hiding in the undergrowth in the hazard, or could have gone over the fence into OB territory." shows that you do not have anything close to virtual certainty that the ball is in the lateral just because you cannot find it.

For more details check out this Decision, which I think is exactly on point to your question:

A lot depends on just what is included within the margin of the hazard and the flight of the ball as it disappeared.  If the brush and tall grass/weeds are all within the margin as the USGA recommends, and if the ball was rolling, or was low enough to have not crossed the fence in the air, then there is a good chance of being virtually certain that the ball is in the hazard.  If the ball flight was high upon entering, or if the bad stuff is partly outside of the hazard margin, then you can't make any such assumption.  It's a case where to make a good ruling I would have to be on the ground at the spot to see just what I was dealing with.

Also one must remember that most water hazards are full of algae so unless you see a splash, there are some situations that can get a little interesting.

Even seeing a splash may not be enough to establish KVC, depending on the trajectory of the ball, how close the splash was to the margin of the hazard, etc.

Yep.  The last time my ball splashed, it ended up less than 10 feet off the green.  Because it hit the water just past a little fountain feature, we couldn't see it skip up onto dry ground, so I thought it was wet until I was halfway around the hazard.  I didn't play a second ball, because the trajectory was similar to ones where I had seen the ball skip in the past.

Since you didn't see it skip, are you saying that had you got up there and not found your ball then you'd have declared it lost and not, in fact, in the water and gone back and re teed? That seems excessive. (And I recognize Im saying that without having a visual of the course in question, but it still surprises me)

It was the second shot on a par 4 hole.  I hit the shot thin with a low trajectory.  Because of that, the ball was either in the hazard or it would be found as I ultimately did.  There was no place for it to be lost outside of the hazard between the hazard and the green - if not found it could be no place but in the hazard, which meets the requirement of virtual certainty.  I would have had to go back to the far side of the hazard and drop under Rule 26-1b.