playing ball from within water hazard

[ejimsmith]

just curious, has anyone ever been successful in playing a ball out of a water hazard?  i'm talking about a ball that submerged, even just an inch under the water.  it seems impossible to play a ball submerged in water, and I've seen videos of pga players trying, unsucessfully.   but has anyone been successful at it?

[awmgolfer]

I've done it twice and actually put myself in pretty good positions, better then taking the penalty and I've only tried it three times, one time was a disaster. We have a par three with two very small ponds in the front and the right hand pong has a small creek that runs off it to a much bigger pond on the right side of the green. I've hit twice into the creek and the ball was just below the surface both time. It's soft ground under it which I think is the key. It really comes down to what you have to work with as far as how the ball sits and what's around it.

[ejimsmith]

Originally Posted by awmgolfer

I've done it twice and actually put myself in pretty good positions, better then taking the penalty and I've only tried it three times, one time was a disaster. We have a par three with two very small ponds in the front and the right hand pong has a small creek that runs off it to a much bigger pond on the right side of the green. I've hit twice into the creek and the ball was just below the surface both time. It's soft ground under it which I think is the key. It really comes down to what you have to work with as far as how the ball sits and what's around it.

since you've had success, what can you suggest for taking this shot?  do you have to swing extra hard to deal w/ the resistance of the water?  to you treat it like a bunker and try to hit behind it and catch water and the ball together?   and how far would you say you can send a ball from this?  further than a pitch?

thanks, btw.. this is interesting to me..

[Shindig]

I can't imagine attempting it unless part of the ball was above the surface.  No matter how clear the water, there's some distortion, and so no real way of even knowing exactly where the ball is!

[Fourputt]

The experts say that you  should only attempt it if at least half of the ball is above the surface.  Even then it's a chancy shot to attempt.  Players usually have trouble with it because they are more worried about the splash and the mud than they are about the difficulty of the shot, making it hard to keep their focus where it belongs.  Most players will fail far more often than they succeed.

[ohio golfer]

You know what they say, practice makes permanent (not perfect).

I would suggest you practice NOT hitting the ball into the water and give up on the water recovery shot idea.

And I would hope a mod moves this thread into the appropriate folder; I don't see this being a RULES question.

[In the woods]

I watched my dad put a ball on the green from mid shin deep water. It was awful bc he smelled terrible the rest of the round.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by In the woods

I watched my dad put a ball on the green from mid shin deep water. It was awful bc he smelled terrible the rest of the round.

I don't like doubting you, but I'd have to see that to believe it.  You have to be grossly overestimating the depth of the water.  Try it some time if you doubt my skepticism.  Even in 3" of water you will fail at least 95% of the time.  The pros won't even try it from 2 - 3 inches unless they are truly desperate.  You are trying to get us to believe that he did it from water that was 6" or more deep?  There is no way that's possible.  The water will virtually stop the clubhead by the time it gets to the depth where the ball lies.  You would have to be able to displace all of the water to the ball, then all of the water on the ball's exit trajectory.  I doubt that any human can displace that much water with a golf swing.

I can believe that he may have been standing in water that deep, but there is no way that the ball was that far under the water.

[In the woods]

Hey I don't blame the doubt at all. Honestly if I hadn't been there, I never would believe anyone that says such a thing. You may be right about him standing deeper but the ball ended up on the green and he smelled terrible the rest of the day from moss and sludge. Regardless if the ball was that deep or not, it was still plenty entertaining to watch. It was deep enough that if he hadn't been drinking I doubt he would have tried.

[Gerald]

I was in a foursome matchplay championship once and I hit our approach on the putting surface (still some 60 ft. from the hole) and the team we played against about shanked their approach shot into a pond about 40 yds from the green, with almost no water in it.......

The ball was lying maybe about 1 inch under the surface and we were about to go 2 up with 2 holes to play, anyway the guy having to drop or play the ball stepped into the pond and exploded the ball with his sandwedge from the pond to a tap-in distance from the hole ....... and we made a 3 putt to loose the hole and we also lost the next two holes and the match.

[ejimsmith]

Originally Posted by Gerald

I was in a foursome matchplay championship once and I hit our approach on the putting surface (still some 60 ft. from the hole) and the team we played against about shanked their approach shot into a pond about 40 yds from the green, with almost no water in it.......

The ball was lying maybe about 1 inch under the surface and we were about to go 2 up with 2 holes to play, anyway the guy having to drop or play the ball stepped into the pond and exploded the ball with his sandwedge from the pond to a tap-in distance from the hole ....... and we made a 3 putt to loose the hole and we also lost the next two holes and the match.

cool story bro!

[ghalfaire]

I think if some part of the ball isn't above the water then trying to hit out of the water is a real bad idea.  The deeper it is the more the index of refraction (look that up if you don't know what it is) will distort the "apparent location" of the ball.  Also involved is the fact that the water isn't compressible so you better have wrist like super man if you intend to move the ball very far.  I probably play with the wrong crowd but other than Pros I have never seen anyone successfully escape the hazard with this shot but have seen a lot of wet golfers trying.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by In the woods

I watched my dad put a ball on the green from mid shin deep water. It was awful bc he smelled terrible the rest of the round.

Sorry. Not possible.  Maybe his legs were mid shin, but the ball certainly wasn't.

By the time the club head hit the ball it would have slowed down to nothing.

There is no way possible the club could hit the ball hard enough and then have the ball come out with all the resistance of the water on the club and the water on the ball.

[DocWu1948]

I  did it once just for the heck of it about five years ago. Just playing with two friends. The ball had trickled into a pond and looked like it was less than an inch below the surface and about two feet from shore.  I was wearing pants. .Rolled them up. Took off shoes. Ugh the mud in your toes. I always hated that as a kid playing in lakes. Ball came out with my sand wedge and went maybe 20 yards. I call that a success, and I will never need to do it again, for fear of whiffing. I did get wet, but I knew I could pull some shorts out of my car and change.

[carpediem4300]

did it from a flooded bunker once on a pitch and putt as a laugh around, back when i didnt play golf seriously, wa sonly about 15 yards from the pin, the ball was probably 3-4 inches under, and i took a very open 9 iron to it, landed it 5 yards past the pin with an almost dead stop.

could i ever do it again? never, was a one in a million chance, and i didnt really care about the outcome as we were only messing around, wouldnt bother trying to hit out of water again anyway

now i jsut try to avoid water :D