Ball in play

[alanp1@blueyonder.co.uk]

When taking a drop for a ball that has gone into a water hazard is the dropped ball deemed to be the ball in play if the original is subsequently found outside the hazard?

 

[HawkeyeMS]

When taking a drop for a ball that has gone into a water hazard is the dropped ball deemed to be the ball in play if the original is subsequently found outside the hazard?

It has to be known or virtually certain that the ball is in the hazard for you to take a drop, you can't just assume it is in the hazard because you can't find it. If it wasn't KoVC that it was in the hazard, then you most probably dropped in the wrong place. That said, if it was KoVC that the ball was in the hazard, then I believe when you dropped the ball, it became the ball in play.

 

[rulefan]

When taking a drop for a ball that has gone into a water hazard is the dropped ball deemed to be the ball in play if the original is subsequently found outside the hazard?

This the highlighted part of this decision should help.

26-1/3.7

Ball Dropped Under Water Hazard Rule Without It Being Known or Virtually Certain Ball in Hazard; Original Ball Then Found

Q.A player's ball is struck towards a water hazard and is not found. It is neither known nor virtually certain that the player's ball is in the water hazard, but he drops a ball under Rule 26-1b. Before he plays the dropped ball, his original ball is found within the five-minute search period. What is the ruling?

A.It was neither known nor virtually certain that the player's ball was in the water hazard when he put the substituted ball into play, and, therefore, that ball was incorrectly substituted under an inapplicable Rule.

The player must correct his error under Rule 20-6 by abandoning the substituted ball and continuing play with the original ball. If the original ball was found inside the water hazard, the player may proceed under Rule 26-1.

If the player failed to correct his improper procedure and played the dropped ball, he has proceeded under an inapplicable Rule and incurred a penalty (see Decision 34-3/6). The ruling would be that the player has proceeded under Rule 27-1 (the only Rule that applied to his situation), incurring the one-stroke penalty under that Rule. Additionally, as he played the ball from a wrong place (i.e., a place not permitted by Rule 27-1), he incurred the general penalty, loss of hole in match play or two strokes in stroke play, for a breach of Rule 27-1. In stroke play, the Committee must determine whether the player committed a serious breach when he played from the wrong place (Rule 20-7c).

 

[Colin L]

When taking a drop for a ball that has gone into a water hazard is the dropped ball deemed to be the ball in play if the original is subsequently found outside the hazard?

Provided you knew or were virtually certain that your ball was in the water hazard, the ball dropped under Rule 26 remains the ball in play even if the original is found outside the hazard. See Decision 26-1/3.5
http://www.usga.org/rules/rules-and-decisions.html#!decision-26,d26-1-3.5

Edit
Posted that without seeing Rulefan's post. As you will realise, which of our two references applies depends entirely on whether you had knowledge or virtual certainty of your ball being in the water hazard.