You are playing Poplar Creek’s #14 (par 5) and your second shot comes to rest on the bridge.
Are you entitled to relief?
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No. You would think you can take cart path relief but that particular bridge is deemed to be inside the hazard because the surrounding red stakes defines the whole canal – and anything in it and crossing it – as part of a water hazard.
Therefore, the bridge itself is part of the water hazard.
You can declare an unplayable lie and take a drop behind the bridge with a one shot penalty or you can play the ball where it lies. Just remember if you do play it where it lies, you cannot ground your club – the bridge is in the hazard.
So the lesson here is to first look to see if there is anything to exempt the bridge from the water hazard such as double red stakes or a red line. Otherwise, the bridge may be part of the water hazard.
This situation did happen to a player (the club’s webmaster) during our 2011 Club Championship. Their second shot came to rest on the bridge just a few inches from the concrete curb. That player was about to take cart path relief when another player stopped them. After some discussion, the player elected to play the ball as it lied, hit the ball left handed and scored a good bogey. If he had taken cart path relief and turned in his scorecard, he would have been DQ’d for signing an incorrect scorecard.
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