Basic golf rules: What is temporary water?

Are you one of those golfers who just loves playing rain or shine? If a downpour isn’t enough to dissuade you then you’ll may have found your ball in a puddle from time-to-time.

What do you do when this happens? Do you have to slosh it out? Or do the rules of golf come to your rescue

What is temporary water?

It’s one of four things on the golf course known as abnormal course conditions. But it isn’t just a puddle. It is any temporary gathering of water on the surface of the ground. So it could also be from a leaky irrigation pipe.

What isn’t?

Here is where it can get a little tricky. To be temporary water, it needs to be seen before or after you take a stance for your shot.
Don’t do a rain dance to find it. If you need to press down hard with your feet, it’s not temporary water.

If the ground is merely wet, muddy, just soft, or if the water is only visible for a moment as you step onto the ground – that’s not temporary water either.

Some things you might naturally think are temporary water aren’t, such as dew and frost. 

What can I do if my ball is in it?

You don’t have to hit it out of a puddle. If your ball is in temporary water you can take free relief. 

You find the nearest point where you are not in the water – that includes your stance and swing – and drop in a one-club length relief area. Remember, it can’t be closer to the hole. 

But if your ball is on the green, it’s different. That nearest point must be either on the green or in what’s called the general area. That’s any other part of the course that isn’t a teeing area, bunker, or penalty area.

And you don’t drop the ball, you place it.

One more thing. If you’re on the green and a puddle is between your ball and the hole you can also get relief. 

Find the nearest point where it isn’t in the way – again not closer to the hole – and place the ball.