Have any of you experienced this?

[Never Lay Up]

I was playing in a tournament this past weekend.  We get to the fourth hole, a par three with a hazard that starts 30 short of the green then raps around to the right of it, right off the edge of the green.  And I start my ball at the left of the green and rope hook it into the hazard on the right (I am left handed), the ball clearly crossed the hazard line short of the green and then the wind took it and it hooked and went in the hazard pin high right of the green.  But my playing partners were getting it handed to them by me, so they said that it didn't cross the line in front of the green, so I had to drop back  100 yards from where I should have gotten too.  I was just wondering if this has happened to you guys.

[allin]

I am no rules wizard, but I don't beleive the green is an issue. The rules are applied soley based on where your ball crosses the line into the hazard.  You get relief at the nearest playable point or a line directly back from your path into the hazard as far back as you want. My partners always have to remind me when it is 2 club lengths or one.

[granitegolf]

What type of water hazard was it?

[Never Lay Up]

Lateral hazard

[B-Con]

[quote="USGA: 26-1.c"]As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball [b]last[/b] crossed the margin of the water hazard [/quote] (Emphasis mine.) Drop it at the last place it crossed the hazard. If it crosses the hazard twice, the first crossing was irrelevant. It sounds like the issue is that there was disagreement between you and your buddies as to how many times it crossed?

[Never Lay Up]

Yeah, I know the rule, but they didn't agree with me on where it last crossed.

[JGator]

With the absence of any rules official, if you believe that you know where it last crossed the margin of the hazard, that's where you should have started the mechanics of taking your drop/ penalty.  I would imagine there is some decision about this somewhere, but what it comes down to, is that you are responsible for the accuracy of your card/ score, not you competitors.  Golf is, after all, a game of integrity.