The Runaway Ball - Rules Question

[Par Fore]

OK, so I am on the 6th hole.......after a horrible drive and second shot, I hit a nice punch through the trees that just rolls off the back of the green......well, I get over the back of the green and there is no ball.....but, there is a cart path that banks to the left, goes underneath the road for at least 30 yards to the holes on the other side of the road.....we are playing a practice round, so I just take a penalty, drop, and play on.....the group behind us was already in the fairway....

Anyway, we finish up......we walk the long dark walk underneath the roadway.....I follow the path over to the creek where it ends out of morbid curiosity.....and there lies my ball, about 50 yards from the green, in a hazard on the other side of the road at the end of the cart path, LOL.....

I'm guessing in tournament play the only/best option would be to just play the ball from where you originally hit it, but I will say that putting a manmade tunnel just off the back of the green brings up the question and validity of course design....

Any thoughts???

[saevel25]

Well here are you options..

Play it out of the hazard with out grounding your club
take an unplayable lie, with a penalty and replay your shot from the previous position.
If its a lost ball, replay the shot from the previous position with penalty.

[killerduck]

Dude, that is EPIC bad luck! But yeah, you'd be pretty screwed in a comp, lol!

I've often wondered on my course, in the empty are to the right of the 9th/18th fairway there is a little drain that is perfectly aligned for any fading/drawing (LH) ball.... Don't know if anyones ever gone into it, but I reckon I've been close a couple of times

[Ignorant]

  saevel25 said:

Well here are you options..

Cannot do that in a water hazard (see Rule 28). What you can do is to invoke Rule 27-1 (Stroke and distance) with same outcome.

[Par Fore]

  killerduck said:

Dude, that is EPIC bad luck! But yeah, you'd be pretty screwed in a comp, lol!

LOL, yeah, it was bad luck.....walked to the back of the green, didn't see a ball, but saw the tunnel and had to laugh at myself.....

Thanks for the replies guys.....we are having our little Poor Man's Event at the same course and I may institute some local ruling on that.....find it crazy that if you barely hit roll over the center of the green, you end up 50 yards away in a creek