My ball is in water from an overflowing penalty area – what do I do?
Has a recent soaking left the lakes and ponds on your course spilling onto the fairway? Here’s what you need to know
When we’re not being threatened with fines for getting a hosepipe out of the garage, it feels like we need to build an Ark – such is the deluge that can come down from the skies at any given moment.
The weather’s a curious thing these days and the latter, the kind of downpours that can quickly render our golf courses unplayable, gives rise to the question posed by reader Phil DuBourdieu.
He emailed: “My friend and I were playing a match and we were on a short par-4 with a lake fronting the green. There had been a lot of rain the previous week and the lake was overflowing but the red line delineating the hazard was clearly visible and my friends’ ball was clearly outside the red line but was in the water.
“Is this a penalty stroke and considered in the hazard or do you treat the overflow of the lake like casual water with a free drop? I allowed a free drop but not sure that is how it should have played out.”
So what should you do when the water has spilled out from the penalty area? Let’s take a look at temporary water…
Standing water golf rules explained
For all of you out there who might sometimes feel the Rules of Golf can be complex or difficult, the answer to this one comes straight out of the drawer marked ‘common sense’.
If the ball isn’t in the penalty area, then it’s in temporary water and you can take free relief from the abnormal course condition as allowed by Rule 16.1.
If you want a bit more detail, check out the definition of Temporary Water. While you’ll be aware that it is classed as “any temporary accumulation of water on the surface on the ground”, that includes “an overflow from a body of water that … is not in a penalty area.”
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think about these standing water golf rules and temporary water in general? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
