TryingtoPlay

Per the rules of the game, I think that I probably played it correctly. My playing partner was adamant afterwards that the ball was obviously in a hazard to begin with and I should have simply played it as such. He then informed me that once I drop, the ball will be in play and I should play it from there as if I had not taken an unplayable and subsequently gone into the pond. Hence, this begs the second question. If I did misplay the situation, the strokes that I accumulated would obviously still count would they not?

Well, I played quite an eventful nine holes of golf today at a local municipal course. The fifth hole at the golf course is an uphill 380 yard dogleg right par 4 with trees right and a small pond to the front left of the green. Needless to say, I made quite a mess of the hole today and ended up just to the right of the pond (although down in the gully with no stance and part of the ball submerged). Amazingly, the pond is unmarked on the ground, but it does state in the yardage book that shots in the water "incur a one shot penalty." Being that there are no hazard markers I did not know what to do. I am literally 15 feet below the surrounding area with a wall in front of me and to my right. My stance is in the water. So, other than find a new golf course, I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to do. Anyways, I ultimately elected to take an unplayable. After picking up and dropping two club lengths backwards, the ball proceeds to role half way down the slope and literally in a hole that covered the entire bottom half of the golf ball. I still have virtually no stance, but I was able to hit at it which ultimately plopped down into the water anyways as the ground totally caught the clubhead and turned it over. At this point, all I could do was just laugh. I am totally unsure as to what I should have done. Thank you