Yes, your game would be much more successful if there were no hazards for you to play around but it would also be much more boring, wouldn’t it? Avoiding the hazards or learning how to get out of them is a good part of what makes the game challenging.
As with so many other parts of the game, the hazards on a course are governed by rules set out by the USGA. As tempting as it might be, you’re not technically allowed to pick up your ball and toss it out of the sand trap but you’re also not obligated to swim to the bottom of the lake and hit your ball from there!
Bunker or Sand Trap
A bunker is prepared specifically to hold sand; turf and soil have been removed. Hitting the ball from sand is very difficult as the ball tends to sink into it. This means that hitting the ball with full force is difficult since the sand behind the ball interrupts the shot.
According to the rules of the USGA, the player cannot test the condition of the bunker, nor can he or she touch the ground within the bunker with his or her hand or a club. They must play the ball where it lies or deem it unplayable with a penalty stroke, dropping the ball inside the bunker.
Water Hazards
Those small lakes and bodies of water you see on golf courses are more than just decoration – they’re meant to make the game that much more challenging. Avoiding a water hazard is imperative since of course there’s no way to play the ball where it lies when it’s in water the way you can in a sand hazard. Of course if the ball falls on the edge of a water hazard a player can play the ball as it lies. Under penalty of one stroke, the player can also drop a ball at any point, as far back as the player chooses, on a line that keeps the last point at which the ball entered the hazard between the player, and the hole.
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