Golf ball lost in a water tank, is there relief?

A player's ball, after a stroke, disappears into a water tank that is situated inside the golf course. What relief, if any, is available?

A water tank, hoisted by some elevated supports or fixed and resting on the ground, is an immovable obstruction, under the Rules of Golf.

Let's refresh our minds on the definition of an immovable obstruction. "An obstruction is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice, except: a) objects defining out of bounds, such as walls, fences, stakes and railings, b) any part of an immovable artificial object that is out of bounds; and c) any construction declared by the Committee to be an integral part of the course.

Any obstruction is a 'movable obstruction' if it can be moved without unreasonable effort, without unduly delaying play and without causing damage. Otherwise, it is an immovable obstruction."

You may notice that the Rules of Golf define an immovable obstruction through a negation; if it is not movable, it must be immovable! And thereafter the Rules lay down the relief applicable.

There is an important note to this definition which allows the Golf Committee to make a Local Rule declaring a movable obstruction to be an immovable obstruction. Golf Committees frequently use this provision to make Local Rules that are meant to avoid damage on account of frequent movement of an obstruction. Distance markers are often declared immovable obstructions, even though they could easily be moved 'without unreasonable effort' to avoid damage and also to preserve them in position.

Players are prone to forget to replace such markers after their shot; and hence the requirement not to move the marker. Another good example is a watering pipe that runs across a fairway. Moving such a pipe causes interruption to the watering process and may even cause some joints to slip out of position and cause water spillage. To safeguard and avoid such eventualities the Local Committee may make a Local Rule that declares such a watering pipe an immovable obstruction.

Let's now wander back to relief for a ball that has disappeared into a water tank. Such relief is availed by Golf Rule 24.3b, which states, "If it is known or virtually certain that a ball that has not been found is in an immovable obstruction, the player may take relief under this Rule. If he elects to do so, the spot where the ball last crossed the outermost limits of the obstruction must be determined and, for the purposes of applying this Rule, the ball is deemed to lie at this spot and the player must proceed as follows: i) through the green: if the ball last crossed the outermost limits of the immovable obstruction at a spot through the green, the player may substitute another ball, without penalty, and take relief as prescribed in Rule 24-2b(i)."

The provision in this Rule means that when there is certainty that the ball has ended up inside the water tank the player may take relief, without penalty as provided for in Rule 24-2b(i), which states that: Through the Green: "If the ball lies through the green, the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not 1 nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on the putting green. When the ball is dropped within one club length of the nearest point of relief, the ball must first strike a part of the course at a spot that avoids interference by the immovable obstruction and is not in a hazard and not on a putting green".

Note 2 to this Rule provides that "if a ball to be dropped or placed under this Rule is not immediately recoverable, another ball may be substituted".

There are two important points to note here. If there is no certainty that the ball ended up in the water tank referred to above, it cannot be presumed to be in there. The ball is lost and the player must proceed under the lost ball Rule. Even when a ball was recovered from an empty water tank and the player was unable to identify the ball as his, the player's ball was deemed lost.