SgtDoodles:
.......The drop must be in line with where you teed off.............
not quite correct
so...
your being dropped on the sandy path near the yellow dot, correct?
i tried a few practice shots but could not get the right hazard cut point - i always got droppped on the grass.
the next part is for jake assuming that the above drop point is the one in question
a look at the kiawah resort website shows that for the ocean course:
1. USGA rules govern all play except where local rules prevail.
2. Lateral Hazards are defined with red stakes and lines.
3. Water Hazards are defined with yellow stakes and lines.
4. Marked sprinkler heads are measured to the front, middle and back of greens.
5. Proper attire required at all times.
6. Fill divots with sand, repair ball marks & after raking bunkers leave rakes in the bunker.
7. Cart paths are not an artificial surface, therefore no relief.
8. All sand areas on the golf course are not hazards and therefore are played as through the green.
further to No8 see http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=45553.0
wgt is the tournament committee.
there are no lateral water hazards defined by wgt (at least, i haven't found any)
you entered a water hazard therefore rule 26 1 c is never used. what is used is a "butchered" rule 26 1 b - drop behind the hazard (it doesn't matter from which side you crossed the hazard margin), on a line keeping the point at which you crossed between you and the pin.
here's the butchered bit. normally you should be allowed to go back on a line as far as you wish, but with no user interaction, the software drops at the nearest point to the hazard.
sometimes the software chooses to use rule 26 1 a - drop at the nearest point from where the original shot was played.
i don't know what order, if any, the software uses, and unless wgt reply then we won't know, not that it really matters, as with above, if there is no user interaction we don't get a choice.
so it's a case of just suck on it til wgt try to implement user interaction.
and that is the main point
user interaction
to properly implement the rules of golf would require user interaction. it will never be done. or maybe you want the opportunity for 5 hour rounds of golf on wgt.
what there should be, is a number of drop zones connected to each water hazard. the ball would be dropped under penalty in the nearest drop zone to the point of crossing the margin.
if the tournament rules stated that drop zone must be used then all argument of rule 26 disappear